There would be only two voices, the voice of the ‘King’ and the voice of the ‘poet employed in the court of the King’! — Young Poets on imprisonment of Poet Varavara Rao
Mohd Aasif | Clarion India
NEW DELHI — A group of young poets have demanded the release of jailed revolutionary poet Varavara Rao and condemned his ‘arbitrary’ arrest under the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.
Recalling the history of the struggle of Varavara Rao, poets earlier his week said, “He is a world-renowned poet, journalist and literary critic from Telangana who founded the Revolutionary Writers Association, ‘Virasam’. Throughout history, he has been hounded and arrested on various false charges by different governments and later been acquitted in all the cases.”
“This only goes to suggest that his revolutionary writings have always made the ones in power uncomfortable and they have always been threatened by the power of his verses. Ideally, a poet names the nameless without actually taking their name and for the ones in power to arrest or implicate poets, they need to accept that they are the ones being talked about in those poems”, the statement further reads.
In 2018, Varavara Rao was arrested for his alleged role in the Elgar Parishad case on charges of ‘trying to incite violence in Bhima Koregaon’. Contemporary poets have been claiming that he has not been offered a fair trial in the last two years and has been imprisoned for an ‘unjust length of time’, along with other public-spirited activists, writers and advocates.
Rao is 80 years old and, according to the press note issued by his family under the title “Don’t kill Varavara Rao in jail”, he is seriously ill and has been in poor health ever since he was shifted to JJ Hospital in Mumbai in an unconscious state earlier in May. His co-prisoner in Taloja jail in Navi Mumbai also said the veteran litterateur needed immediate help for his physical and neurological issues.
The activists believe that Rao is only being kept in jail by virtue of him being a poet who questions the powers-that-be. “While we as young poets not only understand the value and importance of speaking for the people and questioning the ones in power, we take it as a responsibility, to uphold. It is because of public poets like Varavara Rao that we, the young poets, are able to write and speak for society and on other matters”, said the statement.
Young poets see the attack on Rao as an attack on them. They said, “We would also like to state categorically that as young poets of this nation, we see the attack on Rao as an attack on all of us, our minds, our pens and our views. If this suppression of our voices continues, all of us would be left with no voice at all, and there would be only two voices, the voice of the ‘King’ and the voice of the ‘poet employed in the court of the King’! That is the last thing we can afford in our democracy and we must keep alive the spirit of struggle for free thinking to bloom.”
While after enormous outrage by citizens, the news of Varavara Rao being moved to JJ hospital provides some relief to his literary circles. “The appropriate government and judicial authorities should immediately attend to all his medical needs, allow his family to be with him and release him on bail. It is only then that we as young poets would rest assured that the current regime would not muzzle our voices when we speak out fearlessly”, demanded the group.
The poets gave a clarion call to young fellow poets across the country to stand up for ailing Telugu poet-activist Varavara Rao. Naming Varavara Rao as their source of their inspiration, poets said, “We are able to stretch the reach of our imagination and ideas and write poetry because of him.”