The life and death of Safdar Hashmi, a symbol of cultural resistance

The legacy of the slain theatre activist shows that ideas are truly bulletproof

Falah Faisal NT

Bengaluru: For the uninitiated, it was the first day of the New Year 1989. Safdar Hashmi along with his fellow theater artists from Jana Natya Manch (JANAM) was on their way to Jhandapur, a village near Delhi, to perform their play, Halla Bol, in support of the CPI (M) candidate in the Ghaziabad municipal elections.

Little did they know that they wouldn’t be able to complete the performance of the play. As the play got underway, they were attacked by goons owing allegiance to the Congress, fatally wounding Safdar, who died the next day. He was just 34. Defiant, his wife Moloyshree Hashmi, returned to the spot on Jan 4th and finished the performance.

But what was so powerful about Safdar that the government at the time felt that he needed to be silenced at any cost? His street theater mobilized workers in an unprecedented way with Halla Bol leading to the largest worker strike Delhi had ever seen.

Safdar was a firebrand who was never afraid to speak his mind and this showed in his work when Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was accused of rigging the elections, he produced a street play, Kursi, Kursi, Kursi (Chair, Chair, Chair), as a reaction to the controversy.

The play narrates the story of a king whose throne moves with him when he attempts to give it up in favour of an elected representative. The play was performed every day for a week, at the Boat Club Lawns in New Delhi, then a hub of political activity.

Unlike Proscenium Theater which is seen as the realm of the elite, Safdar took theater to the masses often performing in working-class neighbourhoods, factories and workshops and at trade union meetings often showing the hypocrisy of capitalism and the ruling class to the workers.

Safdar’s influence extends far beyond the theater, with him producing many documentaries for Doordarshan and writing children’s stories that are still taught in schools today. By striking down Safdar mid-performance, the killers only immortalized him by making him a symbol of cultural resistance against authoritarianism for the Indian Left.

Each year on 1 January, the Safdar Hashmi Memorial Day is observed as a "Day of Resolve" by SAHMAT, and a daylong cultural congregation, "Jashn-e-Daura", is organized in New Delhi. The day is also commemorated by JANAM, which organizes street plays at Jhandapur village, in Sahibabad, where he was killed.

This year on the 34th anniversary, JANAM will be accompanied by Naseeruddin Shah and Ratna Pathak Shah, who will be reading poetry and short stories at Jhandapur. With struggles becoming a constant part of common man’s life, one can look to the work of Safdar Hashmi for inspiration on how to resist creatively and take your message to the masses who need it the most.