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Delhi: Self-proclaimed RSS men attack artists painting Urdu couplet on wall

Speed News Desk | Updated on: 10 February 2017, 1:50 IST

An artist duo commissioned by the Delhi government to paint poetry on the walls of the city was attacked by a mob on Thursday for using the Urdu script. The artists, a Frenchman and an Indian, were forced to paint over their own work with the slogan "Swachh Bharat Abhiyan".

The poetry on the walls project is part of the Delhi government's initiative, #MyDilliStory. An artists' collective called Delhi I Love You had selected 40 couplets in Delhi's four official languages - English, Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu - to be painted on walls, according to The Telegraph.

However, when the artists Akhlaq Ahmad and Swen Simon began painting an Urdu couplet on the wall of a Delhi Jal Board pumping station in northeast Delhi, a crowd gathered, shouting slogans like "Jai Shri Ram" and calling the artists "Lahoris".

According to Ahmad, the crowd forced him to paint the words 'Swachh Bharat Abhiyan' and 'Narendra Modi' over the Urdu couplet.

The Indian artist, Akhlaq Ahmad, better known as Shabbu, said: "As we painted the first line, a crowd gathered. People asked why we were painting in Urdu. We explained that this is poetry praising Delhi, it's a government project. We showed them the permission letter on our phones. The crowd soon increased to about 150. A dark and hefty man with a slight moustache stepped forward and said he is from the RSS and Urdu would not be tolerated."

Ahmad added: "He had a few supporters who yelled abuses about our mothers and sisters and started shouting 'Jai Shri Ram'. I said my name is Shabbu and they assumed I was Shambhu, a Hindu. So they turned their ire towards my French colleague, Swen Simon, asking him to pay me my wages and go back to Lahore. Swen doesn't know Hindi. I pleaded with them to leave him alone, saying he's French not Pakistani."

When the police eventually arrived, the crowd vanished.

Delhi culture minister Kapil Mishra said: "These RSS men neither understand culture nor religion, especially Hinduism. Otherwise, they wouldn't have done this to our foreign guest who is doing a service to the city."

First published: 24 May 2016, 7:24 IST