HYDERABAD: Prominent poets from across the country mesmerised Urdu lovers at the all-India mushaira, organised by the Jagtial district unit of Telangana Urdu Working Journalists (TUWJ) in Jagtial late Sunday night. The literary gathering was organised to mark 200 years of Urdu journalism.
The ball was set rolling by acclaimed poet Abrar Kashif from Maharashtra, who compered the event, and amazed the jam-packed Jagtial town hall with his inimitable style of rendering ghazals and nazams that revolved around the present national political situation, romance and satire.
The audience was spellbound by the lyrical rhymes and verses by eminent poets like Qamar Ejaz, Nayeem Akhter, Naseem Nawaz, Ashfaq Asfi, Hamid Bhusawali and Sofiyan Qazi.
Nikhat Amrohi from Uttar Pradesh was urged to perform encores of her couplets on motherhood and love that left many teary-eyed.
Qamar Ejaz, who calls spade a spade with his writings, stressed on the need for communal amity for the country to progress across spheres. His couplets on romance left the audience in splits, as did his nazam on rising unemployment and inflation.
TUWJ Jagtial president M.A. Mujahid Adil, who presided over the programme, tracked the history of Urdu language and Urdu journalism in India. Noting that the foundation of Urdu journalism in India was laid by Sadasukh Lal, who edited the first Urdu daily Jam-e-Jahan Numa, Adil said Urdu had played a crucial role in awakening the spirit of nationalism and revolting against colonial rule. He lamented that attempts were being made to project Urdu as only a language of Muslims.
Among poets from Telangana who stood out with their renditions were Waheed Gulshan, Typical Jagtyali, Liakhat Ali Mohsin and Shoaib ul Haq Talib. Most of them focused on Indo-Islamic Ganga-Jamuni syncretic traditions. Mohammad Aqueel, Ameen Hasan, Mahmood Ali Afsar and Meer Kazim Ali were among the literary personalities who were also present.
Jagtial MLA M. Sanjay Kumar, MLC T. Jeevan Reddy and Amjed Ullah Khan Khalid were the guests. TUWJ state and district office-bearers - Mohammed Majid, Amjad Ali, Mohammed Ghouse, Zameer Ali Adnan, Irfan Jafer Rasheed, Fazal Baig and Wasiq-ur-Rahman were present.
Sanjay Kumar handed over Rs 50,000 cash to the kin of Mohammed Zameer, the scribe who was washed away in the July 2022 floods, while covering a rescue operation in the district.
