किसान की नीलामी

नहीं पता सरकार किसकी है
नहीं पता दरकार किसकी है
सत्य तो वो है जो कल गुज़र गया
इस रफ़्तार से रूठ ठहर गया
आज अखबार की खबर
कल फिर चल पड़ेगा ये शहर
शव को तौला हमने उसकी सोने की तराज़ू में
इंसानियत नीलाम की चंद मौहरों में
उसकी लाश पर बनेगा एक कारखाना
बनेगी स्टील बढेगा देश का खजाना
कल भूल चलेंगे उसके आँसूं हमसब
किसी सीमेंट के बगीचे में गयी है इंसानियत थम
खेत भूल गए खो गयी मिट्टी की मादक महक
किसी गुमनाम शमशान में जल रही है इंसानियत दहक दहक
उद्योग तुम्हारा शहर तुम्हारा
उजर गया गुलिस्तां हमारा
सोने की लंका आज फिर रची है
अशोक वाटिका आज फिर सजी है
क्या कलियुग में रावण करेगा रणविजय
राम की जयकार भूल कर जीतेगा भय
सुदामा क्या दरिद्र रहेगा
क्या गंगा में लहू बहेगा
किसी की ताकत बनी है धन
और कइयों को बनाया इसने निर्धन
जिस किसान के पास था हल
आज बना वो लाचार निर्बल
क्या आज फिर चुप बैठेगा इंसान
एक बार फिर मजबूर मरेगा कोई किसान
लाशों के पहाड़ पर तिरंगे की शान
यही बन गया है क्या हिन्दुस्तान।

एक किसान की मौत

आज एक किसान की मौत का नज़ारा
देखा हिंदुस्तान ने
कौन था वो, किसको पता
किस गम में था वो बेचारा
जो खेत छोड़ शहर वो आया
जो हल चलाने वाले हाथ थे
क्यों बना बैठे फांसी का फंदा
कौन था उस भीड़ में ज़िंदा
कुछ बोलने वाले कुछ मौन धारी मुर्दा
किसकी ज़मीन, किसके मकान
किस दाम में बिकेगा आसमान
किस शहर में बसेगा हिंदुस्तान
आज फिर मर गया एक किसान
उसे बचाने वाला,
न था कोई इंसान
न कोई भगवान
जिया बेनाम, मारा अनजान
सूनी शमशान में एक और मेहमान
क्यों है मेरा भारत महान

Why should the minorities not fear?

Codified books have been a bane of religion – X,Y,Z (feel free to assign names). Thankfully for the ones that are still in their adolescence, they have to contend with just ONE. For the others who have seen through the days of unwritten text, have to content with as many texts as the number of gods.

The spirit of competition is good – it led to the discovery of the Americas and eventually Coca Cola. However competing religions are a bad press. When the guy dressed in robe preaches cosmic difference between believers & non-believers and a similarly vain dude goes bullshitting around with cow dung, it becomes nothing more than a clown show.

Allowing practitioners of another faith/god/opinion/ideology to co-exist with you is not tolerance; it is basic tenet of humanity.  

The case relating to Staines murder and the subsequent Wadhwa commission findings has a universal legal adage to it – innocent till proven guilty and for all the wrong reasons has allowed many a inglorious to roam free. On the role of Bajrang Dal’s involvement, the findings was quite clear and contrary to the advise of its counsel as well as the investigation team (http://www.frontline.in/static/html/fl2021/stories/20031024003902400.htm).  However beyond the legal boundaries, lies a society that cares for it little less than going beyond the 2^nd line of a headline. This is the group that believes Modi did it the right way in Gujarat, that RSS had a hero in Godse, that Dara Singh was eponymous to his name. Religious tolerance, well that’s what gets thrown out while flying in the Puspak. Philosophies are better practiced than just remain in glorious textbooks.

Minorities have as much right to feel frightened as the majority has the right to feel threatened. Claiming a dalit as your own and then denying him the right to enter your sacred temples is what Mallya did by charging you to book a Kingfisher flight and never really taking off. Worse still, you are not served beef on board. 

Christian missionaries have for long carried the white man’s burden, the Islamist literature has for long spawned a group of fanatic zealots, but definitely when the mantle of upholding the national pride falls on to names like Godse and Dara Singh, there is a serious flaw in the conditioning of the modern Hindu. Nothing escapes a black hole, not light, not even our or their gods. All that enters becomes the same, a black hole. For the sake of argument, Holocaust may never happen again, hopefully the fear is uncalled for, but then some of us feel on the surface that it is time for the other party to be taught a lesson. Tolerance, that’s for the secular freak.

If churches are vandalized, so be it. If massive public ‘ghar-wapsi’ ceremonies are held, so be it. Even temples have reported increased cases of theft. Why feel the fear?