Four Poems by Sutputra Radheye

By Sutputra Radheye

Shoot Me!

Shoot me

              in the head for thinking

Shoot me

             in the throat for speaking up

Shoot me

            in the heart for storing courage

Shoot me

             Pluck my red petals

                                  Standing by the green leaves.

I will protest till you don’t:
I will protest across the streets of Delhi
I will protest all around the Brahmaputra
I will protest in the fields of Aligarh
I will protest outside the libraries of Kolkata

My silence isn’t yours –
I have wrapped it in sparkling paper
And gifted it to death.

You can’t stop me

                  from singing the songs of Paash

You can’t stop me

                 from playing the music of Kabir

You can’t stop me

                 From reading Dushyant out loud

You can’t stop me

                  From screaming the lyrics of Faiz

On your bloody faces.

You just can’t.
So, shoot me, dictator…

(A student was shot during protest by a hindutva goon)

***

Shaheen Bagh

Flowers wore burkhas

           And sat in rows

                    To form a bagh

Celebrations began

           With flowers fluttering

Holding the constitution.

They sang lullabies

                    Of revolution

And equality.

The dictator

     Inside his palace

Sweated – sleepless.

***

Died in the Hands of Hindutva

There was a barbed wire across my neck
cutting my throat when I tried to speak

 People took my silence for happiness
like Kashmir and it’s mutated freedom

I protested drawing graffiti on the walls
Of qutb minar, of rang ghar and of park street

The dhritarashtra republic turned a blind eye
As I died on the NRC desk holding my identity.

***

NRC

Documents

       Legacy data

What are they?

my father didn’t read

            and his father too.

I read till class 1.

They didn’t have papers.

                   I don’t have it –

We live on labor.

I work

    My family works

To eat-to survive.

 We were homeless

     And now

 We’ll be countryless.

Photo: The Indian Express

Bio:
Sutputra Radheye is a poet and commentator who delves into issues affecting the socio-eco-political scenario. His works have been published in prestigious platforms like Frontier, Countercurrents, Janata Weekly, Culture Matters (UK), among others.

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