It was 1949. At a protest by mill workers in Bombay, a young member of the Progressive Writers' Movement, Asrar ul Hassan Khan, recited a fiery poem. It was a scathing criticism of the central government. His lines went thus: (1/n)
मन में जहर डॉलर के बसा के
फिरती है भारत की अहिंसा
खादी के केंचुल को पहनकर
ये केंचुल लहराने न पाए
अमन का झंडा इस धरती पर
किसने कहा लहराने न पाए
ये भी कोई हिटलर का है चेला
मार लो साथ जाने न पाए
कॉमनवेल्थ का दास है नेहरू
मार ले साथी जाने न पाए (2/n)
फिरती है भारत की अहिंसा
खादी के केंचुल को पहनकर
ये केंचुल लहराने न पाए
अमन का झंडा इस धरती पर
किसने कहा लहराने न पाए
ये भी कोई हिटलर का है चेला
मार लो साथ जाने न पाए
कॉमनवेल्थ का दास है नेहरू
मार ले साथी जाने न पाए (2/n)
He branded Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru as "Hitler's acolyte" & "slave of the Commonwealth." The news spread like wildfire. Morarji Desai, then governor of Bombay state, gave the order for Asrar ul Hassan Khan to be immediately arrested (3/n)
Khan went underground and eluded arrest for two years. But in 1951, when Pakistan government arrested Faiz Ahmed Faiz & Sajjad Zaheer in the Rawalpindi Conspiracy case, Asrar came out of hiding to strongly condemn the arrests in a rally (4/n)
He was arrested as soon as he descended from the stage and spent two years in prison. Apart from his political writings, Asrar ul Hassan Khan was among the finest Urdu poets ever born. He was also a leading name in the Bombay film industry (5/n)
His wonderful lyrics enthralled music lovers for close to six decades. We know him by his nom de guerre "Majrooh Sultanpuri." On his 101st birth anniversary today, we pay tribute to this luminous talent (6/n)
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
