Journalism of Courage
From time immemorial, poetry has been used to win hearts. In the Haryana Assembly on Wednesday, veteran politicians and bitter rivals Manohar Lal Khattar and Bhupinder Singh Hooda used the same, if not to win hearts, then to lower raised tempers.
Chief Minister Khattar and Leader of Opposition Hooda took each other on verse for verse, with a little bit of prose thrown in, mixing in veiled messages, as a House that was in furore over discussion on a liquor smuggling exercise settled down and gave them the floor.
Hooda initially got up in support for a demand for a discussion on the liquor smuggling issue, and then went on to talk of sugarcane prices. “The input cost of farmers, on fertilisers, seeds, pesticides, petrol, diesel and transport, is continuously increasing, but the government is not raising even a single penny. This has pushed the farmers into financial distress… At least bring the sugarcane rates on a par with Punjab,” he said.
Khattar forestalled the demand with the promise to set up a committee to analyse the issue and submit a report in 15 days, without giving any assurances.
It was then that Hooda fired the first couplet:
“Chaman ko seenchne mein kuchch pattiyan jhadh gayin hongi, maanta hoon main,
Yahi ilzaam lag raha hai hum par bewafai ka.
Chaman ko raund daala jinhone apne pairon se, vahi daawa kar rahe hain is chaman ki rehnumayi ka.
(Some leaves might have fallen nurturing the garden, I accept this charge. But look, those who have destroyed the garden are claiming to be its saviours.)”
Khattar didn’t lose any time replying:
“Jise nibha na sakoon, aisa vaada nahin karta,
mein baat apni seema se zyada nahin karta.
Tamanna rakhta hoon aasmaan choo lene ki,
lekin auron ko giraane ka iraada nahin rakhta.
(I don’t make promises I can’t keep, I don’t say things beyond my limit. I too hope to touch the sky, but I don’t do that by pulling down others.)”
Refusing to relent, Hooda fired another one:
“Na pooch mere safar ki inteha kahan tak hai,
tu sitam kar le teri hasrat jahaan tak hai.
Wafa ki ummed usey hogi tumse jinki aankhein band hain,
main toh duniya ko dikha raha hoon ke tu bewafaa kahan tak hai.
(Don’t ask me how long my journey is, you torture me as much as you want. Those who have their eyes closed might hope for something from you; I, on the other hand, am showing the world how hopeless that is.)”
Khattar replied:
“Hum bhi dariya hain, hamein apna hunar maloom hai,
Jis taraf bhi chal padenge, raaste apne aap hi ho jayenge.
(We too are streams, who know our strengths. We will make our way wherever we head.)”
Hooda was not done, answering with:
“Mere junoon ka nateeza zaroor niklega,
isi siwa samandar se noor niklega…
Usi ka shehar, vahi mudayi, vahi munsif,
hamein yakeen tha hamaara kasoor niklega.
(My obsession will yield something, I know, light will emerge from the darkest of seas… It’s your town, you are the plaintiff, you are the judge, I knew I would be held guilty of something).”
Khattar replied with an apparent hint to Hooda to not provoke him:
“Meri khamoshiyon ka lehaj kijiye,
mere lafz aapse bardaasht nahin honge.
(Respect my silence, you won’t be able to bear it if I start speaking.)”
Hooda quoted a short story next, accusing the CM of deviating from the core topic of discussion in the House. “I am seeking the right price of sugarcane, and they are citing poetry,” he said, before going forth with his story. “Once there was a doctor in Narwane, who claimed to have the cure for toothache. He didn’t have anything with him. One man came, who was in a lot of pain. The doctor had two bottles of water, with chilli in them. The doctor put that water in the man’s eyes. The man started shouting, ‘My eyes, my eyes!’. The doctor asked him, what about your toothache. He replied, forget that, first do something for my eye… This is what you are doing. You are deviating attention.”
As the two leaders demonstrated their poetry skills, the House relished the exchange, eagerly waiting for the next reply. When a few MLAs tried to interrupt, Speaker Gian Chand Gupta said: “This is between two chief ministers — the current one and a former one. Let them first finish.”
It is not the first time that Hooda and Khattar have used verse to put their points across, in the ilk of politicians of their vintage. In August this year, both had similarly exchanged barbs in the form of couplets.
First, Khattar fired: “Lehze-par kasak aur chehre par naqaab liye firte hain/ Jinke khud ke khaate kharaab hain, voh mera hisaab liye firte hain (With sweet words and masked faces, they move around / Those who can’t account for own deeds seek answers from me).”
Hooda replied that the entire state wanted answers from Khattar: “Zubaan toh khol, nazar toh mila, jawaab toh de/ Mein kitni baar luta hoon, mujhe hisaab toh de (Speak up at least, meet my eyes, answer me / I have been robbed so many times, give me an account of that.)”
Khattar wasn’t done, answering: “Mehfil mein jo hamein daad dene se katraate hain, suna hai tanhaiyon mein voh hamaari shayari gun-gunaate hain (Those who won’t be seen praising us in public, are known to repeat our words when alone).”
At that time, the two leaders were targeting each other over their respective tenures as CMs, the revenue generated by the state in that time and the debt accumulated.
In December 2021, a similar exchange was witnessed in the Haryana Assembly when Congress MLA Raghuvir Kadian was speaking about a Haryana Public Service Commission recruitment scam, and how the arrest of a senior official had shaken the faith of the youth. Demanding a CBI probe, Kadian quoted the famous couplet: “Tu idhar-udhar ki baat na kar, yeh bataa karvaan kyun luta/ Mujhe raahjanon se gila nahi, teri rehbari ka sawaal hai (Don’t beat around the bush, tell me why was the convoy looted / I don’t hold any grudges against the passersby, it is your guardianship that I suspect).”
As Kadian kept insisting on a CBI investigation or a probe by a sitting judge, Khattar stood up and quoted a couplet too: “Yahan par har koi rakhta hai khabar gairon ke gunaahon ki / Ajeeb fitrat hai koi aayina apne aap dekhta nahin (Here everyone keeps an account of others’ faults / It’s strange that no one sees oneself in the mirror).”
Hooda stood up with the response: “Is haalat mein, dawa kya hai, daaru kya hai/ Jab qatil hee pooche hua kya hai (What is the remedy for such a situation, when the killer himself asks has anything happened).”
