Not Irfan, but Mohammad Irfan: I will have to speak the truth with this name
It took just two words for Mohammad Irfan to explain a lifetime of lived experience. "My name is 'Mohammad Irfan'," he clarified when journalist Rajat
It took just two words for Mohammad Irfan to explain a lifetime of lived experience. "My name is 'Mohammad Irfan'," he clarified when journalist Rajat Pandey of India Today Digital's sister publication, The Lallantop, introduced him as "Irfan" during a follow-up conversation after his viral interview. The 35-year-old hawker interrupted him. He wasn't correcting the pronunciation. He was correcting his identity. Read Full Story Pandey smiled and asked, "What difference does it make if I don't say 'Mohammad'?" For Irfan, the answer came without hesitation. "You think it doesn't matter? This is the reality of my life. I have to live with this name for my entire life. Speaking the truth with this name is not easy. Even after knowing that reality, I have no regrets," Irfan told The Lallantop in an interview on July 24. Irfan's remarks were perhaps the most revealing moment in a conversation that has since made Irfan one of the most recognisable faces of the month-long protest at New Delhi's Jantar Mantar. His videos became so viral that on Monday, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, visited Irfan's residence and held a discussion with him. HOW MOHAMMAD IRFAN BECAME THE REAL GEM OF JANTAR MANTAR PROTEST Before anyone knew his name, people knew the blue T-shirt.
During the protests at Jantar Mantar, Irfan repeatedly appeared in social media clips. But it was an interview with The Lallantop in early July that made Irfan impossible to ignore. His interview with The Lallantop's Rajat Pandey spread rapidly online, drawing more than a million views on YouTube and prompting politicians and celebrities to share his clips on their social media platforms. The video stood out not because Irfan shouted slogans or made sensational allegations, but because of the clarity with which he spoke about politics, religion and democracy. Pandey later told India Today Digital that interviewing Irfan gave him goosebumps. It was unlike most street interviews he had done. The man speaking wasn't a professor or a political analyst. He was a resident of Sawda JJ Colony, a resettlement colony in northwest Delhi. He had never been to school. MOHAMMAD IRFAN'S TAKE ON PAKISTAN, ISLAM AND RELIGION POLITICS Formal education never came Irfan's way. Yet his curiosity never disappeared. He revealed that he relies almost entirely on Google and YouTube voice searches to understand issues that interest him. One such moment came when Irfan spoke about Balochistan-based human rights activist Mahrang Baloch. Irfan told The Lallantop that he spent nearly three hours researching and watching videos before forming an opinion about her.
The BriefWire