Singing Hum Dekhenge Is Dangerous in India!
By Justice Markandey Katju
Former Judge of Indian Supreme Court
Mumbai, India
The celebrated Urdu poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz wrote his famous poem 'Hum Dekhenge' in 1979 as a protest against the oppressive martial law regime of Gen Zia-ul-Haq in Pakistan.
https://www.rekhta.org/nazms/va-yabqaa-vajh-o-rabbik-hum-dekhenge-ham-dekhenge-faiz-ahmad-faiz-nazms
It became famous when the renowned Pakistani singer Iqbal Bano clad in a black sari (wearing saris had been banned by Gen Zia as being unislamic, and black was the color of protest) sang it in 1986 before a huge audience in Alhamra Hall in Lahore
https://antiserious.com/faiz-ahmad-faiz-recites-his-poem-hum-dekhenge-75c23b00ecb3
https://medium.com/@nayadaurpk/when-iqbal-bano-defied-zias-dictatorship-to-sing-hum-dekheinge-at-alhamra-81f971eebe3d
The Lahore audience went into raptures when Iqbal Bano sang it. It was so heady that Bano “had to stop repeatedly to allow the cheers and loud slogans of ‘Inquilab Zindabad’ to subside before she could carry on singing,” writes Faiz’s grandson, Ali Madeeh. “The clapping and cheers were so thunderous that it felt at times that the roof of Alhambra Hall would blow off.”
The crowd asked – begged – for an encore. When Bano sang the poem again, a technician recorded it – a copy that survives till today. You can listen to it – complete with cheers and cries for revolution – on YouTube today. Here’s an English translation for anyone who falters with the heavily Persianized Urdu used by Faiz.
Hum Dekhenge is now an anthem of protest across Pakistan and the Hindi-Urdu speaking parts of India. The poem was, in fact, used during the ongoing protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register of Citizens.
Ironically, when the song was sung by students at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, on December 17 during a protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act, a professor made a formal complaint that the poem was anti-India and communal . After that, the poem’s use of Islamic imagery was criticized in Hindutva circles, and IIT Kanpur set up a panel to investigate if the poem is “anti-Hindu”.
The charge that it is anti-Hindu has again been made in an FIR registered a few days back in a police station in Nagpur Maharashtra, accusing some people of singing it.
https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/marathi-actors-wife-two-others-face-charges-after-recitation-of-faiz-ahmed-faizs-hum-dekhenge-101747752959037.html
https://theprint.in/india/faizs-hum-dekhenge-recited-at-vira-sathidar-memorial-event-wife-pushpa-2-others-booked/2631936/
https://m.thewire.in/article/culture/faiz-ahmed-faiz-hum-dekhenge-sedition-vira-sathidar
But what is anti-Hindu in the poem? It is alleged that these words in it are anti-Hindu :
''Jab arz-e-Khuda ke kaabe se
Sab but uthwae jaenge ''
Hindus are idol worshippers, so to talk of removing idols, as was done by Prophet Mohammed in the Kaaba in Mecca, allegedly hurts Hindu feelings.
Now it is important to understand that Urdu poetry often has a superficial, literal, outer meaning and an inner, deeper, real meaning which the poet is seeking to convey indirectly, and in a roundabout, not direct, way, by metaphors, allusions, hints, suggestions, or indications. This often requires the reader to wrack his brains to grasp the real meaning.
For instance, consider the well-known couplet by the renowned poet Faiz:
“Gulon mein rang bhare baad-e-naubahaar chale
Chale bhi aao ki gulshan ka kaarobaar chale”
https://www.facebook.com/OfficialShilpaRao/videos/on-this-day-in-1954-faiz-saheb-had-written-gulon-mein-rang-bhare-from-the-montgo/359933962284565/
The literal, superficial meaning of the couplet is:
“A colorful wind of the new spring is blowing among the flowers.
Come, so that the work of the garden can be done.”
But this is not the real meaning Faiz is seeking to convey. To understand it, one must use one's intellect and be aware of the historical context in which Faiz wrote. He composed the poem in 1954 when martial law prevailed in Pakistan, and he was imprisoned in Montgomery Jail, implicated in the Rawalpindi Conspiracy Case, facing a court martial that could have resulted in a death sentence. It was unsafe to speak directly, so Faiz wrote indirectly, using metaphors, allusions and hints.
Although the word ‘gulshan’ literally means garden, in this context, it refers to the country. The real meaning of Faiz’s couplet is:
“The objective conditions in the country are ripe (for a revolution).
Come forward, patriots; the country needs you.”
Thus, the poem is not a love poem, as many believe, but a call for revolution.
https://nayadaur.tv/25-Jun-2021/the-true-meaning-of-faiz-s-poem-gulon-mein-rang-bharay
Another example: The great Indian Urdu poet Majrooh Sultanpuri was once invited to a mushaira in Pakistan, where he recited the following couplet:
“Bula hi baithe ahal-e-haram to ai Majrooh
Hum bhi baghal mein ek sanam ka haath chale”
This couplet might sound esoteric, so let me explain:
‘Ahal’ means people, ‘e’ means of, and ‘haram’ ordinarily means Kaaba. But in this context, ‘ahal-e-haram’ refers to Pakistan (since Pakistan had declared itself an Islamic state).
‘Sanam’ has a double meaning: it means idol, as well as a beautiful woman.
Majrooh suggests that although he has been called to a holy Islamic land, he has brought his idol with him — meaning he has not forsaken India, where most people worship idols, which is forbidden in Islam.
The next line after the allegedly offensive anti-Hindu words in Faiz' poem makes it clear that the word 'but' (idol) used in it is not to be understood literally. Its real meaning in the context is not an idol, but an oppressor.
'' Hum ahl-e-safa mardud-e-haram, masnad pe bithaye jayenge (we the oppressed people hitherto rejected by the holy sanctuary will be given a seat on the throne, i.e., the people will become the rulers after the coming revolution). Obviously, Faiz could not have been referring to Kaaba literally.
In the conditions of martial law then prevailing in Pakistan under Gen Zia's rule it was unsafe to criticize oppression and dictatorship directly. So, Faiz (who was in fact a communist and atheist, and so can hardly be accused of being a religious bigot) used Islamic imagery to shield himself.
The other 'objectionable' words in Faiz' poem are said to be :
''Sab taaj uchhaale jaaenge
Sab taḳht giraaye jaayenge ''
It is alleged that these words incite to rebellion and violence.
This again is a laughable charge.
One is reminded of Maxim Gorky's famous allegorical poem 'The Song of the Stormy Petrel', about which I wrote this article :
https://countercurrents.org/2025/03/the-song-of-the-stormy-petrel/
(Markandey Katju is an Indian jurist and former judge of the Supreme Court of India who served as chairman of the Press Council of India from 2011 to 2014)
