A Patriot's Song- Bilquis by Rabbi Shergill

“Art is not a mirror held up to reality
but a hammer with which to shape it.”

-Bertolt Brecht

 I believe in Brecht's view. Art for art's sake is an empty expression. In principle, we're all artists, authors of our lives. But the true spirit of an artist, in my opinion, is to absorb the world, process the stimulus, and respond to the world as she sees it. A true artist chisels the world to realize whatever vision he has, just like Michelangelo chiseled marble monoliths to free the elegant forms he felt were trapped in them. Art is never neutral to injustice.

Rabbi Shergill, referred to as the 'turbaned troubadour' and 'original Indie hero' by RollingStone India, is one such artist. The song 'Bilquis' from his second album Avengi Ja Nahi, is something that resonates with the true artist who resides within each listener. The ballad-like (or elegiac?) song led on with catchy guitar-work, tight drums, and a neat bass, is about the gruesome fate of 4 people, three of whom were killed for standing up for truth, honour and honesty and one was the victim of inhuman atrocity by extremist rioters. Embedded in the song is a plucky guitar riff of Jana Gana Mann, our National Anthem which sets the grounds for the true question, Rabbi asks-

जिन्हें नाज़ है हिन्द पर वो कहाँ थे,
जिन्हें नाज़ है हिन्द पर वो कहाँ हैं?

It is a question asked previously by Sahir Ludhianvi, in his song 'Jinhe Naz Hai Hind Par' (Pyaasa,1957) . And it is a question we ought to ask again and again, every time an innocent person is killed off in this free, democratic, independent India. Let us remember the four people that 'Bilquis', immortalizes in-

1. Bilkis Bano

मेरा नाम बिलकिस याकूब रसूल
मुझसे हुई बस एक ही भूल
की जब ढूंढ़ते थे वो राम को
तो मैं खड़ी थी राह में 

In the Godhra riots of 2002 in Gujarat, 14 of her family were cruelly massacred by armed rioters. She was brutally gangraped and left for dead. 

2. Satyendra Dubey

मेरा नाम श्रीमान  सत्येंद्र  दुबे
जो कहना था वो कह चुके
अब पड़े हैं राह में
दिल में लिए इक गोली  

He was the Project Director in NHAI, in Koderma, Jharkhand, and exposed serious financial corruption and mafia involvement in the Golden Quadrilateral Project. Nobody in the entire chain-of-command co-operated with him, but he was persistent. His whistle-blowing led to him being shot in November, 2003. 

3. Shanmugam Manjunath

आदर्श फंसा जहाँ नारों में
और चोर भरें हैं दरबारों में
वहां मौत अख़लाक़ की है इक खबर बासी 

Manjunath was a sales grade officer for Indian Oil Corporation and was killed for exposing and sealing an adulterating petrol station in Lakhimpur Kheri, UP in 2005. 

4.  Navleen Kumar

लूटो देहात खोलो बाजार
नालासोपारा और विरार
छीनो ज़मीन हमसे हमें
भेजो पातळ 

She was stabbed nineteen times by a group of men with knives, on 19th June, 2002 . She was fighting to protect tribal lands in the suburbs of Mumbai against coercive appropriation.  

'Bilquis' is an energetic song and yet there is something very poignant and moving about it- it asks you to ask yourself, to peer into your own soul, to ask it- what is the price of integrity? And the big question- Are we buying nationalism at the cost of humanity?

True patriotism is not towards the nation, but towards the people, for without people, a nation holds no meaning. Putting the nation on that leaden pedestal which crushes its own bearers is false patriotism. In my mind, the people who question and protest against such virulent atrocities, demand answers and action, and hold the authorities responsible for their missteps are truly patriotic. After all the author of Jana Gana Mann said-

“Patriotism cannot be our final spiritual shelter; my refuge is humanity. I will not buy glass for the price of diamonds, and I will never allow patriotism to triumph over humanity as long as I live.”

(Rabindranath Tagore)