He messages through songs

He gathered pace and breathed life into his tunes at the age of 12. A precocious child, his thoughts and aspirations were out of box. At the tender age of 13, he started nurturing and fine tuning his tunes that focus on issues touching humanity- peace, environment, gender discrimination and education.

Meet, Rahul Rajkhowa, noted singer and lyricist, who is back again with his new song over education to strike a chord with the audience. His new tune and striking lyrics emphasising the politicisation of education in the country is generating vibes and has triggered discussions on the present education system.

His song, “Sir, you are incompetent.” is a comment on the recent instances threatening education in the country as a whole,” Rajkhowa said. “Factoring the importance of education, the song derides decisions made by JNU Vice -Chancellor, on imposition of compulsory attendance and his inaction against prof Atul Johri, the sexual offender who made national news.

“If professors turn sexual predators and are allowed to roam around university campuses freely then the educational institutions are in grave danger. The song raises serious questions over slashing of scholarships, fellowships, medical allowances, M.Phil and Ph.d seat,” he reiterates. “It is purely to break student power in India, he adds.”

The JNU graduate, took a strong stance on such issues and turned a deaf ear to critics and defends JNU whose objective is to educate society about the distasteful incidents.
“People vehemently criticised me when I put out my first rap song against the JNU VC. The vicious attacks came from right wing trolls on Twitter and Facebook. Their criticism wasn't based on logical argument and evidence.

It was along the lines of discrimination and slurs because I belonged to JNU,” he added. “I believe every opinion should be heard and people shouldn't be criticised only because they belong to a certain state in the country or their political ideology and principles differ.” he shared.

Recalling his college days, he spoke about ‘Paperboat’, a band that he had started in Stephen’s college.” Our songs mainly discussed issues like domestics abuse, objectification of women and racial discrimination. Basically songs that make you dance with a message,” he said.

Aiming high, he said that “I work ahead putting all my efforts to bring in change and fight for student power. Religious, political violence, environmental degradation, overpopulation, and caste based problems can be solved through education, he adds.

By Sushma Nagaraju