Syed Sajjad Zaheer
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Syed Sajjad Zaheer
February 12, 2006
AUTHOR: Writing for a cause
By Akhtar Payami
The heart-warming celebrations throughout the subcontinent marking the 100th birth anniversary of Syed Sajjad Zaheer once again strengthened the faith of the masses in the ultimate triumph of the values that the writer-politician cherished all his life. (When writing his name he never missed writing “Syed” which, in a way, signified his preference for an attitude of moderation and accommodation).
The magnetism of Banney Bhai — as he was lovingly called — distinguished him in the company of his friends and enemies. Communism was his creed but his love for the people at large, irrespective of their political persuasions, dominated his thoughts and deeds. Stalin is known to have said that in order to defeat your enemy you must hate him and the success of your mission depends on the intensity of your hatred. But Sajjad Zaheer was made of a different mettle. His charming personality was disarming for his opponents.
There were several dimensions to Zaheer’s personality but they were not in conflict with one another. Coming from an upper class Muslim family of the United Provinces of India, Zaheer’s early days promised a bright and secure life for him, far away from the miseries of the common man. But a destiny much different from that of his friends and relatives awaited him. Born on November 5, 1905, he joined some of the most prestigious educational institutions of the country. That was a most crucial period in the history of the subcontinent. Nobody could detach himself from the raging fire of patriotism that M.K. Gandhi had kindled with his frail hands. So intense was the reaction of young Zaheer that he started wearing khaddi clothes, shortened the length of his hair (long hair was the fashion of the day), stopped eating meat and started sleeping on the floor.
By that time, Czarist Russia too, under Lenin’s leadership, had turned into a socialist state. Lenin belonged to an aristocratic family. But to identify himself with the hopes and aspirations of the common people he decided to “de-class” himself. For Sajjad Zaheer it was the moment of truth. Surrounded by all kinds of temptations, he could have chosen to lead a life of comfort and luxury. But this was not his cup of tea. His visit to Britain in 1927 marked a watershed in his life. He got admission in Oxford University and secured a degree. It was during this period that he came in contact with leading Marxists of the day. After returning to India in 1931, once again he left for Britain a year later to study law. Finally, it was in 1935 that he came back to his country.
It was during his stay in Britain that he founded a vibrant organization of Indian writers called the Progressive Writers Association (PWA). The eminent writer Dr Mulk Raj Anand along with some other prominent writers joined him. The meetings of the PWA were held in London at a Chinese restaurant whose owner was sympathetic towards the cause of the young writers.
On his return to India, Sajjad Zaheer joined his father’s profession as a lawyer. But his restless spirit refused to let him become confined to this line of work. For two years he remained a member of the Allahabad Congres Committee. As desired by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, he, along with some of his friends, continued to work at the central office of the All India Congres Committee.
While involved in politics, Sajjad Zaheer continued to work for the PWA whose first session was held in 1936 at Lucknow. Two years later, he was married to Razia. The couple went to Kolkata to participate in PWA’s second conference the same year.
In 1939 when the Second World War began, Zaheer was arrested. He remained behind bars till 1941. The first Congres of the Communist Party of India was held in Bombay in 1943 when he was assigned the responsibility of editing the CPI’s first Urdu weekly Qaumi Jang.
There were several dimensions to Zaheer’s personality but they were not in conflict with one another. Coming from an upper class Muslim family of the United Provinces of India, Zaheer’s early days promised a bright and secure life for him, far away from the miseries of the common man. But a destiny much different from that of his friends and relatives awaited him
The committed Communist that Zaheer was, he never neglected his job as an organizer of a literary movement which he thought could bring about a fundamental change in the political and social life of the downtrodden people. However, this was not his individual thinking. The 1930’s were a glorious era of change. Although the spectre of fascism was hovering over the world, all was not yet lost. A new wave of resurgence and assertion had overtaken the gloom created by the threat of fascism.
It was in those days that all major Urdu writers of the subcontinent assembled under the banner of the PWA. Among its patrons were Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Sarojni Naidu, Rabindranath Tagore, Allama Iqbal and Munshi Premchand. For Zaheer, the turning point came in 1947 when he was asked by the CPI to organize the Communist Party in Pakistan.
Now perhaps it is being realized that the central leadership of the Communist Party committed several serious mistakes in making decisions based on a faulty analysis of the situation. Zaheer was a widely respected person throughout the subcontinent. He was admired for his zeal and enthusiasm and for his calibre as a writer. He had his links with the top bureaucracy of the newly established country. But he could hardly work in the situation which then prevailed in Pakistan. He led the life of an underground Communist leader. It cannot be said with certainty, but it is generally believed, that most of the time he stayed with high government officials who happened to belong to UP in India. His contact with the party activists was minimal. His clandestine stay was soon uncovered and he was arrested in 1951 along with Faiz Ahmad Faiz. The civil and military bureaucracy of the day involved them in the so-called Rawalpindi Conspiracy Case. The government lawyers persistently demanded the death penalty for him. But he was finally awarded life imprisonment.
Zaheer was despatched to Pakistan because he was a Muslim and his mother tongue was Urdu. It was wrongly assumed that since Pakistan was a Muslim country, there would be homogeneity in the views of its population. And moreover, as Urdu was going to be the national language of the country, he would find it easy and convenient to work with the local people. But the reality was different. The overwhelmingly Bengali population of East Pakistan had never accepted Urdu as the only national language of the country. Although they were in majority, they only demanded that the country should have two state languages — Urdu and Bengali. This logical and reasonable demand was not acceptable to the leadership of West Pakistan. Even if Sajjad Zaheer had succeeded in organizing the Communist Party in West Pakistan, he would not have found it easy to interact with the people of East Pakistan. Many Hindu comrades had left for India after partition. A few who opted to stay back, found it extremely difficult to work. Most of them remained in hiding.
After the trial when Zaheer was released on parole, he went back to India in 1955. As a result of international pressure and the special efforts of Jawaharlal Nehru, he was allowed to stay in India. He never returned to Pakistan.
From 1956 to 1973, he worked intensely for the creation of a forum for Asian and African writers against imperialism. In collaboration with Mulk Raj Anand, he organized the first Asian writers conference. He went to Kazakhstan in 1973 to participate in the Asian writer’s conference. It was entirely through his efforts that the conference could be held as initially the delegates from Bangladesh had refused to sit with the Pakistani delegates.
Zaheer suffered from some cardiac problem which proved fatal for him. He died on September 13, 1973. Thus came to an end the life of a great visionary whose memory lives on. Though he was not a prolific writer, the few literary works he produced are gems of Urdu literature. His short novel, Landan ki aik Raat is a landmark creation. His collection of poems, Pighla Neelam, was written in the closing years of his life. Roshnai is his most celebrated work which he wrote during his detention in Pakistani prisons.
Recently there has been a debate in Pakistani literary circles about the role of those writers who had joined Sajjad Zaheer in organizing the Progressive Writers Association. In the initial stages the more zealous of them were influenced by Communist ideology. As a result, the writers who had no Leftist political commitment dissociated themselves from the movement. But as far as Sajjad Zaheer is concerned he never claimed credit for organizing the PWA single handedly.
