Mumbai poet Aamir Aziz accuses Anita Dube of ‘theft;’ claims she ‘renamed, rebranded, resold’ his anti-CAA poem

Aamir Aziz, a poet who gained prominence in 2019 during anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC) protests, and is known for his 'Sab Yaad Rakha Jayega' anti-CAA poem, recently accused artist Anita Dube of taking the same poem and turning it into her “art.”

Accusing Anita Dube of “theft”, Aamir Aziz claimed his poem was “written in velvet cloth, another carved in wood, hung inside a commercial white cube space, renamed, rebranded, and resold.”

Aamir Aziz had published the poem on his YouTube channel in January 2020 during the protests, which gained immense prominence.

Later in 2020, Pink Floyd's Roger Waters had also recited an English translation of Aamir Aziz's poem during a London event.

Aamir Aziz says Anita Dube stole his poem

As per his series of latest posts on X, Aamir Aziz came to know of the incident after a friend of his saw Aamir's words stitched into a work on display at Vadehra Art Gallery in Delhi and informed him.

An exhibition of Anita Dube’s works, titled “Timanjala Ghar: Three Storey House,” was held at Vadehra Art Gallery in New Delhi from mid-March to April 19. 

Anita Dube's exhibition

Anita Dube's exhibition featured a series of pieces that referenced to words of revolutionaries such as Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King Jr—both known for their fight against racial discrimination and apartheid—as well as Dalit leader Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, who chaired the drafting committee of the Indian Constitution. Some works also drew from the poetry of Aamir Aziz, including one titled “After Aamir Aziz.”

Earlier, the Vadehra Art Gallery had also shared a video on their Instagram account, of Anita Dube speaking about her artwork ‘After Dr. Ambedkar’.

Aziz has reportedly requested equal compensation for works incorporating text from his poem, and the issue is currently being discussed by the legal representatives of both parties.

On April 20, just a day after Anita Dube’s solo exhibition concluded, Aziz took to X to share a series of posts. “My poem Sab Yaad Rakha Jayega has been used without my knowledge, consent, credit, or compensation by the internationally celebrated artist Anita Dube,” he wrote.

Anita Dube's response

A day after facing allegations of using Aamir Aziz's words in her artworks without permission, artist Anita Dube reportedly stated on her social media that she had made an “ethical lapse” by not crediting Aziz. Dube's post, however, was visible only to those on her friends list.

What did Vadehra Art Gallery say?

Vadehra Art Gallery, in its latest statement, stated that following the controversy, the Gallery immediately “ensured that the works Aamir Aziz has concerns with were not offered for sale”.

Aamir Aziz further claimed that Anita Dube had been using his poem for years. He stated that Dube had used the poem in a 2023 exhibition titled Of Mimicry, Mimesis and Masquerade, curated by Arshiya Lokhandwala, and then again used it in the India Art Fair 2025.

When Pink Floyd's Roger Waters recited Aamir Aziz's poem

In 2020, a video of Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters reciting an English translation of Indian poet-musician Aamir Aziz’s ‘Sab Yaad Rakha Jayega’ went viral.

Filmed at a London event calling for the release of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, Waters introduced Aziz as a young poet from Delhi involved in protests against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and what he described as the “fascist and racist Citizenship law”.