Tamil Nadu rapper Sofia Ashraf rejects CM Sasikala, with a powerful song
Sofia Ashraf is known for her firebrand rap songs on issues like Kodaikanal’s pollution caused by Dow chemicals – she reworked Niki Minaj’s "Anaconda" and gave us the fantastic “Kodaikanal Won’t” – but the young musician has found her vintage way of protesting to resist the ascendance of Sasikala Natarajan as the chief of AIADMK and now the chief minister of Tamil Nadu.
As Sunday, February 5, 2017 became a “black day” for some Tamilians who were/are opposed to the coup d’état that Sasikala engineered after J Jayalalithaa’s untimely and highly controversial death on December 6, 2016, the southern state was split wide open. There were celebrations in some quarters of AIADMK that wanted to crown Sasikala and coalesce under one-point leadership of the new CM, as O “Standby” Panneerselvam resigned for a record third time to vacate the seat for Sasikala.
But overall, there was confusion and silence in Tamil Nadu. MK Stalin of the DMK pointed out that the people of Tamil Nadu didn’t vote for a householder of Jayalalithaa to take over post the formidable leader’s death. It was a sentiment echoed by many, and angry social media posts about the death of democracy were strewn all over. Particularly, the youth of Tamil Nadu, the educated and liberal sections, were repulsed by the thick cloud of a feudal usurpation that Tamil Nadu – the bastion of Dravidian politics – witnessed on February 5.
Sofia Ashraf belongs to this brand of vocal and angry youngsters, but she also is a revolutionary expressing her rebellion through music and lyrics. While many raged on Twitter and shared Facebook posts to lodge their dissent against the throttling of democracy by elevating Jayalalithaa’s former aide, the unelected Sasikala – to the topmost elected post of the state, Ashraf raided Poes Garden and sang a protest song.
Quintessentially new age and full of spunk that social media allows anyone to have, this smartphone revolutionary added a guitar to her protest ensemble. She did a “Facebook live” – a typical new media practice to broadcast for free and invite live comments and response – at Poes Garden on Sunday night of a rap against the regime.
| Sofia Ashraf and her band said no to CM Sasikala and how! |
Sofia Ashraf and her band said no to CM Sasikala and how!
With Suren Vikash U on the guitar, Ashraf and three other awesome women stormed CM Sasikala’s residence and sang “Democracy is dead” outside the gate at Poes Garden, long the residence of J Jayalalithaa and now occupied by Sasikala.
Ashraf was categorical as she minced no words to say lyrically in Tamil that the people didn’t vote for Sasikala and she had no business to be the Tamil Nadu CM. The outpouring of rage was evident as Ashraf voiced what many in the state were seething with.
“The main lyrics in the song is 'those who were not elected need not become ministers'. And that's the sentiment most Tamilians have now. Democracy, as we know, is dead. How can someone not elected by the people become Chief Minister? It may be all legal, but it isn't right. People can't suddenly pop up and say we will be the CM,” Ashraf told The News Minute.
Here’s the lyrics of Ashraf’s song:
- Looters
- Bribe monger
- Traitor
- Switching sides
- The city still stinks
- Cheats
- The elections are done
- The desperation rises
- Clowns
- False promises
- Freebies
- Politicians
- Did I ask you for aid?
- Did I ask you for your seat?
- The city is filled with your cut outs
- Step into the hood for once
- Weak prattle for the sake of votes
- Lies. Just gas.
- Hey. Nobody’s good enough here.
- My vote wasn’t for you.
Rap:
- You come and go by my streets
- Spreading riots
- Your Manifesto is half baked
- What are you gonna offer now?
- Ministers who have been elected
- Without elections are not welcome.
- As you let things be, it’ll grow…
- As it proceeds, you’ll understand…
- It will spark and obliterate …
- We will put an end to this
*blows conch*
- Democracy is dead!
Chennai, which has been battling one emergency after another – from death of Jalalalithaa, to the Jallikattu agitation, to Cyclone Varda and now the Ennore oil spill – is witnessing one of the most turbulent times in recent political history.
Drought-affected and left without a CM who prioritised welfare state in the Periyar tradition, Tamil Nadu now has to be officially ruled by what was until recently known as the “Mannargudi Mafia”, referring to Sasiakala Natarajan’s notoriously corrupt family and their tentacular hold on Tamil Nadu’s government and business.
Sofia Ashraf’s rap song and its powerful lyrics may herald another bout of agitation in the southern state. Don’t think Tamil Nadu is taking this lying down.