Gorakhpur:
Birth anniversary celebrations of Urdu poet Firaq Gorakhpuri were held at several places in the city on Thursday.
Members of Chitragupt Sabha garlanded the statue of Firaq Gorakhpuri in Daudpur and also organized a seminar in the evening in the conference hall of Chitragupt Mandir.
Social worker Ashok Srivastava garlanded the statue of Firaq. A seminar and a mushaira were also held.
Raghupati Sahai, known by his pen name, Firaq Gorakhpuri, was born on August 28, 1896 in Miyan Bazaar area in Gorakhpur. Azim Farooqi, a research scholar of Urdu, said: “People remember Firaq as a great Urdu poet but very few know that he was a freedom fighter too. He left his position of deputy collector and became member of Congress and went jail in 1920 along with Jawaharlal Nehru. He also contested in election with Shibbon Lal Saxena Party in 1952 against Mahant Digvijay Nath, the then head priest of Gorakhnath temple.”
Chitragupt Sabha president Atul Srivastava said: “Bahut pehle se un qadmon ki ahat jaan lete hain, Tujhe ai zindagi hum door se pehchan lete hain. Firaq Gorakhpur was a genius and great poet. Firaq Sahab is known for Urdu poetry but he was also English lecturer in Allahabad University. He passed ICS examination but resigned and joined freedom struggle. He was awarded Gyanpeeth Award, Sahitya Academy Award and Padam Bhushan Award in 1969 for his creation ‘Gule Nagma’.”
Pravir Arya of Madan Mohan Malviya Technical University said: “He was a prolific writer of Urdu and English. He added Gorakhpur in his name. We can proudly say that we belong to the place where Firaq used to live. He gave an international recognition to Gorakhpur.”
Speaking on the style of Firaq’s writing, poet Mohammad Husain Qayal said: “Firaq was an institution in himself. He has command over Urdu, Persian, Hindi and English. He was a great poet but a loner as his personal grief is reflected in his poetries. He had a troubled married life and his children also died.”
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Varanasi / by Arjumand Bano, TNN / August 28th, 2014