RENOWNED Indian Humorist of Urdu Mujtaba Hussain died in Hyderabad (India) on May 27, 2020. He was 84.
For his works in the realm of Urdu literature, the government of India had conferred Padma Shri, a civil award, on Mujtaba Hussain in 2007, which he returned in 2019 in protest against the newly amended citizenship law in India and the hatred that spread in its wake.
During the last 50 years or so, two humorists of Urdu earned much love and fame in India and, to some extent, in Pakistan: Yousuf Nazim and Mujtaba Hussain. Though there were several writers of Urdu in India known for their humorous and satirical writings, these two stood head and shoulder above the rest. Yousuf Nazim had passed away in 2009 and with the departure of Mujtaba Hussain the golden era of Urdu humour in India has come to an end.
Hyderabad (formerly the capital of State of Deccan and now the joint capital of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana) is often mentioned as his place of birth, but Mujtaba Hussain was in fact born in Chincholi, district of Gulbarga, which is now a part of Indian state of Karnataka. When Mujtaba Hussain was admitted to school his year of birth was registered as 1933, but his correct date of birth is July 15, 1936.
Gulbarga has been a cradle of Urdu literature as some of Urdu’s earliest writings are attributed to Hazrat Banda Nawaz Gaisu Daraz, a Sufi Saint who had moved to Gulbarga from Delhi. Hazrat Gaisu Daraz died in Gulbarga in 1422 and his tomb in Gulbarga still attracts thousands of devotees every year.
Mujtaba Hussain inherited love of literature from his father Muhammad Hussain who loved to read classical Urdu literature. Mujtaba Hussain’s two brothers too were fond of reading and played a role in shaping his literary career as both were writers. His elder brother Ibrahim Jalees was a satirist and a progressive fiction writer who migrated to Pakistan in 1948 and earned fame as a journalist too. His eldest brother Mehboob Hussain Jigar was a progressive writer and editor of the prestigious Urdu daily Siasat.
Mujtaba Hussain did his BA from Osmania University, Hyderabad, in 1956 and worked for daily Siasat, Hyderabad. In 1962, Mujtaba Hussain joined Andhra Pradesh’s information and Public Relations division. In 1972, on Krishan Chandr’s insistence he was included in Committee for Promotion of Urdu, also known as Gujral Committee since I. K. Gujral was minister for information (he later on became the prime minister) and had played an important role in it. In 1974, Mujtaba Hussain’s services were transferred to National Council of Educational Research and Training, Delhi. Here he expedited the publication of Urdu books and in 1977 his department published 30 Urdu textbooks.
This reminds one of an era when Urdu was quite relevant in India’s educational, cultural and literary milieu, unlike today’s India where Urdu has been marginalised. Despite all the work for promotion of Urdu, Mujtaba Hussain was quite pessimistic about Urdu’s future in India. As is evident from his several writings, Mujtaba Hussain aggrieved at Urdu’s status in India and felt future of Urdu in India was bleak. In his essay titled ‘Urdu Ka Aakhri Qaari’ (the last reader of Urdu) included in his book Bilaakhir (1982), Mujtaba Hussain satirises the dwindling readership of Urdu. In this essay he fantasises that in 21st century there is only one person who can read Urdu and he lives on an island. When the poets and writers of Urdu come to know about this only reader of Urdu literature, they arrive at the island with heaps of their creative works. But the wise reader, realising the gravity of approaching danger — the poets and writers of Urdu with their writings — flees the island quietly.
Aside from his grievances at Urdu’s plight in India, Mujtaba Hussain was a patriotic Indian. He was an Indian first and then a Muslim. Having some leftist leanings, he did not believe in religiosity and in his writings he labelled Hindu-Muslim riots in India ‘communal riots’ and blamed them on politicians.
Mujtaba Hussain wrote essays, pen sketches, travelogues and newspaper columns. He penned over 25 books and some of them are Takalluf Bartaraf (1968), Qat’a Kalaam (1969), Qissa Mukhtasar (1972), Baharhaal (1974), Aadmi Nama (1981), Bilaakhir (1982), Japan Chalo Japan Chalo (1983), Algharaz (1987), So Hai Wo bhi Aadmi (1987), Chehra Dar Chera (1993), Mera Column (1993), Safar-i-Lakht Lakht (1995), Hue Ham Dost Jis Ke (1999). In one of his latest books America Ghaas Kaat Raha Hai, he criticised America’s foreign policy.
Hasan Chishty edited and published selected works of Mujtaba Hussain in two volumes, titled Mujtaba Hussain Ki Behtreen Tehreeren. Selections of his newspaper columns and travelogues too were published separately. His works have been translated in to several languages.
In Mujtaba Hussain’s departure we have lost a writer who believed in humanity. He was an Indian to the core of his heart but he called Indian government out on its unjustified Indian Citizenship Amendment Act by returning his award.
Published in Dawn, June 1st, 2020
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