Listen to Rahat Indori reciting the powerful poem that Mahua Moitra quoted in her Lok Sabha speech
The poet taught Urdu literature at Indore University before working in the film industry in Mumbai.
In her acclaimed maiden speech on June 25, first-time Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra warned that the Constitution is under threat and listed seven signs that indicating that “there is a danger of fascism rising in India”. She ended her address by quoting from an Urdu poem by Rahat Indori titled “Agar Khilaaf Hain Hone Do” (If They Are Against, Let Them Be).
Born Rahat Qureshi, Indori taught Urdu at Indore University before going on to write lyrics for such Bollywood movies as Munnabhai MBBS, Khuddar, and Mission Kashmir.
Here is a translation of the poem from the Urdu by Maaz Bin Bilal.
If they are against, let them be, it’s not the end of life,
This is all smoke, not the sky – this night.
If there’s fire, then other homes too shall burn,
The houses here are not all mine.
I know the enemy isn’t lesser, but,
They don’t wear their life easy like mine.
What comes out of our mouths has the power of truth.
The tongue in my mouth isn’t thine.
Today’s masters of the throne won’t be here tomorrow,
They’re tenants, it’s not their right divine.
Everyone’s blood is mixed in the soil here,
Hindostan’s not your dad’s, nor mine.