First they came...

Ever since I read the original First they came... about the collective cowardice of certain German sections against the rising power of Hitler's Nazis, I have always been haunted by it. It is dark, it is ominous, it is prophetic, and yet it is poetic. And given that our current Prime Moron and his bunch of thugs started the process of culling years ago to suit their particular brand of chest-thumping, barbaric, hate-mongering, pig-headed Hindutva, I have been dwelling on what that particular post-war confession portends for our nation. So, here’s what I think – 

First they came for the Muslims.
And I did not speak out because I was not a Muslim.

Then they came for the educationists.
And I did not speak out because I was not an educationist.

Then they came for the liberal-minded and nonconformists.
And I did not speak out because I was neither.

Then they came for the rational thinkers.
And I did not speak out because I was not a rational thinker.

Then they came for our souls.
And I did not speak out because I had already sold mine.

Then they came for me.
And there was no one left to speak out for me.
                                     

p.s. The original version of the post-war confession, first made in German in 1946 by the German Lutheran pastor Martin Niemöller, is –

First they came for the Communists.
And I did not speak out because I was not a Communist.

Then they came for the Socialists.
And I did not speak out because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists.
And I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews.
And I did not speak out because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me

And there was no one left to speak out for me.