Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Monday invoked Ramdhari Singh ‘Dinkar’s iconic poem ‘Janatantra Ka Janma’ amid controversy over the police deployment in the nationa; ca[ital during protests against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar.
Tharoor sharing ‘Dinkar’s ‘The Birth of Democracy’ poem carries a clear political resonance as it comes on a day when Opposition’s INDIA bloc is taking out a protest march on the streets of the national capital against ‘violence’ by Delhi Police and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers used violence against students and women during the CJP-led protest demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
“Poem of the Day: As Ramdhari Singh ‘Dinkar’ (रामधारी सिंह ‘दिनकर’) wrote in his iconic poem “Janatantra Ka Janma” (जनतंत्र का जन्म / “The Birth of Democracy”),” Tharoor wrote in a post on X sharing the poem in Hindi with English translation.
The poem ‘Janatantra Ka Janma’ written in 1952, celebrates the arrival of democracy and the political awakening of ordinary people. Its central message is that sovereignty belongs to the people, not to those who occupy positions of power.
The Opposition has been up in arms against the Election Commission and Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in the poll panel’s functioning, particularly during the controversial Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
“But earthquakes happen and tornadoes do occur, When people raise their eyebrows in rage, Give way, listen to the thunderous sounds of the chariot of time, Abdicate the throne, for the people are coming to claim it,” the Congress leader wrote.
Earlier, Tharoor hit out at the , claiming that Delhi witnessed ‘war-like deployment’ during the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) protest on Saturday. Tharoor, a parliamentarian, said GenZ deserved better than an ‘undeclared’ Emergency.
Tharoor also tagged Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 2015 post about the and said, “Thanks for teaching today’s youngsters many of the same lessons, Modiji!”
In the June 2015 post, PM Modi had said how personally, the Emergency brought back many memories.” As youngsters, we learnt a lot during the anti-Emergency movement,” he had said.
In another post, Tharoor wrote, “As I said this morning, our GenZ deserves better than an undeclared EmerGenZ,”
The Emergency in India was a 21 month period from 1975 to 1977 when prime minister Indira Gandhi declared a state of emergency across India by citing internal and external threats to the country. and other top leaders of the BJP have often used Emergency to target the Congress party.
June 25, 2025, marked the 50th anniversary of the imposition of the 1975 Emergency. The Modi government marks the day as ‘’ to remember the victims and the suspension of constitutional rights during the 21-month Emergency period.
By combining ‘Emergency’ with ‘Gen Z’, Tharoor invoked the authoritarian associations of the 1975–77 Emergency while suggesting that young Indians are confronting restrictions on their political expression today.
(With agency inputs)
