The Formation Of The People’s Government Poem by Bijay Kant Dubey

Said they, talked they, dreamt and imagined they about People’s Government,
That the People’s Government would come into power one day
And their dream came it true,
The rural folks started packing their goods as for the capitals,
The trains and the buses almost packed with
Followers and comrades.

The palmists, astrologers, pundits, soothsayers and fortune tellers
All readying the things as for to accompany,
May be it he will get a portfolio
And may be it that they would be engaged,
All going with a hope in the hearts,
The henchmen and the musclemen and the strongmen,
The third-grade people.

The blunt-blunt milkmen, hurly burly and sturdy
Oiling the moustache,
In clumsy dhoti and kurta,
The bullock carts ferrying them up to the road
As for to catch the buses
Waiting for the would be ministers,
All from the rural side
As a look into their bio-data will speak it.

Nothing in the pocket and the house,
The newly-elected people’s representative taking donations
As for going to,
The wayward and street-roaming fellows,
Loafers and brokers,
Cowboys, cowgirls, shepherds, herdsmen and cattle-rustlers
All going to be
Representatives, people’s representatives.

There will be ministers from each of the caste categories,
It was announced, broadcast over the radio
And they waited for in the open
All night long as for to know it,
Who would be from their clans and castes?

One minister will be from the mustard oil-pressers,
Another from the vegetable-sellers,
Another from the palm juice-collectors,
Another from the wine-sellers,
Another from the grocers, as caste and class representatives.

One minister will be from the blacksmiths,
Another from the goldsmiths,
One from the tribals,
Another from the washermen,
One from the barbers,
Another from the foresters,
One from the palanquin-bearers,
Another from the rat-catchers,
Another from the taxidermists.

And it is also aired during the make over, take over,
It will be a jumbo-sized cabinet
With so many ministries and ministers,
All will be pleased,
None will be unhappy,
But all cannot be absorbed in.

All the tikkiwallahs and tikkawallahs,
Ganjeris, bhangeris and darpiyas,
Waiting for,
The country folks with the towels on the shoulders,
The bullock cartmen, ploughmen and farmers,
Harvesters, reapers and sowers waiting
For the bosses, ay, the big bosses,
But God knows, who is whose boss,
Which but time will say it?

There will be a minister from the weavers,
From the sweepers, scavengers and cleaners,
From the carpenters making wooden things,
The gardeners growing flowers;
One minister will be from the butchers too
Serving meat for others.

One from the servants and maid servants,
Another from the labourers,
One from the sweets-makers
Another from the betel nut sellers
And as thus the size of the cabinet lengthening.

Again, there must be
For the rest which lie in unrepresented,
As for example, the sub-caste Brahminical bards and horoscope-makers,
One must be for the weavers as for they have clothes for us since long,
Another for the boatmen and fishermen,
Another for the potters.