MAJAZ: POET OF MADANPURA’S MILL WORKERS

MAJAZ: POET OF MADANPURA’S MILL WORKERS

Taran N Khan

Young Asrar ul Haq Majaaz’s Urdu verses made him such a heartthrob on the Aligarh Muslim University campus that groups of girls drew lots to decide who would marry him.

Some of them slept with his name under their pillows. Those who had no hope of a union with the brilliant poet vowed to at least name their sons Majaaz. It is not known how many finally did follow through on their vows, but history hasn’t managed to produce another poet like Majaaz (1911-1955).

That is probably what motivated the Department of Posts to issue a commemorative stamp in his honour recently, an event that passed by without so much as ripple in Mumbai — which is ironic since the city can lay claim to at least some of his angst, and hence his verses.

It is a little known fact that Majaaz spent part of his life in Bombay, reciting verses for its mill workers in Madanpura. Somewhere along the way, he is supposed to have penned these lines, from a poem titled ‘Awara’:

Shahar ki raat aur main nashaad-o-nakaara phirun
Jagmagaati-jaagti sadkon pe awara phirun
Ghair ki basti mein kabtak dar-ba-dar maara phirun
Aye gham-e-dil kya karun, Aye vahshat-e-dil kya karun

(Through the city night, I walk grief-struck and aimless / On these bright, wide-awake roads I stroll without a home / How many doors do I knock on in this city of strangers? / O my heart’s grief, what shall I do? O my heart’s turmoil, what shall I do?)

This could be the unofficial anthem of the much-reviled ‘outsiders’ of Mumbai. “It was only after I stepped into Mumbai city that I truly understood the poem ‘Awara’, wrote Marathi writer Madhav Maholkar.

The connection between the poem and the city was further strengthened by Shammi Kapoor walking the streets of Bombay, singing these verses in the mellow voice of Talat Mehmood, in the film Thokar.

There is more than a touch of cinematic tragedy to Majaaz’s brief life. Born into an affluent family in Rudauli, Barabanki, his first collection of poems, Aahang (1938), established him as a rising star in literary circles.

His verses fused the romantic tradition of Urdu poetry with the revolutionary impulse of the times. He saw women not as objects of romantic fantasy but as a hamsafar, an equal traveler on the road:

Tere maathe pe yeh anchal bahut hi khoob hai lekin
Tu is aanchal se ek parcham bana leti to achchha tha

(The veil on your forehead is very beautiful but / It would be better if you turned this veil into a flag).

These ideas eventually coalesced into the Progressive Writers Movement which reached its zenith in Bombay. Through the 1940s, the streets of the city were thick with idealistic poets. Some came to work for the communist party. Others were drawn by the talkies.

Unlike his compatriots, though, Majaaz never made Mumbai his home. But drawn by the presence of friends as well as employment prospects, he visited the city intermittently.

During the day, he would do the rounds of the film studios, chafing at being treated as an unknown. In the evenings, he would delight the audience at the mazdoor mushairas in Madanpura.

Maholkar quotes an incident from Josh Malihabadi’s autobiography to show how Majaaz never really took to the ways of Bombay’s film circles. Majaaz and Sahir (Ludhianvi) went to see a producer for work on a film called Hoor-E-Arab (The Arabian Beauty).

It was a hot summer afternoon and the poets were kept waiting outside the producer’s air-conditioned cabin while his paramour went in. Majaaz was extremely upset by this treatment. An acquaintance appeared and asked why it was taking so long to see the director. “Because,” Majaaz retorted, “the hoor is inside, and we are out here, sweltering in the sands of Arabia.”

During his Bombay visits, Majaaz often stayed in the Party commune on Walkeshwar Road. SM Mehdi, a party worker and commune resident, recalls that one day Majaaz approached them with a complaint: someone had stolen the Rs500 he had received as payment for some writing work.
The embarrassed hosts made enquiries. It turned out that Majaaz had spent the previous evening at the local bar. He had, in a characteristic gesture, given the money as a tip to the bearer and then forgotten all about it.

This was 1946-47. By then, Majaaz’s life had moved through a downward spiral, brought on by a doomed romance, alcoholism and depression. It was also the time when the dream of independence had soured in the violence of Partition.

“Once”, says Mehdi, “while we were at the party office, a riot broke out on the street. Majaaz, looking out from the roof, saw a Pathan being knifed to death by a mob. The sight made him hysterical with grief. We just couldn’t calm him down.

