Lesson From Diljit vs Kangana War: Oye Neta Ji, Learn to Listen!

Farmers’ Protest at Singhu Border

(Image: Altered by The Quint)

Video Producer: Shohini Bose
Video Editor: Deepthi Ramadas
Cameraperson: Athar Rather

Asi vatt kadhan nu hee jamey an…
Eh tan bhoonda de khakkar nu ched leya tu
Tere saare daa pech jaanda mai...
Kisaan kamle ae?
2 dian 4 ni 36 sunavange
Te hun dasso badshaho! Aayi gal samajh?!

Yeh Jo India Hai Na… Yahan Kangana ko… Sarkar ko… Diljit Dosanjh ki baat kyon nahi samajh aa rahi hai?

It's not just because he’s speaking theth, meaning shudh Punjabi. It's also because the habit of listening, of trying to understand what someone is saying, especially when they’re disagreeing with you – that simple common art of LISTENING – has been forgotten!

Try this one –

(Image: Altered by The Quint)

O aa ke mere naal lage... means come and be by my side. Ki kina aukha honda hai kisaani da kamm… means find out how tough a farmer’s work is.

Click on the player below for the full podcast.

WHY IS AN AGED MOHINDER KAUR TRYING TO TELL  KANGANA HOW 'AUKHA' A FARMER'S LIFE IS?

Why is an aged Mohinder Kaur out there protesting, trying to tell Kangana and, in fact, trying to tell the government, how tough, how aukha a farmer’s life is? It's not just her Punjabi that’s aukha, it’s aukha for the government to understand her, to understand what the agitating farmers are saying.

For instance:

• their fears about being exploited even more by corporate buyers,
• their fears about not having the security net of an MSP.

But no matter how aukha it is, a responsible government always listens.

DILJIT’S MESSAGE TO KANGANA: DON’T BE ‘ANNA’ TO WHAT FARMERS ARE SAYING

Next, try this line from a Diljit tweet –

(Image: Altered by The Quint/Twitter)

The trick word here is ‘Anna’. While it means big brother in Tamil, in Punjabi – it means blind! The point being made is the same – don’t be blind (or deaf) to what our farmers are saying. It's also Diljit’s message for those who blindly share WhatsApp messages, to push an agenda, without verifying news or facts, pretty much what Ms Ranaut did on Twitter. He’s telling them –

Koyi inna anna.. blind.. bhi na ho, ki bina
soche-samjhe whatsapp karr da jaye!

KISAN-SARKAR TALKS ARE ON, BUT IS THE GOVERNMENT LISTENING?

Here’s the next one –

(Image: Altered by The Quint/Twitter)

This means – aap agar do baat karoge, to uske jawaab mein hum aapko chaar nahi, 36 jawaab denge!

To my mind, this is not just Diljit shutting Kangana down. It also points to how many of the protesting farmers have been talking about their issues with the farm laws, with a lot of clarity. While the government originally tried to discredit them as being just another unruly mob, they soon found, and so did we all, that these farmer-protestors  know why they are out there braving the winter, the water cannons and tear gas.

Yes, talks are on, but is the government LISTENING?

Which brings us to another ‘Diljitism’ – it’s now a word, right?

THROW STONES AT A BEEHIVE, AND THEY’LL COME AFTER YOU

(Image: Altered by The Quint/Twitter)

Literal translation – Now, you've messed with and disturbed a beehive!

Throw a stone, meaning the farm laws, at a beehive, meaning our farmers – and they will come after you. A truism that fits other situations as well.

For instance, secular India is the beehive. You throw a CAA-NRC stone at it, you disturb the beehive – and naturally India’s secular millions swarm onto the streets in protest. It happened a year ago. But even then, instead of LISTENING to the protestors, they were demonised and called anti-national, just like the farmers are being called Khalistanis now.

DILJIT’S MESSAGE: DON’T CHANGE THE TOPIC, DON’T RUN AWAY

Here’s another –

(Image: Altered by The Quint/Twitter)

Meaning – Baat ko matt ghuma, iss topic pe baat kar, Don’t run away!

This is familiar, isn’t it? When the country wants to discuss the government’s COVID lockdown strategy, or the government’s plans to get back territory grabbed by China at the LAC, baat ko godi media ki help se ghumaa diya jaata hai. And for months on end, we find we’re discussing Rhea Chakravarty’s imaginary plot to ‘murder’ Sushant Singh Rajput. Jab baat honi chahiye girte hue GDP ki… baat ghumakar shuru ho jaati hai ‘Love Jihad’ ki.

DILJIT’S MESSAGE: DON'T INSULT FARMERS BY DISSING THEM AS PROTESTERS ON HIRE

Okay, next –

(Image: Altered by The Quint/Twitter)

Vatt means ego, kadhan means nikalna and jamey means born. So, the phrase means, we were born to take out people's egos! But then, kuch loki – some people, inne theet – stubborn, honde ne, ki asi kina vi try karein, unna di ego – their ego doesn't let them think beyond their power and believing they are always right. No, we won’t take names! Samajhdar nu ishara hi kaafi hai!

Here’s one more –

Asi 12-13 kila de maalik hain, asi dhyaadi wale bande nai..

A killa equals an acre of land. What he’s saying is farmers who own 12-13 acres of land are not in need of money. So don’t insult them by dissing them as protesters on hire –for Rs 100 a day!

Which ties up with this simple Diljeetism –

Kisaan kamle ae?

Meaning – are farmers mad? The word kamle means mad. The question being asked is – are Punjab & Haryana’s farmers mad, to be protesting in thousands? Can they be dismissed as mad, misled, bought out, Khalistani – just because their questions are aukha?

Unfortunately, this is what governments do when they don’t want to LISTEN.

LESSON FROM DILJIT VS KANGANA TWITTER BATTLE

But Yeh Jo India Hai Na… the one thing that the farmers’ protest has hopefully taught our Netas – is that they must LISTEN. Their troll army needs to back off and LISTEN, the godi media, that’s been cold-shouldered by the farmers – must learn to LISTEN.

The hilarious ‘communication gap’ between Diljit Dosanjh’s ‘theth’ Punjabi and Kangana, exposes how little we understand and LISTEN to legitimate protests in India – be it anti-CAA-NRC protestors from across India, be it Rohith Vemula’s protests that went unheard, leading to his suicide, be it servicemen protesting for One Rank One Pension, be it protesting farmers from Tamil Nadu, protestors at the Kudankollam nuclear plant, be it cartoonists and stand-up comedians.

Let’s end with this one –

Inne janya da, kissana da, dard nahi aaya?

Meaning – Isn’t the plight of so many people, of farmers, visible?