Hanumankind attends CJP’s Jantar Mantar protest as Indian rap community backs NEET stir

The 33-year-old rapper, originally from Kerala, whose career has been defined by sold-out venues and international acclaim and who enmeshes Indian music and motifs alongside slick English rap, was joined by a bunch of rappers at the ‘Chalo Sansad’ protest. These included Delhi-based Garv Taneja, who goes by the stage name Chaar Diwari; Encore ABJ aka Abhijay Negi, one half of Delhi-based hip-hop duo Seedhe Maut; Ravi Mishra aka RAGA; and Vivek Arora aka Karma, among others.

In a social media video, Taneja said, “I am here in support of Sonam ji (Wangchuk) and ask for accountability of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)”. Negi also posted videos and photos from the protest along with his well-known song, Red, with lyrics that go ‘Bhoori hai khaal, Bhoore kandhe pe haath APJ, Bose, Bhagat Singh, Chandra Shekhar Azad… Mai anti-government, ye bole anti-national’.

Twenty-five-year-old rapper and part-time English and critical thinking teacher Sanchay Wadhva, who goes by the stage name Sanchay with an X and was present at Monday’s protest along with his students, said that the presence of someone of the stature of Hanumankind, is significant for the cause. Over the last couple of years, Hanumankind has become one of those few Indian rappers whose fame extends well beyond the country, and his global visibility made his appearance at Jantar Mantar particularly notable. “For Hanumankind to be there, he is not just representing himself. He is a part of the culture of hip-hop and rap music. If his showing up can influence and motivate even 15-20 people more to join, that is a big thing and that’s what really matters,” Wadhwa told The Indian Express.

“Hip hop itself has grown out of being socially conscious music. It doesn’t matter if one’s music is political or not, if one makes conscious political music or not. Rap is all about what you see…. It is a mirror to society,” said Wadhwa about hip hop that emerged in the Black and Latino neighbourhoods of Bronx in New York, which was synonymous with poverty, discrimination, police violence and marginalisation.

Meanwhile, Delhi-based rapper Dominick Messiah, who works as a store manager at a solar panel company, had been making regular trips to the protest site in Jantar Mantar even before Monday’s march which saw security officers use lathicharge and teargas shells to disperse the crowd. Last weekend, he performed his track ‘Uthalo ye awaaz tum, Bachalo ye samaj tum’ at a cypher organised at Jantar Mantar. A cypher is a collaborative space where rappers gather in a circle and take turns trading verses over a beat.

“Hip-hop started as a way for people to speak about their pain and the injustices they faced,” he said. “Being here, at this protest, and rapping about it, that’s what the culture is really meant for.” “The tear gas shelling was so brutal that for 10 minutes I didn’t even feel alive. But I am so glad to see the rap community’s support with mainstream and less popular artists also attending the protest. I am