Teesta Review: A Journal of Poetry, Volume 3, Number 1. May 2020. ISSN: 2581-7094
India:
Still a Divided Nation?
Die
Corona! Die! But stop before you leave!
Let
us ponder the truth unveiled before us!
The
loss of jobs due to sudden lockdown, the
long
walks across the borders to reach their
home,
the need for food and shelter, the wait
and
the longing to board the elusive train to take
them
back home, the tattered clothes, the sad,
drooping
spirit of the hungry, penniless migrants,
the
victims of government apathy and police
atrocities
remind us of the tales of the sufferings
of
countless destitute across ages in our country!
The
oppression of the poor peasants in the
hands
of the tyrant Zamindars, the Nawabs
and
the British, the Bengal famines, the mass
deaths
of uprooted refugees during Partition,
the
killings of the Namasudras at Marichchjhapi,
the
suicides of the farmers, the rape and killings
of
poor dalit girls throw light on social
disparity,
the
gap between the haves and the have-nots.
The
reality is unmasked! India won freedom
but
is it still free from iniquities? Could
her
marginalised
groups throw off the yoke of
deprivations
and neglect and embrace freedom?
Die
Corona! Die! Leave us! But before you go
let
us ponder the truth, the critical problem
now
lying before our Nation.