New Delhi | Jagran News Desk: A day after the IIT-Kanpur sparked a controversy by setting up a committee to inquire into a complaint against the recitation of Faiz Ahmed Faiz's noted poem 'Hum Dekhenge' on campus by students to express solidarity with students of Jamia Milia Islamia, veteran Bollywood writer Javed Akhtar on Thursday termed the action of the university as illogical and inappropriate.

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Akhtar, who himself is a noted poet called the varsity’s decision absurd and said that its difficult to even talk about this matter as it has no relevance with any religion. He also stated that the poem was not written against any religion rather it was written against the communal, regressive and fundamentalist approach of the Pakistani government.

“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 Government, said Javed Akhtar as quoted by news agency ANI.

Further rejecting the claim of the poem being 'anti-Hindu', Akhtar explained a phrase from the poem and said, "He has mentioned a phrase - 'Goonjega an-al-haq ka naara' which means 'aham brahma', which means that the creator and creation is one, it is not an Islamic thought."

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IIT-Kanpur on Wednesday had formed a committee to inquire into a complaint against the recitation of Faiz Ahmed Faiz's 'Hum Dekhenge' poem on campus by students to express solidarity with their peers at Jamia Milia Islamia.

The institute's Deputy Director Manindra Agarwal said, “a very peaceful protest was held on December 17 by about 300 students of the premier institute at its premises as they were not allowed to go out due to enforcement of prohibitory orders under Section 144, CrPC in the city”.

An IIT-Kanpur student sang the poem 'Hum Dekhenge' by Faiz, an eminent poet, against which a complaint was filed by Dr Vashimant Sharma, a temporary faculty member, and about 16 others including faculty members and students.

The written complaint filed by them with the IIT Director states that the poem had some wordings that could hurt the sentiments of Hindus, Agarwal said.

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"A committee of six members was established, headed by me, to investigate the matter. Some students have been questioned, while the others will be questioned after they return to the institution after the holidays," the Deputy Director said.

Agarwal also said there was a war of words on social media war between those supporting the recitation of the poem and those who opposed it. "It was contributing to escalation of the situation and hence we requested both sides to stop it and they obliged," he said.

 

 

(With PTI Inputs)


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