‘Now let’s talk about Citizenship amendment. The Constitution kinda feels redundant Kinda feels like you made secularism redundant’

The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019, has been rapped on the head.

Assam rapper and songwriter Rahul Rajkhowa, a former student of Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, has penned a song to oppose the bill, saying that he is worried for the future of the region.

Rajkhowa had earlier written and composed numbers for several causes.

“I am honestly worried about the Northeast’s future if this bill goes through. I want to let the people outside the region know what exactly is happening here. So I write my lyrics in English. It’s not just our problem. We need to fight together. My aim is to make the educated youth aware,” Rajkhowa, now based in Bangalore, told The Telegraph.

Before the song begins, he speaks of how the bill is going to affect the country.

The citizenship bill, which has been passed in the Lok Sabha, endorses citizenship for the Hindu, Christian, Buddhist, Jain, Sikh and Parsi minority migrants fleeing persecution in the neighbouring Islamic countries — Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

Most of the organisations and civil society groups in the Northeast have been opposing the bill since it was tabled in Parliament in 2016.

The song goes: “And cut the Pragati crap…You had five full years to clean up all of the crap...”

The rapper added that while the government could not even help rescue 15 miners stuck in an illegal coal mine in Meghalaya’s East Jaintia Hills, it wanted to help out people from other countries based on their religion.

Rajkhowa, who released the video online on YouTube, hit out at the ruling party for fake agendas said he would continue his campaign.

“Of what use is our education? I am privileged that I can use and record with a smart phone and am also blessed with the skills of writing lyrics and making music. If I don’t use it to address social issues, it’s useless,” Rajkhowa, who is also a youth ambassador for Twitter India, added.

In 2017, the rapper got nationwide attention for his hard-hitting rap number when he slammed the JNU vice-chancellor for reducing the number of seats.

He took to his excellent rapping skills to vent his anger on the JNU administration for their decision to trim over 80 per cent seats in MPhil and PhD admissions for 2017-18.

“No one gave an explanation to the JNU students.

The students would be regarded as Naxals and what not. But I was really happy and glad that the message reached everyone and people began to discuss the issue,” he said.