Not a Nossu idea

Once the song got written, musician Nazar Malik took it to several professional singers to sing it for him. Nobody except Jassie Gift agreed. And Jassie had a bad throat. So Nazar sung the song, Nossu, describing it in YouTube, as ‘a creative protest against UAPA (Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act)’. The song got shared about, activist-filmmaker K.P. Sasi calling it a sincere contribution which will be a landmark in the struggle against the draconian law UAPA.

Nazar, who has brought out many albums before, is also an activist based in Palakkad. “I have been aware of the UAPA Act ever since I began following the Maudani case, which had seen a lot of drama with the Karnataka police coming to Kerala, and Maudani applying many bail pleas, all of which got rejected. He had said to the media back then that he wouldn’t get anticipatory bail under the UAPA. And he has been in jail for years,” Nazer says. “Such an anti-democratic act does not get as discussed as it should be. We had bigger discussions about acts like the POTA even when it was not used much in Kerala. But the UAPA is used — no I would say misused — so much here.”

He has been talking to lawyers to understand the act and realised that ever since 9/11, Islamophobia has been on the rise, and there is this attitude that Muslims shouldn’t get bail easily (in the UAPA cases). He sings: Thoppi kandal genius/ thaadi vechal genius/ ennude niramo karuthu poyal geniusu.

Meaning it is difficult for Muslims and Dalits to get bail. He talks about Gouri, a tribal girl, who was arrested for making a Facebook post that one should not vote, even when NOTA is allowed. Yahiya from Kozhikode, a software engineer who was arrested for conspiracy and never got bail from trial court to Supreme Court, when released, was not given compensation even after spending seven years in jail.

“There are so many killings by others, who are not Muslims or Dalits. I don’t see them arrested under the UAPA. In those cases, they say it is a mental problem. That’s why I sing Nossu (meaning mental),” Nazar says.

K.P. Sasi writes, “It is true that the political consciousness against the draconian law UAPA in Kerala is far higher than many other states in India. And the victims of UAPA are far beyond Kerala. Abdul Nasar Maudani himself is in a jail in Karnataka and not in Kerala. If the activists who are concerned about the UAPA have to make a dent with their actions, then proper national campaigns and regional campaigns in many states are of utmost necessity. If Nossu is translated into various regional languages with proper subtitles, I am sure, it will be a great beginning to meet this urgent need in the history of human rights consciousness in India today.”