Two of a kind

Kannan Gopinathan and Abdur Rahman quit the civil services for different reasons. Now they are working to achieve the same goal

- PRATUL SHARMA

SHAHEEN BAGH HAS become a metaphor for resistance. For those who have been protesting the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act, Shaheen Bagh symbolises nationalism. For those who oppose the agitation, it threatens the unity of the country.

Shaheen Bagh has also become a place of political pilgrimage. Singer-songwriter Prateek Kuhad, Carnatic maestro T.M. Krishna, classical vocalist Shubha Mudgal and sundry pop bands have performed before the motley crew of women protesters at Shaheen Bagh. And the performances have given a new lease of life to protest poetry. Urdu poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s 1979 protest anthem ‘Hum dekhenge (We will see)’ got a new audience in millennials, while Bollywood lyricist Varun Grover’s ‘Hum kagaz nahi dikhayenge (We will not show the documents)’ became the leading slogan of the anti-CAA agitation. Hussain Haidry’s ‘Hindustani Musalmaan’, written in 2016, has given a syncretic meaning to the Muslim identity in these polarising times.

In mainstream politics, firebrands like Kanhaiya Kumar have raised the banner of dissent. His Jan Gan Man Yatra through Bihar, which will go to the polls later this year, was attacked seven times in the past few weeks, but his rallies continue to draw crowds.