Shaheen Bagh Protests: Pros And Cons

They staged it beautifully just like the theatre personae The common people of common things commonly Of the street theatres, nukkad sabhas Or the people doing panchayiti As spokespersons, protagonists, mouthpieces Of protests and movements, peace movements But over continued, overdid they in acting, Protesting and staging of the drama Showing the facades of liberty and people's charters, Constitutionalism and constitution-making But got they trapped in party and politics, Political ideologies and fascinations, Rather than lingering they must have come to The compromising table for a negotiation, Rather than politicizing it they must have concluded But got mired into controversies and political propaganda And vote-bank politics with the razor's edge, Clawing at nationalism and national sentiments, Making a mockery of ti all, playing with Which must have ended early to dispense with. Try to understand the feelings of the people, Reading the sentiments rather than playing with As the parties do it here, Sometimes inflammatory speeches must be checked Rather than giving a spark to it, See the graffito, the mural, they drama How they are staging and enacting, Go not by political propaganda and anti-India stir Showing religious allegiance, Leftism is but leftist hegemony and hierarchy not at all, Leftist pseudo-intellectualism, supermanship, bossism, Nukkad sabha is definitely good, But there must have been some as to go in-between, Work as interlocutors, pacifists Rather than provoking with anti-India slogans, Azadi, azadi chahiye, love for Pakistan And fanatics and nationalists taking the centrestage Showing the strength of power.