Kolkata: A 12-line poem that poet Srijato penned in 2017 has returned to haunt him days ahead of the Bengal elections as an arrest warrant was issued against him on Wednesday. “This is no country for poets. The harassment I have been facing for writing a verse is showing which way the nation is heading,” Srijato said. This warrant was issued following a complaint lodged by Krishnanagar advocate Romeet Sil, a former co-convener of the BJP legal cell, in 2019. After Yogi Adityanath became the UP chief minister on March 19, 2017, Srijato posted the poem, ‘Abhisaap’, on Facebook. The last two lines started a controversy, with Hindu nationalist groups accusing him of insulting the Hindu symbol of ‘trishul’ and hurting religious sentiments. “It is true that an arrest warrant has been issued. I will follow my lawyer’s advice. It’s a deliberate attempt at creating a sense of fear psychosis. It is nerve-racking to deal with this for almost 10 years now. The timing of the news just a day ahead of the election is an index of the way the country is heading. Long ago, Plato said poets had no place in an ideal state. I find there is no space for a poet’s free voice in an ‘ideal state’ as he speaks the truth. When this happened, there were over a dozen FIRs against me… I lost track of the number and may have missed attending a few,” he said.The poet has now stopped sharing his poetry online as freely as before. “My belief has not changed, I continue to write exactly the way I think. They are all published in books. But I do not share on social media as it has become a very volatile space,” he said.He pointed out an arrest warrant against a Bengali poet in this century was unprecedented. “Kazi Nazrul Islam was imprisoned,” he said. Nazrul was jailed by the British in 1923 for publishing an article, ‘Anondomoyeer Agomone’ in ‘Dhumketu’. Poet Subhash Mukhopadhyay was arrested in 1948 after a ban on the CPI. CM Mamata Banerjee, too, mentioned the arrest warrant at a rally on Wednesday: “Apparently, someone called Srijato and told him, ‘Police are coming to your house. You will be arrested.’ I called him. What’s this about! Bikes won’t run, trains are stopped. EC is doing this. People from outside are coming here to vote. Won’t you let them vote?” The Bengal CEO later condemned the “spread of misinformation and fake news by certain individuals and sections of the media…” “Such actions are not only misleading but also undermine trust in democratic institutions. Legal action will be initiated against those found responsible for disseminating false, unverified information,” a post read. In the evening, Manoj Agarwal said the EC had nothing to do with this issue. Sil said, “I worship Shiva. I was deeply hurt by these lines… That’s why I lodged a complaint at Krishnanagar ACJM court on Jan 30, 2019. After two witnesses—Saptarshi Mukherjee and Anup Mondal—recorded their statements, the court took cognisance of the case in Feb. A summons was sent to Srijato, asking him to appear in court on April 20. He didn’t turn up. An arrest warrant was issued.”Srijato’s wife, Durba Bandyopadhyay, said, “We are tired of harassment. We are law-abiding citizens and will fight it out legally.”