Finally, we started reciting verses.” As the young poets worked their way through couplets, their neighbour came running up. “Are you crazy”, he shouted, “Reading Urdu words when there is a mob outside? Do you want everyone to know there are Muslims in the Party office?”

Majaaz died at the age of 44 in Lucknow, after a group of friends left him alone in a tavern on a freezing winter night. At the end of a tumultuous life, he left only three volumes of poetry: Aahang (1938), Shab-e-Taab (1945) and Saaz-e-Nau (1945). But his influence is far wider than is suggested by this slim legacy, and his voice has found resonance across the years.

In the recent film, Khoya Khoya Chand, lyricist Swanand Kirkire pays him oblique tribute by paraphrasing verses from ‘Awara’. Ironically, the poem that has come to represent Majaaz’s vision of Bombay was apparently written before he visited the city. Nevertheless, it speaks of a city of light, lost dreams, and a restless spirit. Even if it was written in Lucknow, the image has enough of Mumbai to be claimed by the city as its own.

A Great Nationalist Alig: Dr. Syed Mahmud (1889-1971)

A Great Nationalist Alig: Dr. Syed Mahmud (1889-1971)

Dr. Mohammad Sajjad
Centre of Advanced Study in History
Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh -202002 (U.P.) INDIA

It should not be surprising for many that one of the greatest nationalist politicians of colonial Bihar, in terms of political standing in the organizational structure of the Congress, was an Alig, yet he was denied chief minister-ship (in 1937 and also in 1952) without any acceptable justification, which irked Maulana Azad. Small wonder then that the Publication Division of the Govt. of India has not published his biography (Builders of Modern India Series, a tribute paid to a large number of nationalists, many of whom may not be matching his stature). Ironically, highly funded department of History, AMU, has equally ignored its alumnus in undertaking researches on his life and times. It would be in the fitness of the things that at least the alumni networks should commemorate this great personality, named Syed Mahmud.

He was born in the village Syedpur Bhitari, Ghazipur (UP). His father’s name was Md Umar and grandfather’s name was Qazi Farzand Ali. His ancestors had come to Bihar during the Lodis (and had subsequently migrated to Ghazipur, only to return back to Bihar). But his political life started in Aligarh where he received his education during 1901-08. Here he was among those few students, who were trying to make Muslims join the ongoing anti colonial nationalist struggle led by the Indian National Congress. He, along with his friends, participated in the annual session of the Congress in 1905 at Benaras, presided over by G.K. Gokhale, the political guru of both Gandhi and Jinnah. (It was this session where the resolution of free compulsory primary education was adopted). It was the time when the MAO College (later AMU), Aligarh was undergoing a great churning; students had started expressing their anti colonial proclivities. In February 1907, he led a strike against the British manned management of the college. It started with disciplinary action against a sharp student, Raja Ghulam Husain, who had some confrontation with a constable in the annual exhibition (numaish). Violating the assurance given by the European Principal to Mohsinul Mulk, six students (including the three students viz. Syed Mahmud, Tasadduq Sherwani and Abdur Rahman Bijnori) were punished. This administrative high handedness led to student unrest and the college was closed down till 2nd April 1907. The enquiry committee submitted its report subsequently only to invite many controversies, notes of dissent; and the anti colonial assertion of the students was major concern of the European staff. Growing proximity of the students with the Congress was their great worry. They had formed a secret anti British ‘society’ in 1903 where matters and strategies to expel out the British from India were deliberated. All this earned them epithets like ‘Qaum’ for S. Mahmud and ‘Agitator’ for A.R. Bijnori. During those days the hostel rooms of the students were decorated with the portraits of the Sultan of Turkey, The German Kaiser and of Gokhale. They were the anti British symbols. On 5th February1907, few days before the agitation, a large number of students had assembled at the Aligarh Railway Station to welcome Gokhale, who delivered a mesmerizing speech on education. Syed Mahmud had then got elated and said, ‘Now I can die happily; seeing these Muslim students, I am assured of the freedom of my country’. Later this anti British group of students was joined by others like Saifuddin Kitchlew. They remained opposed to the Muslim League leaders like Syed Ameer Ali and Nawab Salimullah, who displayed loyalty towards the British. In 1908 when Aligarh was the venue of the annual session of the Muslim League, Syed Mahmud strongly condemned and agitated against those resolutions which demonstrated pro-British feelings.

