Taboo or Not Taboo?

by Aishwarya Bhuta

Being a woman and demanding entry into a temple is taboo.

Being landless and demanding land rights is taboo.

Being Adivasi and demanding forest rights is taboo.

Being Dalit and demanding reservations is taboo.

Being a farmer and demanding loan waivers is taboo.

Being a labourer and demanding minimum wages is taboo.

Being a journalist and doing your job right is taboo.

Being an activist and mobilizing the masses is taboo.

Right to speech and expression is taboo.

Right to love is taboo.

Right to eat is taboo.

Right to worship is taboo.

Protest is taboo.

Dissent is taboo.

Resistance is taboo.

Freedom is taboo.

Marrying someone of the same sex is taboo.

Marrying someone of a different faith is taboo.

Menstruation is taboo.

Sex education is taboo.

To say that you’re unsafe in your own country is taboo.

To say that you’re scared in your own country is taboo.

To demand equality and social justice is taboo.

To demand self-determination is taboo.

But state-sponsored terrorism is not taboo.

Cow vigilantism and mob lynching is not taboo.

Caste atrocities and communal violence is not taboo.

Institutional murder in the name of suicide is not taboo.

Human rights abuses in Kashmir and north-east are not taboo.

Illegal mining in Chhattisgarh or Meghalaya is not taboo.

Hate crimes in Rajasthan are not taboo.

Riots in UP are not taboo.

Being feminist, Leftist, secularist, and humanist is taboo.

But being a Hindutva extremist is not. 

Chanting†Humeinchahiyeaazaadi†is taboo.

But “Mandir wahinbanayenge†is not. 

Being radical and critical is taboo.

But being casteist, racist, 

and sexist is not.Being a rebel is taboo.

But being a bhakt is not.