Watch: This scathing song of protest critiques Narendra Modi (and look who’s dancing)
Another layer to the thickening air of dissent in the country.
After three years of the Narendra Modi government, even supporters have begun to admit that despite all the fanfare, key policies put in action by the administration have simply not worked. The country is still reeling from the fallout of demonetisation, farmers are in protest mode everywhere, the situation in Kashmir is deteriorating, Dalits are under attack, cow vigilantism has led to rampant violence, there are question marks over privacy protection in the context of Aadhaar, and even the Goods and Services Tax is looking unwieldy in some ways.
The Modi Song (above) addresses many of these problems, and more. It is an animated version of a song sung by the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sanghatan (video below), an umbrella group of organisations met at Delhi’s favourite protest spot, Jantar Mantar, to air the country’s grievances, in March 2017.
Here, the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sanghatan (video below) sang: “Our Modi sits in the lap of the wealthy”, going on to target the prime minister for “playing around with the note ban” while “your country is suffering from starvation.”