A romantic poet of Urdu language, journalist, politician, parliamentarian and a fearless freedom fighter of the Indian subcontinent, Hasrat Mohani, was remembered on his death anniversary Sunday. Syed Fazl ul Hasan (Hasrat Mohani) was born in 1875 in Mohan near Unnao district of UP, India. He participated in the struggle for the Indian independence and was jailed for many years by British authorities. He was the first person in Indian history who demanded complete independence in 1921 as he presided over an annual session of All India Muslim League. He was also imprisoned for promoting anti-British ideas, especially for publishing an article against British policies in Egypt, in his magazine ‘Urdu-e-Mualla’. Afterwards he chose to live in India rather than move to Pakistan after the independence (1947) in order to represent the left-over Indian Muslims on various platforms. In recognition for his efforts, he was made a member of the constituent assembly which drafted the Indian constitution, but he never signed it since he saw hypocrisy towards Muslim minorities in it. Maulana died on 13 May, 1951. A few of his books are Kulliyat-e-Hasrat Mohani (collection of Hasrat Mohani’s poetry), Sharh-e-Kalam-e-Ghalib (explanation of Ghalib’s poetry), Nukaat-e-Sukhan (important aspects of poetry), Mushahidaat-e-Zindaan (observations in prison) etc.
