Loudspeakers are now a weapon
Social media updates push an agenda
Road blocks are the messengers
WhatsApp claims to tell the truth
News anchors debate half-baked views
Headlines scream without knowing why
And being divisive is praised.
All around are people stunned and dazed
Dreams have gone up in smoke
Blood is no longer sustaining life
Smiles tag beliefs that are irrelevant
Words nervously look at each other
Wondering if they are in the right company
And even poetry takes sides.
No one is to blame, of this I’m sure
Because when religion and politics
Come together, they will do all this.
When religion and politics face each other
They will do all this.
And religion and politics do not kill
Each other, but suck life out of the living.
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Arvind Passey
Written on 25 February 2020
