Poem by Dev Krishna Vyas on Mahatma Gandhi courts controversy

The poem was recited by Vyas at an event held in connection with Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav.

Bhopal: A poem recited by Madhya Pradesh poet Dev Krishna Vyas at an event in Rajkot, Gujarat recently has courted controversy for “insulting" Mahatma Gandhi. In the poem “Azadi Ki Dulhan turns 75” recited by Vyas at the event held in connection with Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav, the poet while addressing the Mahatma, writes, “Bapu why did you make such a mind that Jinnah was a fanatic, why did you listen to his words? You were the hero, how the villain won?..”

In another part of the poem, Vyas writes that the Mahatma “ridiculed Subhas and was fascinated by Nehru”. At one place in the poem, the poet writes, “all Raghupati Raghav's followers used to sing and play the bugle, who used to play the flute together”. These lines of poetry that went viral from Rajkot have now created a stir.

It is said that the poet has "insulted not only the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi but also the entire nation which has faith in him”. Vyas while giving his side said that “my side is clear that we got incomplete freedom. We have always dreamed of a united India. But a part of our country was cut off. That is what I have shown in my poem. The country became independent in 1947 but was partitioned”.

“My view behind this is that if the torch had been attached to the spinning wheel, then this freedom movement would have taken some other form. They say that I have called Jinnah a villain in the poem and asked Mahatma Gandhi that if you were the hero of freedom, how did the villain win? The purpose of my poem is not to insult anyone, to hurt anyone,” he added.

Vyas further writes in the poem, “We remember the noose of Rajguru Sukhdev Bhagat Singh hanging...We remember the gossip of the politics of appeasement, the partition of Mother India still haunts us. The blood boils after hearing how many atrocities were committed, Jawahar Lal's prestige over the corpses”. Senior poet Rajesh Joshi slammed Vyas and advised him to “read history”.

“Had the poet read a little history, he would not have written such silly lines,” Joshi said. Senior critic writer Vijay Bahadur Singh said that the poem is an “insult to the sentiments of the entire nation”. “His conduct is a heinous attempt at national humiliation which is not deserving of any pardon. This is more an insult to the vast population of India than to Gandhiji”.