A Akhter /
Artists forced to deface Urdu couplet praising Delhi
At a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi trying to project India’s multiculturalism through Urdu and Persian abroad, the ‘saviour’ of Hindutva at home are leaving no stone unturned to diminish this very tradition.
During his recent visit to Iran Prime Minister not only recited the couplet of Hafiz and Ghalib, but also gifted the Iranian President Dr Hassan Rouhani a specially commissioned reproductions of Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib’s collection of poetry in Persian, Kulliyat-e-Farsi-e-Ghalib.
But at home a crowd shouting slogans like “Jai Shri Ram” forced the artists to deface their wall-writing in praise of the national capital in Urdu and asked them to replace it with the words “Swachh Bharat Abhiyan”.
According to a report in the Telegraph, a French artist and an Indian associate commissioned by the Delhi government were forced by a crowd to deface their own wall-writing in praise of the capital in Urdu and replace it with the words “Swachh Bharat Abhiyan”.
On May 19, the French artist and the Delhi-based Ahmad were painting an Urdu couplet on the wall of a Delhi Jal Board pumping station in northeast Delhi.
Their work is part of the #MyDilliStory project commissioned by the state government’s art, culture and languages department. Artists collective Delhi I Love You (DILY), which is steering the project, has selected 40 couplets in the four languages to be painted on walls.
Ahmad, better known as Shabbu, told The Telegraph today: “As we painted the first line, a crowd gathered. People asked why we were painting in Urdu. We explained that this is poetry praising Delhi, it’s a government project. We showed them the permission letter on our phones. The crowd soon increased to about 150. A dark and hefty man with a slight moustache stepped forward and said he is from the RSS and Urdu would not be tolerated.”
“He had a few supporters who yelled abuses about our mothers and sisters and started shouting ‘Jai Shri Ram’. I said my name is Shabbu and they assumed I was Shambhu, a Hindu. So they turned their ire towards my French colleague, Swen Simon, asking him to pay me my wages and go back to Lahore. Swen doesn’t know Hindi. I pleaded with them to leave him alone, saying he’s French not Pakistani,” Ahmad added.
Some people picked up the brush and started painting over the Urdu letters, said Ahmad. “They yelled at me, saying paint in ‘yellow, orange, blue’. They held my hands and tried to force me to paint. I agreed to paint whatever they wanted to save ourselves.
Meanwhile, Delhi culture minister Kapil Mishra said he would not allow intimidation rather he would go with artists when they start painting.
“These RSS men neither understand culture nor religion, especially Hinduism. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have done this to our foreign guest who is doing a service to the city,” Mishra said.
Photo courtesy Telegraph