– Shakilur Rahman
New Delhi, Jan. 15: Munawwar Rana, one of the famous poets of the country, died of cardiac arrest on Sunday. He was 71.
Suffering from throat cancer for a long time, Rana was first admitted to Medanta and then to SGPGI, Lucknow where he breathed his last at around 11 pm.
Born in Rae Bareli in 1952, Rana spent most of his life in Kolkata and later started living in Lucknow.
A good artist reads hearts of the audience and translates their current state of minds, thoughts and dreams; all these are reflected in the poetry of Munawwar Rana.
Rana’s poem ‘Maa’, which broke all social boundaries, has a different place in the world of Urdu literature. On every possible occasion, he raised questions before the governments through his poetry and spoke eye to eye with the powers that be.
Rana’s poetry also smells of social brotherhood and Hindu-Muslim unity, which is an identity of India. He has written some such poems which work to nurture social harmony.
Rana was honored with the Jnanpith Award in 2014 for his literary services. He was also honored with the Sahitya Akademi Award in 2014 for his work ‘Shahdaba’. Earlier in 2012, he was awarded ‘Mati Ratan Samman’ by Shaheed Shodh Sansthan for his significant contribution to Urdu literature. Rana’s poetry is characterized by simplicity of style, which made him popular among the common people.
Rana was buried in Lucknow on Monday, as per his will. He is survived by his wife, five daughters and a son.
