Bekal utsahi biography

Indian writer (1924–2016)

Muhammad Shafi Ali Khan (1 June 1928 – 3 December 2016), popularly known as Bekal Utsahi, was an Indian poet, writer and politician. He was a congressman close to Indira Gandhi and a Member of Parliament in the Upper House Rajya Sabha. He received several national awards, including the Padma Shri in 1976 and Yash Bharti.

Early life and background

Bekal Utsahi was born on 1 June 1928 in Balrampur. Mohammed Jafar Khan Lodi was his father.

He was a former member of Rajya Sabha. In 1976 he received the Padmashree Award in literature. During a visit to the Mazar of Vaaris Ali Shah of Dewa Sharif in 1945 Shah Hafiz Pyare Miyan quoted, "Bedam Gaya Bekal aaya". After that incident, Mohammad Shafi Khan changed his name to "Bekal Varsi". During the period of Jawaharlal Nehru in 1952 an exciting event happened, which resulted in the emergence of Utsahi. There was an election programme of Indian National Congress party in Gonda at that time. Bekal Varsi welcomed Nehru with his poetry "Kisan Bharat Ka". Nehru was very much impressed and said, "Yeh hamara utsahi shayar hai". Finally, he is known as Bekal Utsahi in the literary world.

Politics

Utsahi was actively involved with Indian National Congress and very close to Indira Gandhi. In 1982, Rajiv Gandhi nominated him as a Member of Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian Parliament, because of his contribution for national integration. He was also Member of National Integration Council chaired by Prime Minister of India.

Awards

Utsahi received the Padma Shri award in 1976. He received Yash Bharti Award from Uttar Pradesh Government. In 2013 he was awarded Maati Ratan Samman by Shaheed Shodha Sansthan for his services to Urdu literature.

References

This article is about the municipality in Uttar Pradesh, India. For its namesake district, see Balrampur district, Uttar Pradesh. For disambiguation, see Balrampur.

Town in Uttar Pradesh, India

Balrampur is a town and a municipal board in Balrampur district in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. It is situated on the bank of river Rapti and is the district headquarters of Balrampur district.

History

Balrampur town is in close vicinity of Shravasti where Lord Gautam Buddha is considered to have displayed his supernatural powers in the spiritual transformation of Angulimala, a famous dacoit who wore a necklace (mala) of fingers (anguli).

In the Mughal era, Balrampur was the seat of Balrampur Estate, the largest talukdari estate in Awadh and the ruler were from the Janwar Rajput clan. Sir Digbijai Singh, Maharaja of Balrampur (1818–1882), was made a Knight Commander of the Star of India (KCSI) by the British for his support in the Uprising of 1857.

Geography

Balrampur is located at 27°26′N82°11′E / 27.43°N 82.18°E / 27.43; 82.18. It has an average elevation of 105 metres (344 ft).

Demographics

As of the 2011 census, Balrampur NPP had a total population of 81,054, of which 42,237 were males and 38,817 females. Population within the age group of 0 to 6 years was 10,492. The total number of literates in Balrampur was 47,964, which constituted 59.2% of the population with male literacy of 63.2% and female literacy of 54.8%. The effective literacy rate of 7+ population of Balrampur was 68.0%, of which male literacy rate was 72.3% and female literacy rate was 63.1%. The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes population was 5,318 and 96 respectively. Balrampur had 12405 households in 2011.

Politics

Before delimitation the parliamentary constituency was known as Balrampur.

Former Prime Ministe

The passing away of “Bekal” Utsahi on December 3, 2016 has gone virtually unnoticed in our press and other media. The one notable exception was a full-page feature in the Hindi daily Hindustan in its Sunday edition on December 4, which comprised a personal tribute and memoir from a fellow poet, Wasim Barelvi, the full text of one long poem by Bekal, and extracts from several others of his poems.

Nehruvian laureate

Mohammad Shafi Khan “Bekal Utsaahi” (1928-2016) first attracted notice in the 1960s as a flag-bearer of the idealistic Nehruvian agenda of secularism and national integration: “Dharam mera Islam hai, Bharat janamsthan/ Wazu karoon Ajmer mein, Kashi mein (a)snaan.” (“My faith is Islam, Bharat is my land of birth / In Ajmer I perform my ritual ablutions, in Kashi I take a holy bath.”) He was recognised and rewarded for this bold stance by successive Nehru-Gandhi governments.

After listening to Bekal recite a poem at a public meeting, Nehru described him as an “utsahi shair” – an enthusiastic or fervent poet, a compliment borne by Bekal ever after as a badge of honour. Indira Gandhi honoured him with a Padma Shri in 1976, and Rajiv Gandhi nominated him to the Rajya Sabha in 1982.

That phase of idealistic nation-building and “Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb”, or composite cultural formation, is now well and truly gone, having given way to identity politics of all kinds of divisive shades, which Bekal went on to denounce. Eclectically enough, he called Atal Bihari Vajpayee a friend – as he too was a poet!

Linguistic syncretism

Bekal had a highly self-aware sense of what kind of a poet he himself was. He claimed descent not from the classics of Urdu such as Mir, Momin or Ghalib, but from Nazir Akbarabadi (a people’s poet who had written in simple accessible language about “Kanhaiya-ji” and Guru Nanak and the festival of Holi). “Suna hai Momin-o-Ghalib na Mir jaisa tha/