Hours after his release on bail, Kumar had returned to the campus and given an invigorating speech that ended with a call for azadi: “Azadi! Bhukhmari se, azadi, Bhedbhaav se, azadi, Pakshvaad se, Manuvaad se, azadi, Brahmanvaad se, sanghwaad se, Hum le ke rahenge, azadi! While the Congress version was called Dar ke aage Azadi, BJP appealed to their electorate for Congress se Azadi. )’ — that’s how the system runs,” says Carnatic musician and Magsaysay Award winner TM Krishna, who was also a part of the video Privacy Matters (2018), where he sang, Tere reham-o-karam par nahi tiki meri chunne ki azadi, mere jeene ki azadi, meri nijta ki azadi (My freedom is not at your mercy — my freedom to choose, my freedom to live, my freedom to privacy), words by activist and journalist Bhasha Singh. To Kak, azadi means freedom, and that includes the freedom to unpack the many meanings that the word carries.

Source: Indian Express April 20, 2019 23:26 UTC