A Delhi-based poet-worker has accused artist Anita Dubey of using his widespread protest poem ”Sab yaad rakha jayega‘Without their consent, credit, or compensation. Aamir Aziz, an alumnus of Jamia Millia Islamia, condemned whom he called “cultural extraction and loot”.
The 35 -year -old said that he first learned about the unauthorized use of his work, when a friend saw his poem in a demonstration at the promise on 18 March. Gallery is currently hosting an exhibition of Ms. Dubey’s work, one of the most prestigious art institutions in India.
Mr. Aziz alleged that Kavita’s name was changed to gallery space, which showed it as Ms. Dube’s original work.
“This was the first time I learned that Anita Dubey had taken my poem and turned it into ‘art’. When I faced him, he made it normal – such as lifting a living poet’s work, branding it in herself, and selling it to millions of rupees in an aloor gallery,” Mr. Aziz wrote in a statement on social media.
According to Mr. Aziz, it was not a one -time incident. He later came to know that his poetry was first used in an exhibition in the 2023 exhibition in an exhibition called ‘Mimicry, Mimis and Mascardade’, cured by Arsia Lokhandwala, and once again shown at the India Kala Fair in 2025 – both times without their knowledge.
When Mr. Aziz faced Ms. Dubey, she did not mention these previous exhibitions. “He did not mention it in our first conversation. He hid it. Intentionally,” he wrote.
“Come on is clear: If someone keeps my poem in a placard in a protest, a rally, a people’s rebellion – I stand with them. But it’s not so,” he said. “This is not solidarity. It is not a tribute. It is not an ideological loan. It is theft. It is elimination.”
Mr. Aziz also claimed that parts of his poetry were re -worked in the installation of wood carvings and velvet clothes, which were shown in commercial gallery locations, changing the name and re -prepared, but they were never credited.
He accused Ms. Dubey and galleries that they use marginalized sounds without credit to make money, “the oldest trick in the book, inherited from the same colonial masters: stolen the voice, erase the name, and sell the confusion of originality.”
,Sab yaad rakha jayegaAnti-CAA gained prominence during protests. In February 2020, Band ‘Pink Floid co-founder Roger Waters Read the poem of Mr. Aziz at an London event. It widely echoed violent anti-CAA protests in Delhi.
Now, Mr. Aziz says, the same poem standing for resistance is “velvet, unholy, and stitched,” ugly, unholy and stitched for profit. ,
He said that he sent legal notices to Anita Dubey and Vadhehra Art Gallery, sought answers and asked him to take his poetry down from the show. But he claims that he did not take him seriously.
“In return: Silence, Half-Truths and derogatory offers,” he wrote. “I asked them to take work. They refused. The exhibition continues in the promise until 26 April.”
My name is Aamir Aziz. I am a poet.
My poem is all remembered without compensation by my knowledge, consent, credit or internationally famous artist Anita Dubey.
– Aamir Aziz (@AMARAZIZJMI) April 20, 2025
Anita Dubey is a famous contemporary Indian artist who uses materials such as velvet, beads, bones, and ceramic eyes to detect mutual action between personal and collective history, and use materials. His work often addresses subjects of loss, uplift and resistance.
A public comment on the matter is waiting for him.
