Raibareli / Lucknow, UTTAR PRADESH:

‘I invite any Indian who claims to be a nationalist to the core to have a conversation with me,’ Rana wrote for The Wire in 2017.

New Delhi: 

Urdu poet Munawwar Rana died on Sunday, January 14. He was 71.

Rana, who had been suffering from throat cancer, breathed his last at the Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences  in Lucknow.

The poet is survived by his wife, four daughters and a son, PTI has reported.

Rana was an outspoken artist and was vocal against communal politics.

In 2021, Lucknow police registered an FIR against him for allegedly inciting religious feelings for his comments on Valmiki, who wrote Ramayan.

“Valmiki became a god after he wrote the Ramayana, before that he was a dacoit. A person’s character can change. Similarly, the Taliban for now are terrorists but people and characters change…When you talk about Valmiki, you will have to talk about his past. In your religion, you make anyone god. But he was a writer who wrote the Ramayana, but we are not in competition here,” Rana had said.

In 2017, the poet, who wrote the famous Maa, wrote for The Wire: 

“I invite any Indian who claims to be a nationalist to the core to have a conversation with me. Let him decide the time and place. If Allah wills it, they will emerge as traitors; and we will emerge as nationalist Indians. You say ‘Bharat Mata ki jai’. My friend, we kneel on earth and kiss this soil 94 times in veneration while offering our prayers.”

On social media, many have condoled his passing.

source: http://www.thewire.in / The Wire / Home> Books / by The Wire Staff / January 15th, 2024