2018 Elections - शायर की नज़र में

The political atmosphere in the country is becoming more and more toxic everyday with even highly respected leaders getting down to low-level verbal fights. We witnessed weeks of noisy cacophony of state elections this month. How do we bear all this noise? Political cartoons have been used as a powerful medium to interpret complex political issues in a lighter vein. I am experimenting here with the use of shayari for the same purpose. Here is a collection of verses on politics (जम्हूरियत) re-interpreted in the context of 2018 elections. Enjoy with the morning tea :)

Last month it was politics everywhere:

अब तो मयखाना भी सुकूं नही देता
जिक्र-ए-जम्हूरियत वहां भी होने लगा


It was a state election, but the whole nation witnessed an unprecedented and extremely ugly fight among parties and leaders:

करेंगे वो किसी से दोस्ती क्या, जो डरते हैं किसी की दुश्मनी से
यही मक़सद है क्या जम्हूरियत का, लडा दो आदमी को आदमी से                         (मधु भूषण)


The performance of central government was in focus throughout. This is what the opposition claimed about ruling party's five years:

चराग कल भी थे रौशन, मगर उज़ाला था,
चराग आज भी हैं रौशन, मगर अंधेरा है।  - एज़ाज़ सिद्दकी


Ruling party kept ignoring Rahul for a long time, but finally its leadership had to face the challenge head-on. I have been using the second line of this sher for a long time, it aptly describes the Modi - Rahul contest:

चाहत का मज़ा है कि वो भी हो बेकरार,
दोनो तरफ हो आग, बराबर लगी हुई।    - ज़हीर देहलवी


The best part was that people woke up and turned up to vote in big numbers. This is a sign of a healthy democracy:

कब तक़ जम्हूरियत के दलालो के आगे रोओगे
देश भक्तों जागो अरे कब तक़ तुम सोओगे          (मिलन कुमार)


Irrespective of his status, everyone got to cast only one vote:

जम्हूरियत वो तर्ज़-ए-हूकूमत है के जिसमें
बन्दौ को गिना जाता है तौला नही जाता 

Congress after winning three states back:

देखा है फिर एक बार वोटर की आँखों मे प्यार
अबकी बार कांग्रेस सरकार


Ruling Party after the first major election loss in recent years, particularly Chattisgarh:

आज उतनी भी मयस्सर नही मयखाने मे
जितनी हम छोड दिया करते थे पैमाने मे

Shivraj Chouhan appeared very hurt in his post results press conference, possibly as he is being blamed for the defeat.

चराग बन के ज़ला जिसके वास्ते इक उम्र,
चला गया वो हवा के सुपुर्द करके मुझे।   - ज़माल एहसानी

After the setback, a natural question is why blame it on Modi ji? It was a state election in which local issues should be more relevant. Why is it being used to amplify each and every mistake of government at the center? The answer lies in this sher:

चुकानी पडती है कीमत सफेदपोशी की,
किसी का ऎब यहाँ पर छुपा नही करता।  - रईस सिद्दीकी


Other small parties - BSP, AAP fought the elections with a lot of hope, but could not score much, their take after election loss:

रात का जुगनू कितनी रोशनी लुटायेगा
प्यास समंदर की हो तो क्या क़तरा बुझा पायेगा

The bitter political argument on TV channels, Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp continues even after the results, enough of it for me. My take on this:

चार दिन की है ये दुनिया, तो ज़रूरी है मियां,
एक इंसान से इंसान, ठिकाने से मिले।   - कैफ भोपाली