Kavita Mein Jantantra

Poetry, by nature, advocates for democratic values. It draws our attention to them, highlights their shortcomings, and sometimes even leads us to new values, new understandings, and a more nuanced sensibility. Poetry also offers a profound critique of circumstances that are against individual and human freedom, and thus pose a threat to the future of democracy. The book, Democracy in Poetry, features a reading of some poems, reflecting on the current state and direction of Indian democracy. An attempt is made to understand what we, as a country and a society, have lost and gained as a democracy, and where we currently stand. Its worth noting that these observations are set against the backdrop of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, a time when we found democracy and the majority facing each other; advocates of freedom and inclusive liberalism were apprehensive, and minorities fearful. The poems that have enabled this in-depth discussion on democracy include those of many important writers, from senior figures like Nagarjun, Raghuvir Sahay, Dhumil, Shrikant Verma, Vijaydev Narayan Sahi, Kedarnath Singh, to Anuj Lugun, Adnan Kafeel Darvesh, and Jacinta Kerketta. This highly relevant book not only offers a new approach to reading poetry, but also teaches us to reflect on the definition of democracy as an idea, a system of governance, and a possibility, its fundamental conditions, challenges, and commitments.