For so long

For so long
The politicians in my country
Have been dressing up in white.
Some even in saffron, green and blue.
But peace, sadly, is not in their agenda.
Tolerance, outdated, is not in their principles.

Do you know how easily they trade
My nation’s pride and honor
For pleasing their vote banks?
Do you know how loosely they spend
My fellow men’s hard earned money
On party campaigning and advertisements?

They change the denominations of our currency.
They change the color of our currency, our passports.
But they cannot curb black money.
They cannot stop terrorism.

They link our neck ties to aadhaar
But there is no clue in mass murders
No link to police custody deaths
No trail to the missing youngsters everyday.

The people who have binami land deals
Walk around in bright sunlight.
People who owe my country in crores
Roam carefree in London bridges.

But the farmer who fed me yesterday
Is long dead.
So is his family, his cattle and his dreams.
But there is no death to his sufferings, his misfortunes, his debts.

They make us stand in attention for the national anthem
Before every movie in theatre
But do they know what my country stands for?
Do they know the India Tagore dreamed in Jana gana mana?

They safeguard cows
I wish I was one.
But I’m a woman.
I’m educated.
I’m employed.
I’m a tax payer.
I’m the common man
Who gets angry and sad and desperate.

You told me to stand in queues
I did.
You told me to pay GST
I payed CGST and SGST.
You told me to suffer for a better India
I did.
You told me to remember the soldiers in Siachen
I did.
Now tell me
Where is the Acche Din?

Modi sir.
Yeh hai mera Mann ki baat.
When India wipes out every fanatic
Who adulters her history and science,
When India wipes out every leader
Who pre censors and make cuts in movies
Than worry about real people and real problems
Only then my India will be swacch Bharth.

For so long
The politicians in my country
Have been dressing up in white.
Some even in saffron, green and blue.
But they don’t know
What my country stands for.
They don’t know the value and color of my country men’s blood.
They don’t know our dreams, our sorrows.
They don’t know what it feels to be an Indian
To embrace blood and flesh
Torn for the kiss of justice.

They don’t know what it feels to hear a mother cry
“Amn’t I a mother? ”
They don’t know what it feels like, to watch a brother every day
For 775 days waiting for his brother’s murderers to be punished.
They don’t know what it feels to lose a loved one
Or all the savings of a lifetime in a calamity,
That could have been avoided,
Yet to wait patiently for the democracy in my country to take a step.
To punish or cure or support at least half of what our law promises.

For so long
The politicians in my country
Have been dressing up in white.
Some even in saffron, green and blue.
But my flag is still the same old triranga.
My truth my light.
My struggle my noncooperation.
But don’t count on my silences anymore
They are gone, long gone.
Even when we wish each other
“Happy Republic day” or
“Independence day” or
“Gandhi Jayanthi”
We know that the work is not done yet.
The work done is not enough yet.

Till every Indian can walk out of poverty
Till every child can dream big
Till every human is equal and feels equal
Till every citizen and leader is held responsible

India’s struggle for Freedom continues.

Freedom from injustice
Freedom from corruption
Freedom from inequality
Freedom from terrorism
Freedom from hatred

Freedom to love
Freedom to embrace
Freedom to learn
Freedom to dare
Freedom to do

Don’t forget we are still fighting
Till the last man wins
Till justice prevails
Till every law is made just and truth faced.