The Khilwat Ground resonated with poetry of resistance and of passionate defiance.
On the one hand it echoed with a revolution clad in burqa, wearing bangles and bindis, and draped in hijab as articulated by Nabiya Khan, and on the other, the reclaiming of Hindustan as asserted by celebrated poet Rahat Indori.
The United Muslim Action Committee-organised Jashn-e-Jamhuriyat and Ehtejaji Mushaira (Celebration of Democracy and Poets’ Protest Meeting) against CAA, NRC and NPR saw a galaxy of poets giving narratives of democracy and the idea of India.
Ms Khan’s Ayega inquilab pehenke bindi, chudiyan, burqa, hijab touched upon the inevitable accountability of the ruling dispensation on the excesses in AMU and Jamia Millia Islamia.
It also touched upon the controversy over Faiz Ahmad Faiz’s poems.
Celebrated poet Rahat Indori, when he recited sabhi khoon hai shamil yaha ki mitti mey, kisi ke baap ka Hindustan thodi hai, and asserted the idea of pluralism, the crowd erupted in appreciation.
Other poets Sampat Saral, and Manzar Bhopali too recited poems.
