welcome, his atheism is not.
Azad's bullet makes a good
brochure but his politics
leans left and that's bad.
Zafar's Urdu is beautiful,
let's just remember him
as a weak emperor.
Everything else should
be erased because of
his faith.
Bose is invoked loudly.
But his complicated alliances
are whispered selectively.
Microphones have learned
to tone it all smartly.
Ambedkar is celebrated.
But his annihilation of caste
must wait outside the
school Savitribai built.
But why not restrict her
margins or footnotes?
Her rebellion should be
politely described as
social work anyway.
And Gandhi walks a tightrope
between being a saint and
a villain depending on which
side of the argument a
corpse needs to fall-
History, that's why,
is not what happens.
It's just what's allowed.
Every generation inherits
such monuments and a
mandate to decide which
parts of the persona are
allowed to remain.
That's why revolution is easier
to digest once you've
amputated its questions,
and martyrs are useful only
as poster boys in party
manifestos.