BJP, Gandhi and Kavi Pradeep — a little known story // Family of 'Aae Mere Watan Ke Logon' author Kavi Pradeep seeks apology from BJP minister
Kavi Pradeep penned the timeless lyric - “aey mere watan ke logon”. The poet’s daughters were revolted by their deceased father’s derision in public by a leading BJP politician. A minister in the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh allegedly used unprintable language against Pradeep. At a function in Indore he rubbished the poet’s tribute to Mahatma Gandhi in another, equally memorable song “Dey di hamey azadi bina khadag bina dhaal, Sabarmati ke sant tuney kar diya kamaal.” The diatribe against Pradeep, and by implication Gandhi, wasn’t an act of madness. The method is evident in Modi’s parallel bid to pit Patel’s legacy against Nehru’s.
A full blown backstage drama preceded the Lata Mangeshkar mega show Narendra Modi attended to celebrate the golden jubilee of “aey mere watan ke logon” in Mumbai. Frantic efforts were made by the show’s organiser, Mangal Prabhat Lodha, to mollify the family of Kavi Pradeep who penned the timeless lyric. The poet’s daughters were revolted by their deceased father’s derision in public by a leading BJP politician.
A minister in the Shivraj Singh Chauhan government in Madhya Pradesh, Kailash Vijayvargiya allegedly used unprintable language against Pradeep. He rubbished at a function in Indore the poet’s tribute to Mahatma Gandhi’s non-violent stewardship of the freedom struggle in another, equally memorable song “Dey di hamey azadi bina khadag bina dhaal, Sabarmati ke sant tuney kar diya kamaal.” Vajayvargiya’s diatribe against Pradeep, and by implication Gandhi, wasn’t an act of madness. The method to it is evident in Modi’s parallel bid to pit Sardar Patel’s legacy against Pandit Nehru’s.
The shocking incident was largely underplayed in the mainstream national media. What hurt Pradeep’s younger daughter, Mitul Pradeep more was Vijayvargiya’s qualified apology underscoring his right to hold a view. She did get a response to the protest letter she wrote to Modi but BJP chief Rajnath Singh and Chauhan ignored her missives. By its deafening silence, the Congress too let down Pradeep’s family as also the legacy of the Mahatma that Vijayvargiya dared to question.
In his controversial speech, the BJP leader dubbed ‘Sabarmati ke sant’ as a propaganda effort to eulogise Gandhi at the expense of other revolutionaries. He buttressed his point by naming Bhagat Singh and Chandrashekhar Azad whose aggressive tactics against the British were an anti-thesis of Gandhi’s weapon of “ahimsa” (non-violence). Mitul was invited to the Mumbai function by Lodha, who visited her to apologise for Vijayvargiya’s distasteful comments. But she kept away, letting elder sister Sargam Thaker and her husband represent the family at the celebrations.
Modi inquired about Mitul in a brief on-stage conversation with Sargam. He said he had been watching the poet’s younger daughter on TV. “Why hasn’t she come? Baat adhuri rah gaye….” Mitul told HT that Modi sought Sargam’s blessings, addressed her as his ‘elder sister’ and even promised to visit the family at their Mumbai residence.
In her December 24 letter to Modi, Mitul quoted newspaper reports to allege that the Madhya Pradesh minister wanted to pummel her father for having praised Gandhi in the song. She said the comments distressed her family no end as Pradeep was awarded the Dada Saheb Phalke Puraskaar by the Vajpayee government.
In his January 3 reply, Modi made no reference to Gandhi while terming as “unfortunate” Vijayvargiya’s comments on “your late father, whom all of us respect.” He said he has forwarded her letter to the MP CM besides speaking to him on phone for ‘appropriate decision.’ But Mitul’s waiting. There’s no word yet from Chauhan.
The family of India's National Poet Kavi Pradeep - best known for the haunting "Aae Mere Watan Ke Logon" - has demanded "an unconditional, written apology" from a Madhya Pradesh BJP minister for "insulting" their iconic father, and indirectly even Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of the Nation. The family says what has been offered is insufficient. The late Kavi Pradeep's daughters - Mitul Pradeep and Sargam Thaker - asked Environment Minister Kailash Vijayvargiya to apologise for reportedly saying that the nationally-revered poet "deserves to be slapped, boxed and kicked" for praising Mahatma Gandhi. At a public meeting in mid-December at Indore, Vijayvargiya, a senior state Bharatiya Janata Party leader, took umbrage at the nationalist song, "De Di Hame Azadi Bina Khadag Bina Dhal, Sabarmati Ke Sant Tune Kar Diya Kamaal" - a glowing tribute to Mahatma Gandhi penned by Kavi Pradeep for the 1954 movie "Jagriti". Vijayvargiya demanded that the lyricist be "slapped, boxed and kicked" for underestimating the contributions of freedom fighters who adopted a path other than the non-violence creed propounded by Mahatma Gandhi. Stunned by the remarks, Kavi Pradeep's daughter Mitul shot off angry protests to Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan, BJP President Rajnath Singh and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, seeking an apology.
