On The Founding Fathers Of India And Clinging To The Independence Movement Poem by Gayathri Seetharam

On the founding fathers of India and clinging to the independence movement
-Gayathri B. Seetharam
My dear husband has the inspiring picture of Mahatma Gandhi
At the weaving loom in our living room
Despite the fact that we are proud Canadians
And there was a time when growing up in Bangalore, India,
I used to revel in the fact that India had the independence movement
For all the celebrations associated with it meant coming to the forefront for me in school
For I used to give the speeches to commemorate the Independence Day and Republic Day celebrations
Which were also accompanied by march pasts and drills in sunny Bangalore;

Recently, somebody expressed the opinion that he was tired of these celebrations
For it meant that the Hindutva movement popularised by the ruling party, BJP,
Which brings to my imagination of thought, an India regressing in the progress from the times
Of my childhood and maidenhood years,
Was retrograde and the BJP, reverting to propaganda to further their own advancement
And keeping the average Indian person's mind riveted
To the apparent completely gory days for India
And glory days for the British Empire,
Keeps the person from becoming wiser about the lack of complete current progress under the ruling party;

I read about Gowri Lankesh's tragic demise at the hands of the BJP
And she was a feminist editor of a Kannada newspaper, Lankesh Patrike,
And she was murdered brutally by two BJP gunsmen on Sept 5th,2017
And the article in The New York Times magazine by Rollo Romig
Gives a detailed account of how fearless she and other journalists are in democratic India
Which, as I learnt from the article, does not constitutionally grant freedom of press to its reporters;

I shall give the ruling party, BJP, which is extremist and right wing in its reiteration
That to "be Indian is to be Hindu"
An escape route when I say that excessive display of patriotic fervour
In connection with the Indian independence movement of the colonial era
May not be to curry favour with the Indian people
But to express a genuine appreciation of the trials and tribulations of the Indian freedom fighters
Who fought against all odds
And just this morning, I noted that since the kitchen canisters of different kinds
Were all put together by my husband for convenience sake,
The odds are in our favour,
And thus it was in the case of the Indian people
Different people from different backgrounds and religions united in the Indian Freedom Struggle.