A Warning in Verse to Those Dividing India Using Religion

Among all the performances at the #NotInMyName protest in New Delhi, Maya Rao’s dramatised monologue sent the message home the strongest.

Here’s her address, in verse, to the thousands gathered at Jantar Mantar on Wednesday evening, in protest against the increasing frequency of mob lynchings across the country.

Swachh Bharat ke naam pe mera safaya kar doge?

Maya Rao

Also Read: #NotInMyName: Thousands Protest Against ‘Murderous Nationalism’

Not in My Name

The following is the text of Maya Rao’s monologue ‘Not in My Name’.

Tum kya jano Ram ka naam?
Tum kya jano Siya-Ram? Tum kya jano,
No, you’ll never know
What Jesus died on the cross for
What the Prophet fled his home for
What Buddha’s 8-fold path was
That Ram’s other name
That we greet each other
Every morning, “Jai Siya-Ram, Jai Siya-Ram”

Izzat bachane ke nam pe,
Bataoge mujhe kya pehnna hai,
Saath kiske rehna hai,
Dua kisse mangna hai,
Gau raksha ke naam pe, roti mere haath se cheen loge?
Chuppi saadh ke muh modloge?

Aur nahi, mere naam pe nahi
Chhoona mat mere chashme kehte hain Gandhi

Yes, don’t you dare
Not in my name
But don’t you dare
In the name of Allah, Krishna, Buddha, Jehovah,
Kalburgi, Pehlu Khan, Dabholkar, Md Akhlaq, Pansare
Junaaaaid...
One last kiss

You hear? Can you hear?
How come not a sound escapes your lips
In the name of making your India
February 20: Muslim cops trashed, forced to carry a saffron flag, chant Jai Bhawani.....

You’ll make me run, snatch the food from my mouth,
Chase me out of my home, kill my son on a train

For him, one last kiss
All he had in his bag were gifts

Not in my name, mere naam pe nahi
Le lo chashme wapas,
You hear him? Gandhi.

Don’t you dare take my name
Not in my name, not in my name

Bass
Bilkis
One last kiss...

So it’s like this….
If I’m a student, whose brother wears a uniform and
Fights for his country, you throw fake video tapes in my face
And tell me, we’ll teach you who a patriot is

If I’m a woman you tell me,
“Wear what we tell you,
Walk when we tell you,
Marry who we tell you,
You asked for it so raped you will be”

If I’m a farmer you tell me, “Jai kisan nahi, jai jawan”
If I’m a child, you tell me it doesn’t matter,
You don’t need to know who your first prime minister was,
I’ll give you fresh spectacles, read what I tell you.

If I’m a nobody, you’ll still get after me, tell me what to eat,
Whom to meet, when to play
Hey, I say
Not in my name

If I’m a cow, you’ll let me die on the street,
Let me bleed, my master bleed
Feed, what do you feed on?
Breed, do you only breed...
Hate?

Not in my name
Not in that child’s name
Mere naam pe nahi, kabhi nahi
Le lo chashme wapas, hear him? Gandhi

June 27: Usman Ansari, Deori, Ranchi,
Thrashed
For a dead cow found outside his house
Basss...

Not in her name, not in mine
Not his, not hers
Don’t you dare
All he had in his bag were gifts
His, hers, yours, theirs

You kill in the name of country
Stand up, stand up India
Look, there’s Dabholkar,
There’s Usman Ansari, Pehlu Khan, Pansare,
Junaaaaaaid...

Yes in his name, in hers, Bilkis
In his and hers, and ours
Get on a train, a truck, walk into the park,
Fill the streets
You hear...can you hear?
There’s a roar...shor
Today, in my name
A last kiss
Bass

They Shall Not Pass.

Video Editor: Mohd Ibrahim