Having expelled out of Aligarh, he went to the Lincoln’s Inn of London to become a barrister. Later, wrote a thesis on Mughal Politics and Administration from the Cambridge. He also got influenced with Pan Islamism under the influence of W.S. Blunt and E.G. Brown. Here also he organized some students and developed ideological conflicts with Ameer Ali (d.1928), who was running the London branch of the Muslim League. In 1909, in London he came in contact with Mahatma Gandhi and J.L. Nehru. In 1912, he obtained Ph.D from Germany and came back to India, and from 1913 he started his legal profession in Patna under the able guidance of Mazharul Haq. In 1915, he married Mazharul Haq’s niece. Throughout his career he insisted on communal harmony, played significant role in the Congress- League Pact of Lucknow in 1916. Served with the Home Rule League, AICC and gave up his legal practice to participate in the Khilafat Movement. He also authored, The Khilafat & England. In 1922, he was imprisoned. In 1923, he was elected Deputy General Secretary of the AICC. In 1929, with M.A. Ansari, he formed ‘Muslim Nationalist Party’ within the Congress, and became the General Secretary of the Congress, and served in this capacity till 1936. In 1930, along with M.l. Nehru and J.L. Nehru he was imprisoned in the Naini Jail of Allahabad, for his participation in the Civil Disobedience Movement.

The correspondences of Syed Mahmud reveal that by 1939, he had developed considerable disillusionment with the Congress on the issue of communalism, which he wanted to be addressed on priority. In fact, in 1937, when the Congress was going to form ministries in provinces, according to Maulana Azad, Syed Mahmud was the most deserving candidate for Chief Ministership in Bihar, but Rajendra Prasad played a game, called two essentially caste leaders viz. Shri Krishna Sinha (Bhumihar) and Anugraha Narayan Sinha (Rajput) from the Central Assembly and got S.K. Sinha ‘elected’. Azad expressed his agony in his India Wins Freedom (P.17), (blamed Rajendra Prasad who threw his weight behind S.K. Sinha), and said that ‘the Congress failed the test of Nationalism’. Whereas Rajendra Prasad’s Autobiography fails to defend the act, only thing he says that he did not repent the decision.

The S.K. Sinha led cabinet made him Minister for Education, Development and Planning in 1937. His emphasis was on providing primary education to largest possible number of people, worked for revision of curricula, appointed Urdu teachers in the Patna University. He fought for raising the proportion of Muslims in the government jobs and in the local bodies. To mitigate the Hindi-Urdu tension, he launched a bilingual (Urdu &Hindi) newspaper called Raushni. He also wrote a book, A Plan of Provincial Reconstruction (1939). It became so popular that several editions were re-printed in the same year. It displays his vision for the problems like public health, education and human resources, material resources of Bihar. This book dealt at length about rural indebtedness and agricultural finance. He was engaged in such exercise when other big leaders of Bihar were engaged in caste based factionalism, much lamented by R.M. Lohia, Jaya Prakash Narayan and Sahajanand Saraswati.

During 1946-52, he was the Minister for Transport, Industries and Agriculture in Bihar. In 1949 he suggested Nehru to enter into a particular military pact with Pakistan in order to safeguard the nation from China which could not materialize. Pained with communal partition of India, an optimist in him motivated him to write another book Hindu Muslim Accord (1949), celebrating the ‘Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb of India’. During 1954-57 he was the Union Minister of State for External Affairs but resigned due to eye troubles. He participated in the historic Bandung Conference (1955), where the Panchsheel was spelled out. He played remarkable roles in India’s useful diplomatic relations with the Gulf countries, Iran and Egypt.

By 1940s, the Muslim League leaders of Bihar had developed a low level hostility against him, so much so that they instructed their followers not to participate in the last rites (janaza) of his mother –in-law, the marriage ceremony of his daughter was sought to be disturbed by the lumpens claiming to be supporters of the Muslim League.

In June 1961, the communal riots and the abdication of responsibilities by the state disillusioned him. It got further accentuated in the riots of 1964, when he started re-thinking the question of minorities in both India and Pakistan, founded the Muslim Majlis Mashaweraat (MMM), yet he warned against having exclusively identity based political party in the India’s secular democracy. He rather wanted it to act more as a pressure group. In April 1968 he left the MMM precisely because its leaders started talking in exclusivist language.

