By
Ajmal Khan
Jai Bheem – Lal Salam
Ambedkar and Marx
Sat together over a tea
between the ballet boxes
during the students union election
and smoked Calcutta Beedi
Che offered them a Havana cigar
Spoke on same stage
at a funeral meeting of a suspended reserved category student
and sloganeered
“Bharmanism mudabad”
“Jai bheem Lal salam”
“Jai bheem Neel salam”
Revolutionary programme
and the Constitution
went on hunger strikes
seeing Brahmanical Marxism
and Saffron capitalism
Buddha red the Communist Manifesto
and Marx the Annihilation of caste
De classed comrades tried
de casting
The red faded
and became saffron
blue cotton stitched with saffron flags
When the results came out
Jai beem and Lal salam became two negative sides the same magnet
The image of the category student
who went to stars
on the election campaign posters kept smiling
Another dead body of a category student
found in the hostel room.
My missing poem
My poem is said to be missing
by the editor
I got a formal letter today saying
“Your poem is missing and we regret to inform you that
we can’t publish missing poems”
I had sent it via Registered post
signing on the poem
He had to sign on the register
to accept my poem
and in the records he has signed on it
Still he says my poem is missing
Did any ABVP goons assault my poem
after the editor signed on it?
This time my poem had a Muslim name
unlike last time
it had a Dalit name then
Editor didn’t accept my last poem saying
I haven’t attached an original
Scheduled Caste Certificate
since they found the attached certificate fake
Now I didn’t have any Muslim certificate to attach with
but he might be sure of it
from the syntax, adjectives, verbs and rhymes
that its a Muslim before it was “missed” between the editors
Where do all the missing poems go?
To the dust bin of the editor and then
to the dumping wastes?
Until a new poem being written and published
the idea of my poem sees no light
Unless my poem is found in between by the police
or the dead body of my poem found in editors dust bin.
8 ways to look at a cow in India
- Did the Hindus never eat beef?
Dr. Ambedkar said yes
they did
- Cow is a holy animal- said the Brahmin
and waited for Dalit
to remove the dead cow
- “The cow and the bull are sacred
and therefore should be eaten”-
Apastamba Dharma Sutra
- Aklaq didn’t ate it-
the postmortem report
and forensic report
- There are only Muslims and Dalits killed
in the race of Gauraksha
why?
- Urine and cow dung
the holy profit
than milk
- Who got the profit of cow?
Mosalman butcher?
or the Bhaniya merchants and exporters?
or the Saffron?
- Again one more killed
was told, he ate beef
No one asked,
if he had food to eat.
Rejected poem
The poem was accused
as anti national
and rejected
like a US visa applicant
from a Muslim country
It wanted to prove as nationalist
It started with Vande matharam
the continuing lines were only nouns
of the independence struggles
which the poem was part of
Rest of the lines were written in green,
white and kesari in colour
Signed on the lines which start with J&K
that they are integral part
it ended with national anthem
The poem was again rejected
on the grounds
had two names Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan
in foot note,
syntax had no saffron and khaki pattern
Moplah rebellion is included
and instead of 1947
it’s written Azaadi.
Ajmal Khan
Ajmal Khan A.T is a bilingual writer and activist who writes in English and Malayalam, his mother tongue. His English poetry collection My Tolerant Nation is published by Wings & roots (2017) and Malayalam one line story collection Museebat (2017) published by Monsoon books, Mumbai. His poems and articles have appeared in important magazines online and print in India and abroad. His poems have also appeared in anthologies including GOSSAMER; An anthology of contemporary world poetry by Kindle Magazine.
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