"After nearly a month, yesterday (Wednesday) I received a reply from Vijayvargiya which is unrepenting and indicates his violent thoughts. He has expressed regrets for his remarks made in public, but not the remarks per se, claiming he has a right to his opinion on various issues. It means nothing," an enraged Mitul Pradeep told IANS here Thursday. In the Hindi reply on his ministerial letterhead, while acknowledging Kavi Pradeep's greatness, Vijayvargiya has said that expressing a different opinion about the nationalist poet "does not amount to insulting him in any manner". "We may not agree with the teachings of great poets like Tulsidas, Surdas, Kabir or Meerabai, but we would not dream of insulting them. Similarly I would never dream of insulting Kavi Pradeep," Vijayvargiya said, justifying his remarks. He added that he had grown up on the culture of Chhatrapati Shivaji, Maharana Pratap, Rani Laxmibai, Rani Durgavati, Bhagat Singh, Rajguru & Sukhdev, Chandrashekhar Azad and Subhash Chandra Bose and always respected their sacrifices.
"I respect Kavi Pradeep and am prepared to apologise on any forum you want. But I should be given an opportunity to present my view point also," Vijayvargiya, known for his controversial and sexist remarks in the recent past, said. He condescendingly urged Mitul not to snap off "personal relations" over the issue - furthering enraging the Pradeep clan living in Mumbai. "What personal relations is he talking about? I have never met him in my life. He has no business insulting an idol like Kavi Pradeep. It is shocking that the entire BJP is keeping mum on the issue," Mitul, a painter-cum-artist said. She pointed out that her father was born Ramchandra Narayan Dwivedi in Badnagar, near the historic city of Ujjain in what is now Madhya Pradesh. Vijayvargiya is from Ujjan. Mitul added that ironically, Kavi Pradeep was conferred the prestigious 1997 Dadasaheb Phalke Award, by the BJP-led NDA government headed by Atal Behari Vajpayee.
"If you don't agree with someone's viewpoint, that is fine - but you can't instigate people to slap, box and kick the other person, especially since he is not around to defend himself," Sargam Thaker, (Mitul's elder sister) said. The sisters wondered that if Kavi Pradeep's patriotic writings were so objectionable, why was Mumbai BJP legislator Mangal Prabhat Lodha busy organizing a mega-function where 100,000 people will sing "Aae Mere Watan Ke Logon" Jan 27. The song is among those played on the public address system when the prime minister drives down Rajpath in the national capital to pay homage to the unknown soldier and signal the start of the Republic Day parade on Jan 26.
"Lodha kindly invited us for the function which marks the end of the golden jubilee celebrations of the famous song, but we have politely declined to attend," Mitul said, Lata Mangeshkar and Narendra Modi, the BJP's prime ministerial candidate, are likely to attend the function. The duo is now adamant on "getting an unconditional, written public apology" from Vijayvargiya especially since Feb. 6 heralds the start of the birth centenary celebrations of Kavi Pradeep. Besides "Aae Mere Watan Ke Logon" and "De Di Hame Azadi", Kavi Pradeep fired the nation's patriotic fervor with songs like "Door Hato Ae Duniyawalon", "Chal Chal Re Naujawan", "Aao Bachchon Tumhe Dikhayen", "Har Har Mahadev, Allah O Akbar", "Dekh Tere Sansar Ki Haalat Kya Ho Gayi Bhagwan, Kitna Badal Gaya Insaan" and many more. Incidentally, Delhi's Aam Aadmi Party Chief Minsiter Arvind Kejriwal had recited one of Kavi Pradeep's patriotic numbers - "Insaan Ka Insaan Se Ho Bhaichara, Yehi Paigham Hamara (movie "Paigham"), after his swearing-in earlier this month.
See also:
Report of the first NDA government's (1998) brazen attempt to 'revise' Gandhi's Collected Works. Hundreds of whimsical deletions and changes were noticed by well-known scholars and Gandhians in India and around the world, who viewed them as an insult to scholarship, and demanded an end to such attempts to play with historical documents. Read the history of the controversy. Tridip Suhrud, now director of Sabarmati Ashram, wrote a detailed analysis of this shameless behaviour in EPW in November 2004. It was only after the defeat of the NDA government that the fraudulently 'revised' edition of the CWMG was withdrawn, in 2005
More signs of artistry:
In the year 2000 the Gujarat government of Keshubhai Patel, with the support of the Vajpayee government, lifted the ban on RSS recruitment among civil servants. In the ensuing controversy Patel said the RSS was not political (the usual story). This was stoutly resisted and the BJP was forced to withdraw. Read more:
Madhu Limaye's observations on the RSS (1979)
The Assassination of Gandhi
The Assassination of Gandhi
Hindutva's Foreign Tie-up in the 1930s
Shamsul Islam: Narendra Modi On Sardar Patel: Putting Goebbels To Shame
Hitler's annihilation of the Romanis: “I as a German prefer much more to see India under British Government than under any other...I must not connect the fate of the German people with these so-called ‘oppressed nations’ who are clearly of racial inferiority” (Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, German edition, p. 747)
