Renowned Urdu poet Munawwar Rana said that without ‘Abbajan’ (father), Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath wouldn’t be out in this world and there is no necessity to laugh when mentioning the word.
On November 2021, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath used the term “Abba jaan” as a jibe against the Muslim community, threatening strict action against those who incite passion over the Citizenship Amendment act. Poet Rana’s statement was a response to the chief minister’s comment.
Munawwar said this in an interview to NDTV which was centred around the upcoming assembly election in Uttar Pradesh. In it, he also discussed his family’s story during the partition of erstwhile British India and how his relatives went to Pakistan, except his father, at the time.
Yogi Adityanath had sparked a row in September 2021 by using the Urdu term for ‘father’, saying that rations distributed by the previous state government went to those who say “Abba Jaan”.
“I was born before the partition when Pakistan and Bangladesh were also a part of Hindustan, but regret the fact that I could never see Hindustan before the partition. I wake up with a fear that in this scenario of hate politics, Hindustan would be divided as before. I am concerned that my grandchildren will not be able to see this Hindustan,” he said.
“A Hindustani inside me fears what will happen in the future the way Hindus and Muslims are fighting. I have no idea what these leaders who always speak about ‘Pakistan’, ’80-20′, and ‘Abbajan’, learn in the name of religion,” he remarked.
He also said that politicians use bad words in front of the media and don’t even feel remorseful’
A case was registered in August 2021 against Munawwar Rana for allegedly comparing Taliban with Valmiki, who wrote Ramayana, under the Indian Penal Code’s Sections 505 (2).
