Mujhhe Vote Do, India Ko Vote Do
(Vote For Me, Vote For India)
By Braj Ranjan Mani
28 January, 2014
Countercurrents.org
Glancing through an in-your-face poll publicity (the sort of which will bombard us in coming days), I saw a familiar hideousness hidden between the benign lines, and hurriedly scribbled these lines (known but in danger once again of being forgotten) to remind my fellow Indians that our sleep of reason brings forth monsters.
Salman Khan ke saath patang urane ke liye
Lata ke saath ‘aye mere watan’ gaane ke liye
Valentine’s Day Bharat mein rokane ke liye
Hindutva ka zahar chupke se pilane ke liye
Mujhhe vote do, vote do, India ko vote do!
(To fly a kite with Salman Khan;
To chant a patriotic mantra with Lata;
To make illegal the Valentine’s Day in India;
And to secretly inject a deadly doze of Hindutva;
Vote for me—Vote for India!)
Itihass-bhugol ki aisi-taisi karne ke liye
Sikandar ko khinchkar Patna lane ke liye
Takshila ko Bihar mein hi dikhane ke liye
Nagpur ko desh ki rajdhani banane ke liye
Mujhhe vote do, vote do, India ko vote do!
(To make a mess of our history and geography;
To drag the mighty Alexander down to Patna;
To prove that Takshila is in the state of Bihar;
And to make Nagpur the capital city of India;
Vote for me—Vote for India!)
Bharatiya itihaas phir se likhwane ke liye
Vedon mein rocket science khojane ke liye
Cycle se pahale pushpakyaan banane ke liye
Aise mahagyan se textbook rachane ke liye
Mujhhe vote do, vote do, India ko vote do!
(To fraudulently rewrite the Indian history;
To find rocket science in the ancient Vedas;
To invent aeroplane before making a bicycle;
And to produce textbooks with such super knowledge;
Vote for me—Vote for India!)
Ekalavya ka angootha phir kaatne ke liye
Shambuka ka sir phir kalam karane ke liye
Sita ko beizzat kar banwas bhejane ke liye
Een kalankon ko deshgaurav banane ke liye
Mujhhe vote do, vote do, India ko vote do!
(To slice again the right thumb of Ekalavya;
To kill again the meditating shudra Shambuka;
To abuse and exile Sita for her alleged infidelity;
And to turn such crimes into India’s crowning glories;
Vote for me—Vote for India!)
Sushasan aur anushasan phir lane ke liye
Swayamsevakon ki fauj khari karne ke liye
Madrasa-Marx-Macaulay par ban ke liye
Gujarat ke tarz par roz maar-kaat ke liye
Mujhhe vote do, vote do, India ko vote do!
(To bring good governance and discipline the undisciplined;
To form a solid phalanx of well-armed volunteers;
To clamp a ban on the menace of Madrasa-Marx-Macaulay;
And to manufacture riots on the Gujarat model;
Vote for me—Vote for India!)
Gharibon ke beraham visthapan ke liye
Dhannasethon ka khula raj lane ke liye
Unake ek ishare par mar-mitane ke liye
Bhrastachar ka nanga naach karne ke liye
Mujhhe vote do, vote do, India ko vote do!
(To remove mercilessly the poor and helpless;
To bring the direct rule of the millionaires;
To lay down our lives to please the plutocrats;
And to uphold and promote open corruption;
Vote for me—Vote for India!)
Janata ko jahil banaye rakhane ke liye
Dalit-adivasion ke Hindukaran ke liye
Phule-Ambedkar ki yaad mitane ke liye
Jati jaisa prapanch phir rachne ke liye
Mujhhe vote do, vote do, India ko vote do!
(To keep the people in perpetual ignorance;
To completely Hinduise the dalit-adivasis;
To erase the memory of Phule-Ambedkar;
And to fortify the fabrication of caste culture;
Vote for me—Vote for India!)
Fasiwad ko phir se zinda karne ke liye
Danga-fasaad ke naye gul khilane ke liye
Khalnayak ko mahanayak banane ke liye
Desh ko ek qatil ke hawale karne ke liye
Mujhhe vote do, vote do, India ko vote do!
(To revive and resurrect the spirit of fascism;
To invent new ways of killing and waging wars;
To turn a repellent villain into a great hero;
And to hand over the country to a murderer;
Vote for me—Vote for India!)
Braj Ranjan Mani is the author of Debrahmanising History: Dominance and Resistance in Indian Society (2005). Manohar has recently published Mani’s important new work Knowledge and Power: A Discourse for Transformation.
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