“ Oh couplet, you were ruined and you overcame your ruin to settle. No couplet has a heart like yours… ”
Nearly two months after an Urdu couplet painted by members of the “Delhi I Love You” campaign was forcibly vandalised by a mob in East Delhi’s Shahdara, the same artists repainted the same couplet on the same wall on Thursday.
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It was one of the 40 entries chosen for #MyDilliStory series of the “Delhi I Love You” campaign, supported by the Delhi government. Entries were invited in Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi and English for #MyDilliStory, a Twitter-based competition, that asked people to share their stories, poems and quotes about Delhi. Forty of these were selected by a jury and are currently being painted on prominent public walls around the Capital by the city’s signboard painters to give a makeover to drab government buildings, flyovers and other public places.
The artists — Akhlaq Ahmad, who goes by Shabbu, and Swen Simon, a French street artist — had painted the couplet on the wall of the Delhi Jal Board office in Shahdara in May, but a local mob had threatened them into vandalising their painting and write “Swachh Bharat Abhiyan” over it instead. According to the artists, the mob had threatened to shoot them in case of non-compliance.
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“Vandalised”
On Thursday, the artists repainted the “vandalised” painting. However, a Hindi translation was painted below it this time. The event was attended and supported by Delhi Culture Minister Kapil Mishra. Encouraging artists and musicians, he expressed his support and love for the linguistic diversity of Delhi.
Mr. Mishra, who also handles the portfolios of Languages and Water, said: “The event was about sending a strong message to those who think they can create boundaries and walls of hatred among various religions and communities. By painting this wall with vibrant stories of Delhi in its different languages, we are breaking those walls. We will take this message across the city to spread communal harmony and unity. We will never allow preachers of hate to hold this city’s heart and soul to ransom.”
He added that the government recognises and respects the diversity that coexists in Delhi and is happy to be associated with such projects.
“The idea behind #MyDilliStory is to bridge the virtual and physical divide, bring the magic of hand painted typographies back into public spaces, and most importantly celebrate the linguistic diversity of this megacity,” said Astha Chauhan, the director of the “Delhi I Love You” campaign.
So far, the group has painted 23 murals in areas like Punjabi Bagh, Ashok Vihar, Rohini, Jhandewalan, Kewal Park, Paschim Vihar, Pratap Nagar, Paharganj and Kashmere Gate.