Songkeepers

Songkeepers delves into the predicament of “protest” at a time when dissent in India has increasingly become synonymous with disloyalty, anti-nationalism and sedition. It presents a collection of testimonies and voices questioning the government in a series of silver gelatin montages that paint a powerful portrait of resistance. Moreover, it draws from a rich tapestry of protest movements in India, both before and after Independence, ranging from historical struggles against colonial forces to contemporary opposition to contemporary opposition to state interference, majoritarianism, and identity politics.

In the summer of 2018, utilising India’s Right to Information Act (RTI), I gained access to countless applications submitted by citizens to the Parliament Street police station, seeking permission to hold protests at New Delhi’s Jantar Mantar square. The idea was to examine these democratic mechanisms, buried within dusty files, to unravel the bureaucratic process involved in staging a protest and to understand the motivations of those challenging the social and political climate. While sifting through five years’ worth of documents (2013-2018) and recording the sounds and faces of Jantar Mantar square, I not only discovered recurring themes of distress in a mélange of pleas and petitions but also traces of a resolute citizen who staunchly believes in upholding freedom.

Songkeepers presaged the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (2019) and the farmers’ march opposing the Farm Bills (2020), which reshaped the language and dynamics of protests by mobilising mass demonstrations nationwide. In response, the government has hardened its stance, resorting to the brutal suppression of dissent.

And what lies ahead?

“Hum Dekhenge. Hum Dekhenge.”* (We will see. We will see.)

*Hum Dekhenge is an Urdu poem by Faiz Ahmad Faiz popularly recited during the Citizenship Amendment Act protests (2019).