Thara Phoopha Abhi Zinda Hai: The Residual Asserts Back Through The Folk

Abstract

‘Thara phoopha¹ abhi zinda hai’ was a slogan of a protest march in the city of Rohtak in the state of Haryana in India in the month of September, 2022; it literally translates into ‘I, the husband of your father’s sister, am still alive’. With this ‘phoopha’ cue in the middle of the things, this research paper studies the folk quotient of the slogans and the songs that have been the war cry and the spiritual tonic for some of the most popular protest marches around the world, over the ages. For that purpose, the protest songs/slogans of some of the very popular protests of students, peasants, workers, etc have been looked into. The concept of the Residual has been gleaned from the readings of Raymond Williams; while for the conception of the Collective Unconscious, Carl Gustav Jung has been relied upon. The paper studies that the Residual asserts itself through the folk in the protest songs and slogans, collectively and unconsciously.