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As the poet's birth anniversary approaches, Dilip Chakraborty reminds us how relevant his words are
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An artist is moulded by his but he also moulds his age. Posterity remembers those who mould successive generations. Where should we place Kazi Nazrul Islam, the country's most secular poet, in the context of modern
communalism? Born in 1899, Nazrul inherited the humanism of the 19th century and imbibed the rationalism of the 20th century. The sufi traditions in his blood; his lesser exposure to the elite system of education; his direct exposure, as a foot solder, to the horrors of World War I; the influences of Muzaffar Ahmed, Janab Fazlul Haq, Chittaranjan Das; and his literary guru Rabindranath Tagore, all helped Nazrul rise above petty considerations of caste, creed and religion in his early years.
When we see the grotesque, painful communal orgies in India, the likes of Gujrat, we can no longer blame British machinations for our troubles. We must blame ourselves. It is at this moment that we most need Nazrul. His voice is still so relevant to our society.
" Hindu na
ora Muslim, oi jijnashe
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kon jon?
Kandari balo dubichhe manush santan mor maar,"wrote Nazrul in
Kandari Hunshiar with a force of emotion that simply will not lend itself to translation. The poem, written in 1926, ( the year he joined the Gramophone Company),
speaks of a nation in turmoil like a boat being tossed about on a churning sea. In this great peril, it matters not whether a drowning man is a Hindu or a Muslim. He is simply a son of the
motherland. One might say that in Nazrul's outburst against communalism we hear an impotent wrath, and that his anger has more intensity and less direction. In deed,
the lines preceding those above are a challenge: "Asahay jaati dubichhe
moriya, janena santaran, Kandari aaji dekhibo tomar
matrimuktipan." The poet asks the Boatman to show his
resolve in taking the vessel across the turbulent waters. Who would this Boatman to show his resolve in taking the vessel across the
turbulent waters. Who would this Boatman be ? One could say he is everyman. Every citizen of this nation has to help steady the boat when communalism rocks it. For Nazrul secularism was not a strategy it was a faith. He practiced what he preached. His marriage to a Hindu woman led both the communities to ostracise him. But Nazrul would not yield to such divisive forces. One wonders how Nazrul would have reacted to partition. At the stroke of midnight on August 15, 1947, the rebel poet was alive physically but not mentally. He lived for three decades after Independence, but never regained clarity of mind. But the message in his work is clear: the stick that today demolishes mosque and temple will turn on the enemy fort tomorrow and raze it to the ground. Nazrul was a prophet, so let us hope that his warning to the force of hatred will be heeded.
The writer is a retired principal of Girls' post graduate College, Nawalgarh, Rajasthan. Kazi Nazrul Islam's 105th birth anniversary falls on May
25, 2004.
Courtesy-HT.
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