Thursday, December 03, 2020

LOK NAYAK JP KE WAARIS

Those, and there are many, who have learned India’s history via Prime Minister’s speeches in last 6-7 years would know how BJP in general and Prime Minister in particular claim to be the torchbearers for carrying forward the legacy Lok Nayak Jay Prakash Narayan. Our beloved PM has a gift of gab and can appropriate anyone and everyone to his cause.

Only a couple of month’s back, on JP’s birth anniversary PM tweeted "I bow to Loknayak JP on his Jayanti. He valiantly fought for India's freedom and when our democratic ethos was under attack, he led a strong mass movement to protect it…. “

Only he seems to have forgotten who, how and what of JP’s struggle. In a major political gathering at Ram Lila Maidan in June 1975 while calling for ‘total revolution’ JP read a poem of Rashtrakavi Ramdhari Singh Dinkar, a legendary poem that became a symbol of the power of people in Indian democracy. Few lines from the poem he read –

आरती लिये तू किसे ढूंढता है मूरख,

मन्दिरों, राजप्रासादों में, तहखानों में?

देवता कहीं सड़कों पर गिट्टी तोड़ रहे,

देवता मिलेंगे खेतों में, खलिहानों में।

 

फावड़े और हल राजदण्ड बनने को हैं,

धूसरता सोने से श्रृंगार सजाती है;

दो राह,समय के रथ का घर्घर-नाद सुनो,

सिंहासन खाली करो कि जनता आती है।

 

As the farmers surround Delhi, it is probably too much to expect our PM to understand and see the irony of it all.


PS – It is as if that call for 'Sampooran Kranti' in Dinkar’s words in JP’s voice still echo at Ramlila Maidan, still challenging the powers that be. No wonder they are so afraid of letting the farmers reach there.


#FarmersProtest

#SpeakUpForFarmers

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