Session held on protest poetry

Tribune news service

Amritsar, November 23

The relationship between poetry and protests isn’t new. The poetry has been an integral part of literary tradition of Punjab and contributed in social, cultural and political movements.

Even the Bhakti Movement had its fair share of protest poetry, challenging the prevailing social practices and dispensations of those times by the Sufis, Bhaktas and Sikh Gurus.

Punjabi folklore created its own powerful anti-establishment and dissident poetry to be seen in the qissas of Dulla Bhatti and Mirza.

The freedom struggle raised the pitch of protest poetry with ‘Mera Rang De Basanti Chola’ and ‘Pagri Sambhal Jatta’, followed by the leftist progressive movement, feminism and Dalit voices in the post-Independence period.

At present, politics of majoritarianism has been often challenged and countered by the voice of dissent in form of poetry. Even farmers’ protests had inspired many poets to write on pain and distress of farming community.

Highlighting and celebrating this genre of poetry, an online session of ‘Protest Poetry’ curated by Sarbjot Singh Behl, an academician and a poet, was orgniased by the Majha House.

The session featured verses by Behl, Neetu Arora, Simran Aks, Jagjeet Sandhu. The session was initiated by Sumail Singh Sidhu.

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