In Her Verses, Mamata Banerjee Condemns Intolerance

Kolkata: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has, in the recent weeks, spoken and tweeted on the intolerance debate. But sparingly.

Now, she has used blank verse to speak her mind. She has written a poem called "Intolerance" in which she has used very strong words to condemn prejudice and bigotry.

One of her strongest line: "Even gods are apparently their members. And they have authority over the gods."

The poem is open to interpretation but may be viewed as directed against the BJP. Especially in view of the tweet she sent out after the Bihar results. "Congratulations Nitish Kumar ji, Lalu ji & your full team. And all my Bihar brothers & sisters. Victory of tolerance, defeat of intolerance," she had posted.

Ms Banerjee's poem is in Bengali. Below is an unauthorised, amateur translation. Curiously, Ms Banerjee's poem is available on the Trinamool Congress website but not on her Facebook page yet.

Intolerance

Why such drought of ideas?
Why is thought so impoverished?
Where is conscience? A trapped balloon
Why is passion so tired?
Why hypnotised by deadly divisiveness
Is the vision ominous, forever petty?
Why such reckless words? Why such arrogance of power?
In the golden tower of pride, intolerance is the main pillar
There is no end to arrogance, nor ability to think
When power increases, ineptitude grows,
A suddenly sprouted, dark, tall palm tree standing on one leg.
Ego will be punctured, turn into a corpse
In the sky of tolerance, an epidemic of poverty
In the brain, only a desert, only thorny cactus
Thrust upon us by force, the pain of Lanka
Actually, all a big zero without limits
Even gods are apparently their members. And they have authority over the gods
How people will live, apparently they will decide
Tolerance is today very helpless
Intolerance has filled the world
Who will judge whom?
Be tolerant, earth!