Still Killing Him: Javed Akhtar Remembers Gandhi on Martyrs’ Day

Martyrs’ Day marks the anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination.

Javed Akhtar took to Twitter to remember Mahatma Gandhi on Martyr’s Day (30 January), the anniversary of his assassination. The lyricist said that while Gandhi was killed, his spirit remains alive, and lamented that even today, people are trying to destroy the ideals he stood for.

“This was the day in 1948 when the father of the nation Mahatma Gandhi ji was killed by a right wing political activist. He had shot three bullets in his frail body. He killed the body but couldn’t kill Gandhi ji. He is still alive. They are still trying to kill him,” he tweeted.

This was the day in 1948 when the father of the nation Mahatma Ghandhi ji was killed by a right wing political activist . He had shot three bullets in his frail Body . He killed the body but couldnt kill Gandhi ji . He is still alive . They are still trying to kill him .

— Javed Akhtar (@Javedakhtarjadu) January 30, 2020

Speaking at the 30th Safdar Hashmi Shahadat Diwas on 1 January in Ghaziabad, Akhtar emphasised that the poor would bear the brunt of the CAA. He also said that while violence and corruption is seen regardless of the party in power, the present situation has become worse. “Injustice, violence, and corruption, however, stay with all seasons, only their degrees change,” he said adding, “The winter is getting worse these days, unlike anything we have seen in many years.”

“They want to disenfranchise poor Hindus, Dalits and the tribals. Where will you send these crores of people? Will you keep crores of people in detention camps?” “Crores of Indians don’t know their birthdays. How will they furnish documents? This is going to be a problem for the poor. No one can throw my kids out of the country, I have money.”

Javed Akhtar had earlier criticised the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Kanpur, which has set up a panel to investigate if Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s iconic poem Hum Dekhenge is “anti-Hindu”. The poem was recited by students on campus during a march held in solidarity with the members of Delhi’s Jamia Milia University.

“It is so absurd and funny to call any poem of Faiz’s anti-Hindu that I find it hard to talk about it seriously. Faiz Ahmed Faiz was an eminent writer in undivided India. How can you speak of a man in such a manner when he used his poetry to express his sorrow at the partition of India?” he told ANI.