Dear Elite Speaker At My University Who Said ‘Farm Laws Are Progressive’

I’ll tell you what progress does not look like–
cities becoming a fortress against citizens.
An undeclared emergency.
Internet shutdowns for law-and-order while
Insecure governments organise Twitter
wars against teenagers and pop stars.

Dear Speaker,
progressive laws backed by a regressive government
can spill blood
and make it look like collateral damage.

Dear Speaker,
here’s how a nation dies:
The ones with power make you think they are the real victims.
And you volunteer to become the shield
that hides their crime.

Diksha Bijani is a spoken word poet from India. She is a policy graduate from Harvard University, and currently works in climate change at the World Bank. She tweets @BijlaniDiksha.

Featured image credit: Maike und Björn Bröskamp/Pixabay