In post-Independent Bihar, the Congress leaders acted only as caste leaders, established linear network of patronage distribution. For example, the Bhumihar and Rajput leaders had their ‘sub-contractors’ in many districts, who established a large number of high schools and colleges, offering recruitments to their caste fellows. These employees acted as their electoral strength/booth managers. Syed Mahmud did not develop this kind of linear networks of patronage distribution.

Nadeem, the Urdu monthly from Gaya (Bihar), in its special number on Bihar, 1940, claimed that its idara had all the manuscripts to write a comprehensive biography, Hayat-e-Mahmud. But unfortunately nobody knows what happened to it. Presently a research is underway in the Dept of History, Jamia Millia Islamia. One hopes such researches will help us retrieve forgotten history about great luminaries like him.

HASRAT MOHANI – A FORGOTTEN FREEDOM FIGHTER

HASRAT MOHANI – A FORGOTTEN FREEDOM FIGHTER

Asghar Ali Engineer
Centre for Study of Society and Secularism
Mumbai

(Secular Perspective, Volume X No. 15, August 1-15, 2007)

We are celebrating 150 years of our first war of independence this year. All communities in India, Hindus, Muslims and others not only took part in this war but also made supreme sacrifices for this cause. This war of independence created unprecedented unity between people of India from top to bottom, from ruling classes to common people. All united to mount greatest challenge to the British rule in India.

Not only that Muslims played frontal role in this fight they also paid heavy price as the British wrath descended mainly on them. From emperor to ordinary peasants to Ulama were severely punished for taking part in ‘mutiny’ as the British chose to call it. The Muslim Zamindars lost their jagirs (landed estates) and large number of Ulama were exiled to places like Malta (an island near Italy) and Andaman Nicobar. Most eminent ‘alim (theologian) of his time like Maulana Fazal Khairabadi was exiled to Andman where he died just before order for his release was received by the authorities.

In this line of eminent scholars, intellectuals and litterateur was Hasrat Mohani who was a great uncompromising freedom fighter from early twentieth century. He was graduate from Anglo Mohammedan Oriental (AMO) College, Aligarh, founded by Sir Syed. Hasrat Mohani was an eminent poet who used Ghazal poetry – a purely genre of love poetry – for political subjects and gave it a new turn. His contribution to Urdu Ghazal poetry was also of great significance. However, here we are mainly concerned with his role in freedom movement.

Hasrat Mohani (he is called Mohani as he was from Mohan in U.P.) was great freedom lover and never accepted British rule over India. He was great admirer of Lokmanya Tilak as he said ‘freedom is my birth right’ and always used to refer to him as Tilak Maharaj, even in his poetry. It is important to note that even his wife Nishatunnisa Begum, a woman who had always lived in purdah, also participated in freedom movement along with her husband.

He was so absorbed in the freedom movement that he became totally indifferent to any suffering, pain or pleasure. He maintained equanimity in all conditions. He could live on very little income or sometime no income at all. He was repeatedly jailed by the British but never complained about his imprisonment. His greatest quality was that whatever he thought was true will say it without any fear of consequences. He was totally uncompromising in that.

He never went back on his word. Once he published an article in his magazine. The writer had requested anonymity. The article was against the British rule. The authorities demanded from Hasrat the name of the writer. He refused. The British authorities threatened to confiscate security deposit and stop his publication. Hasrat still refused to disclose the name and not only his security deposit was confiscated, he was arrested, his precious library was destroyed and he was put in jail. But he refused to disclose the name of the writer of the article.

Maulana Hasrat Mohani was a very orthodox Muslim but at the same time he was also a communist. He used to call himself in his ghazal verse as ‘Sufi Mu’min’ and ‘ishtraki Muslim’ (a Sufi believer and a communist Muslim). He was one of the founders of Communist Party of India in 1925. He had great sympathy for workers and used to say Islam is very close to Soviet Communism. He even maintained that the word ‘soviet’ is from Arabic ‘saviyyat’ which means equality. Islam’s fundamental principle is equality and communism also stand for equality.

When the Indian National Congress held its session in Kanpur in 1925, Hasrat and his wife Nishatunnisa Begum came to the Congress Pandal with a procession of workers and peasants and wanted to enter into the Pandal but were stopped by Sevadal volunteers led by Jawaherlal Nehru. Nehru asked Seva Dal volunteer to lathi charge them. Begum Hasrat was furious and slapped Nehru and scolded him for such dictatorial order. Nehru realized his mistake and apologized to Begum Hasrat.

