Famous Urdu poet Munawwar Rana passed away on Sunday at the PGI Hospital in Lucknow from a heart arrest. He was seventy-one.
The poet was receiving treatment at the PGI Hospital after struggling with a protracted sickness for a few months. He had previously experienced problems with his heart and kidneys.
Sumaiya Rana, the daughter of Rana, told a news agency that her father passed away on Sunday night at the hospital and would be buried on Monday.
“He was hospitalised for 14 to 15 days due to illness. He was first admitted to Medanta in Lucknow and then to SGPGI where he breathed his last around 11 pm today,” Rana’s son Tabrez Rana told news agency.
The poet leaves behind a son, four daughters, and his wife.
Rana, who was born in Raebareli, Uttar Pradesh, on November 26, 1952, was well-known for his contributions to Urdu poetry and literature, especially his ghazals. Because he avoided using Persian and Arabic and instead used Hindi and Awadhi phrases instead, his poetry was renowned for being approachable and appealing to Indian audiences.
His most well-known poem, “Maa,” honoured motherhood’s blessings in the classic ghazal format.
Throughout his career, Rana garnered various awards, including the coveted Sahitya Akademi Award in 2014 for his poetry collection ‘Shahdaba’. But a year or so later, he returned the medal, worried about the growing intolerance in the nation.
He also got the Saraswati Samaj Award, the Ghalib Award, the Ameer Khusro Award, the Mir Taqi Mir Award, and the Dr. Zakir Hussain Award. Numerous languages have translations of his writings.
Rana was a prominent participant in mushairas (poetic symposiums) in India and elsewhere, having spent a large portion of his life in Kolkata.
The poet participated actively in Uttar Pradesh’s political developments. Sumaiya, his daughter, is an Akhilesh Yadav-led member of the Samajwadi Party (SP).
Due to his comments, Rana has frequently become entangled in controversy.
The 71-year-old had come under fire for endorsing the Taliban, drawing comparisons between it and Maharishi Valmiki, and endorsing Samuel Paty’s murder in 2020 due to a dispute concerning the Prophet Muhammad in Paris.
