I refuse to be

[dropcap]I[/dropcap] refuse to be the Hindu you want to shape me into.

I refuse to be the Hindu vote which will sustain the insane authority of your power.

I refuse to be the saffron of your Hindu flag that you bear like a sword ready to kill.

I refuse to be the Hindu for whom Rama can only be worshipped in the temple you will build after reducing a mosque to rubble.

I refuse the citizenship of your Hindu Nation in which Muslims will not be my equals as fellow citizens.

I refuse to be a Hindu who does not recognize that dead soldiers are the price we pay

For dividing ourselves as Hindus from those who are our own.

I refuse to be a Hindu who is made to recognize herself in the images of inhuman monsters you hold before me and which you claim are my reflections in a mirror.

I refuse to allow you to crush the many splendoured , many hued, glorious, joyous, infinitely spiritual, creatively mutating and deeply compassionate possibilities of being a Hindu,

into the slogan of hate

into the rhetoric of fear

into the prison of bigotry

into the law of the tyrant

into a fragmented nation.

I refuse to be the Hindu you want me to be

And I will defy every effort of yours to dehumanize me

And shape me into that monstrous creature you call by the name Hindu.

Image Courtesy: Scorll | Adam Jones