Begum Nishatunnisa herself was a great freedom fighter and stood firmly with her husband. A Muslim women from orthodox background played such dynamic and important role in freedom movement in early 20th century is really very refreshing and goes against the stereotype about Muslim women imprisoned in four walls and stepping out only wrapped in Purdah. Nishatunnisa was bold enough to confront even great personality like Pandit Nehru and scold him for stopping workers and peasants from entering into the Congress Pandal.

Maulana Hasrat Mohani was involved in freedom movement right from his college days and constantly faced problems during his college days for his uncompromising attitude. After coming out of college he started apparently an Urdu literary magazine called Urdu-e-Moalla but, as pointed out before, used to publish articles of political nature supporting freedom struggle.

He joined the Indian National Congress in 1904 and continued to participate in its session as a delegate until 1907 (Surat session). He also used to publish the reports of various Congress sessions like Calcutta, Benaras, Bombay etc. in his Urdu-e-Moalla. But in the Congress session of Surat in 1907 there was confrontation between naram dal (those who advocated soft approach) and garam dal (those who supported total freedom) Hasrat left Congress along with Tilak and he began hating the Congress as much as he hated the Muslim League which had come into existence and comprised of feudal elements and was loyal to the British government.

Hasrat remained great advocate of garam dal after leaving the Congress and published articles in support of it in his magazine and argued that the only destiny of Indian subcontinent is complete freedom from British imperialism. He continued to admire Lokmanya Tilak and his advocacy of complete freedom until Tilak’s death. Maulana was also believer in struggle for freedom and said that any freedom given as a gift does not last for long.

Maulana never accepted pro-British stance of Muslim League. He severely criticized it in his articles in Urdu-e-Moalla. The Muslim league leaders used to highly praise the British government and what it is doing for Indians. On this he wrote an article in his magazine saying it is not necessary to thank the British for some incidental and temporary benefits accruing to Indians. He maintained that real thing is to judge what is intention of the British rulers. He was challenging the speech of Nawab Waqarul Mulk in this article as the Nawab had praised the British government for what it was doing for the Indian people.

It is interesting to note that Maulana Hasrat Mohani participated in the congress session in Ahmedabad in 1921 and moved resolution for complete freedom for India whereas Gandhiji was yet not prepared for it and was talking of Home Rule under the British supremacy. However, Hasrat did not succeed in view of Gandhiji’s influence and his resolution was rejected. Muslim league session also had taken place in Ahmedabad simultaneously.

Maulana Hasrat addressed the Muslim League session as its president and spoke about complete freedom with enthusiasm but there too he did not succeed. Gandhiji referred to this in Young India and said that Hasrat did not succeed in his attempt for full freedom both from the Congress and Muslim League platform. Hasrat in his Muslim League address also proposed that we should establish United States in India on the lines of United States of America and give maximum rights to federating unit so that Muslims will also enjoy maximum autonomy in Muslim majority provinces. Thus the Maulana foresaw the later Cabinet Mission Plan proposed by the British Cabinet Mission in 1946 which could have saved partition of India.

Hasrat Mohani had proposed similar resolution in the Muslim League session of 1937 in which on one hand he proposed that the aim of Muslim League would be complete freedom from India and would strive to set up a democratic federation of India whose constitution will give full guaranteed to safeguard rights of minorities and their welfare. Thus even from the Muslim league platform also the Maulana continued to advocate complete freedom and a democratic and secular set up for India.

Hasrat Mohani also started a Swedeshi store in Aligarh to support the civil disobedience movement of early twenties. He started this store when his magazine was confiscated by the British and Hasarat was such great supporter of Swedeshi that he even refused to use a foreign blanket in a cold December night when he had to sleep in Suleman Nadvi’s office. Maulana Suleman Nadvi himself has narrated this event. Hasrat Mohani spent whole night shivering but did not use the blanket.

He was very diligent in observing all Islamic rites and used to fast during Ramadan in Jail when he had to grind one mound of grain every day in the month of May. But at the same time he was very active in the Communist movement and played very important role in founding the Communist Party in 1925. Such was the multifaceted personality of Maulana Hasrat Mohani who lived and died for freedom of India and a just social order in independent India. New generation should draw inspiration from his personality.