Musicians trolled over protest songs

In his latest single, Porichoy, Anupam Roy has preached that that humanity triumphs everything else and as a result, the singer was

trolled

brutally online. Not just him. Rupam Islam, who released his single, Dogdoge Itihasher Ghaa, has also faced questions on his religious identity. City Rapper EPR, who calls himself a protest poet, faced similar attacks after releasing his single, We

Inna Hindustan

, three weeks ago.

Protest poems the flavour of the season

Protest poems and songs have recently seen a rise in recent times. From Pakistani poet

Faiz Ahmad Faiz

’s Hum Dekhenge to Indian lyricist Varun Grover’s HumKagaz Nehi Dikhayenge — several protest poems are given melody and been popularised all over the country. In the time when co-founded the progressive rock band

Pink Floyd

, Roger Waters, reads out the English translation of a protest poem, Sab Yaad Rakha Jayega, of a young Indian poet Aamir Aziz at a gathering in London, our very own musicians are facing the wrath of online trolls. Elaborating his ordeal, Anupam said, “It breaks my heart to see some people are actually getting the audacity of talking in this language in public. You and I can have different belief systems but that doesn’t call for the language. This aggression leads to violence — something that we all abhor.” Not just vicious comments, several derogatory memes laden with

profanity

pertaining to Anupam also got circulated on social media.

Facing trolls

Anupam also thinks that engaging with these trolls can be a futile exercise. “I will never know if these people are bots or being paid by the IT cells. I also think that it is time to ponder from where these people are getting this sense of entitlement,” Anupam said.

EPR, meanwhile, thinks it is important to talk to the trolls and bring them to his side. “Whoever trolls me I try to engage him/her in a debate sans profanity. If I be rude and harsh my purpose to see a better world will be lost. It is heartbreaking to be attacked. But these are the people are led by propaganda. Most likely they don’t know the reality. They will see the matter from the surface and develop hatred. I think one should see more, read more and research more. There is an explosion of information and one has to be very careful before believing some forwarded message,” the rapper said.

‘The audience is there. So why care?’

Rupam believes that his socially aware songs have its own audience and he prefers to be unperturbed. “I cannot be bothered by trolls. I have a channel through which I talk about current affairs and social issues. There are takers and I will keep on doing that,” he said. Anupam agreed. “Am I heartbroken? Yes. But I am optimistic. I got a lot of positive reactions also. That is it. I know all our great predecessors, including

Rammohan Roy

and Vidyasagar, faced a lot of brutal attacks from the society and they championed their cause. I am sure the good will triumph over trolls,” he signed off.