A group of artists today took up brushes, splashed colours and inscribed a couplet in Urdu on a wall in northeast Delhi's Shahdara to celebrate the city's spirit, days after a similar attempt was thwarted allegedly by a group of right wing vandals.
The wall paint, part of #MyDilliStory project of Delhi government's Art and Culture Department, was done in presence of Culture Minister Kapil Mishra, who said it was a message to those erecting "walls of hatred" between religions and communities.
A translation of the couplet in Hindi - 'Dilli tera ujarna, aur phir ujar ke basna. Woh dil hai toone paya, saani nahi hai jiska" - was also written on the wall of the Delhi Jal Board office.
"By painting the wall with vibrant stories of Delhi, we are breaking those walls of hatred. Last time, when the artists were writing the Urdu story, they were harassed by RSS men and their painting was replaced with words like 'Swachh Bharat Abhiyan' and 'Jai Shri Ram'," Mishra said.
The event saw music and dance performances.
The artist collective, Delhi I Love You (DILY), has already painted 20 murals in the neighbourhoods of Punjabi Bagh, Ashok Vihar, Rohini, Jhandewalan, Kewal Park, Paschim Vihar, Pratap Nagar, Pahar Ganj and Kashmiri Gate.
Mishra said the AAP government recognises and respects the diversity coexisting in Delhi and was happy to be associated with such projects, that encourage use of different languages in Delhi.
