'Ek Kachori, Do Samosa': Why Indian Women Are Using Quirky Slogans To Protest Against Rape
Something unusual is happening on the streets of Delhi right now. Women have taken over the streets to protest against rape and sexual assault cases, demanding something that should hardly need to be demanded in the first place: the right to feel safe in public spaces.
But alongside the familiar chants of azaadi, justice and accountability, a new kind of protest language has emerged. Rhyming, cheeky and distinctly Indian, these slogans are making their way from protest sites to Instagram Reels, just like the CJP protests that led to the then education minister Dharmendra Pradhan's resignation. Two months later, a new set of slogans is echoing through Delhi streets as remixes, even finding an audience online. Scroll through Instagram, and you will hear women chanting and men 'vibing' to slogans like:
"Ek Kachori, Do Samosa, Inn Mardon Ka Kya Bharosa?"
"Ek Aloo, Do Pyaaz, Bhaad Mein Jaye Mard Samaj."
"Aloo Lo, Puri Lo, Inn Mardo Se Duri Lo."
"Paani Ka Rang Neela, Inn Mardon Ka Character Dheela."
The protests, which have involved women and queer students from several Delhi University colleges, have followed a series of reported sexual assaults in Delhi and elsewhere. The protesters are demanding safer public spaces, better infrastructure and accountability, while pushing back against the idea that women's freedom should be restricted in the name of safety.
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For Gen Z, a protest does not necessarily end when the march does.
The streets are being documented on Instagram, with protestors filming their chants, creators turning them into Reels and other users picking up the slogans and giving them a life of their own online.
That means a chant heard outside a Delhi University college can quickly become something for the people who were never at the protest to watch it, share it, and recreate it for social media.
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