Dr. Rashid Askari
The great Urdu poet, Mir Gul Khan Nasir (1914-1983), popularly known as ‘People’s poet of Baluchistan’ wrote a wonderful elegy on Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. He wrote it at the Central Jail Mach on 29 August, 1975 just fourteen days after Mujib’s assassination. A good many poems have been written on Mujib at home and abroad before and after his death, but I don’t know, if such a brilliant poem on his dastardly killing, which leads to a wholesale socio-political and cultural damage in Bangladesh, has been written by anybody else.
It is a highly passionate and meaningful piece of poetry whose elegiac tone turns into a rock-solid promise to fight the enemies of the motherland. In a few verses, the great poetic genius tells the tragic story of a national hero who gave his people their long-cherished independence from the chains and shackles of a petty imperial rule, and was ruthlessly killed by some infamous army personnel who were the slaves of their foreign masters, and danced to their tune. In sooth, revolution devours its own children! Nasir’s poem on Mujib’s killing and its consequences are tremendously relevant to us until now. I feel tempted to introduce the readers to this unique piece of poetry. It was originally written in Urdu. But for the convenience of a wider readership, I have done a translation of the poem in English. I know the poem has lost its real appeal in translation, but still we can have the feel of the August tragedy to it.
“Shouts, cries, and hasty calls
The sightless crowd rejoice
They call it ‘dawn’, but as I look at life
The dark, black night in full
The lighting strikes and a mute thunder
It seems it’s pouring far away
But the smell of rain doesn’t pass through the air
Rather, the blood is moving up in a ditch
O fools! Where’s the brilliant morn?
The angry night is still in here
Yazid-like imperialists are still crushing the bones of the brave patriots
In populous and picturesque Bangladesh
Once again, a storm of blood is rising
Once again, the brokers of imperialism
Are setting fire to towns and villages
Mujib, the great patriot
Sprawled on the ground in the pool of his own blood
Clad by the hateful slaves of imperialism
In a red coat decked with bullets
The accursed agents of imperialism have waged genocide
But then again, it’s the story of Hussain against Yazid
O courageous comrades! Beware of Yazid
If you unite they lose
The mouth (they speak through) is theirs
But the tongue in it is of the imperialists
They’re failed, for their pockets are full of money
And to their aid come the imperialists and (their) platoons
To kill the brave patriots
They’re given men and weapons
There’s no mercy in the hearts of these cowards
It’s they for whom the world is dark
They don’t let the flame of freedom burn
Blow it out when found alight
Mujib, the fearless friend of Bangladesh
In the firing squad with family
And again, the flag of freedom is flown at half mast
The imperialists are back to their old tricks and treachery
Once more, conflicts are cleared up by the gun
Again, the Land of Gold is on fire
O brave friends! It’s how time drives us
The same way, my motherland (Baluchistan) is also burning
Don’t get afraid, O Warriors! Don’t stop
Even though the path is rugged and full of thorns
Mujib’s blood shall, by no means, go in vain
It’s just a test of the firmness of the patriots
It won’t last; this night of terror won’t be long
Even though it’s at times dark and foggy
Nasir sees clearly, with his heart / The victory-flag is flying in the wind./”
The poet rightly observes that the cowardly killing of the captain of our Independence has cast a shadow over our joy of freedom. What the ignorant people think morning is actually night. And this darkness of night is caused by the loss of the Father, and thereby the loss of the liberation ideals (Bengali nationalism, socialism, democracy, and secularism) vindicated by the Constitution of 1972. The poet, however, warns us of the fact that our national journey towards democracy and secularism may sometimes be jeopardised by neo-colonial forces and armed intervention, but at the end of the tunnel there must be light. He tries to inject a deep sense of awareness and protest into the poem. It concludes with a note of hope that the ‘night of terror’ would be over. The sacrifice of leaders like Mujib will not go in vain.
Dr. Rashid Askari teaches English literature at Kushtia Islamic University. E-mail: rashidaskari65@yahoo.com
Published: Dhaka Courier Saturday, August 27th, 2011
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