Said Khalid to Rohit

Said Khalid to Rohit

The loudspeaker announces each night
“Naam note karein, in bandi bhaiyon ki rehaai hai”
Note the names, these inmates are being released.
I wait and hope for the day when I would hear my name.

I often wonder, how long is this dark tunnel?
Is there any light in sight? Am I near the end?
Am I only midway through?
Or has the ordeal just begun?

The jail warden says “Bail kyu nahi mil rahi tumhe?
Kisan aandolan walon ko to mil gayi thi.”
Why aren’t you getting bail?
The protesting farmers got bail.

I tried to tell him
the test of bail under UA(P) Act
as compared to the IPC
but as I was explaining,

I lost him midway.
How many people
of this Kafkaesque law,
can even understand them?

Do people not see any similarity
between this UA(P) Act used against us
and the Rowlatt Act,
the British used against freedom fighters?

Today perception matters more than reality.
The Hindi Newspaper headline says
“Khalid chahta tha Musalmanon ke liye alag desh”.
Khalid wanted a separate country for Muslims.

What they implied was truly tragic-comic:
The Delhi riots, in which most of those killed were Muslims,
would lead to the creation of a new country for Muslims.
I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

The Hindi Newspaper headline proclaims
I secretly met Sharjeel Imam
in Delhi, on February 16,  2020
a week before the riots broke out in Delhi.

On February 16, 2020
even the police agree,
I was 1136 kms away from Delhi, in Amrawati,
while Sharjeel Imam was in Tihar jail in Delhi

“Kuch to kiya hoga.
Poora jhooth thode likh denge”
He must have done something.
Surely they wouldn’t publish only lies?

It is indeed a drug.
Every morning, I see
how these sheets of paper numb people’s brains
and take them into the world of an alternate reality.

The purveyors of hate and falsehood
have money, pliant 24×7 news channels,
lots of channels, troll armies,
and the police too.

It makes you feel a stranger in your own land.
I find succour in that none of this is personal.
My persecution and isolation is symbolic of something larger:
the persecution and isolation of Muslims in India right now.

How many lies should I debunk?
Are people merely waylaid by propaganda?
Or do people, deep down,
want to believe in these lies?

I end up spending most of my time in jail alone.
Far from the madding crowd,
I find comfort in silence and solitude
In the tranquility of jail.

Am I getting used to captivity?

 **

– Calligraphy and Found Poem by H Masud Taj based on the letter of jailed rights activist Umar Khalid, in response to a letter of Rohit Kumar, author of “Tales  from the Jail: Christmas in Tihar”

 

 

Khalid, whose PhD thesis was on the problems of the tribals of Jharkand, has spent two years in Tihar Jail under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, accused by the Delhi Police of involvement in 2020 Delhi Riot. He has been denied bail and his trial has yet to commence. Three in four prisoners in India's jails are undertrials, according to government data (i.e innocent until proven guilty).

******

H Masud Taj's poetry has featured at the International Festival of Authors, Toronto. He is the architect of the War Memorial for the Indian Navy.

This author in The Beacon