Actor and lyricist Javed Akhtar have opened about the latest controversy around the ‘anti-Hindu’ remark by IIT-Kanpur of Pakistani poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s poem ‘Hum Dekhenge’ has been called as ‘absurd and funny’ on Thursday.
The lyricist said that Faiz Ahmead Faiz was a progressive writer and leading star for the ‘Progressive Writers’ Movement before independence. ‘Calling Faiz Ahmad Faiz an ‘anti-Hindu’ is so absurd and funny that it is difficult to seriously talk about it,” said Akhtar.
He lived half of his life outside Pakistan. He was called anti-Pakistan there. He wrote the poem ‘Hum dekhenge’ against Zia-ul-Haq’s communal, regressive and fundamentalist government,” he said.
The veteran lyricist said that Faiz Ahmad Faiz wrote the poem during the time of division when India got independence, he expressed his sorrow over it but is being called as anti-Hindu.
#WATCH Javed Akhtar:Calling Faiz Ahmed Faiz 'anti-Hindu' is so absurd&funny that its difficult to seriously talk about it.He lived half his life outside Pakistan,he was called anti-Pakistan there.'Hum Dekhenge' he wrote against Zia ul Haq's communal,regressive&fundamentalist Govt pic.twitter.com/nOtFwtfjQ9
— ANI (@ANI) January 2, 2020
“The man who wrote a poem to express his sorrow over the division of India is now being termed as anti-India,” Javed Akhtar said.
He lived half his life outside Pakistan, he was called anti-Pakistan there,” Akhtar added.
On December 17 student at the IIT-K recited a poem ‘Hum dekhenge’, later a temporary faculty Dr Vashimant Sharma and around 16 others, including the faculty members and students, filed a written complaint with the IIT director Abhay Karamdikar, stating that some of the words in the poem could hurt Hindu sentiments. A sim-member committee is formed to investigate into the matter.