Famous poet Munawwar Rana took his last breath on Sunday at the PGI Hospital in Uttar Pradesh’s Lucknow. He was 71 years old.

According to reports, the renowned Urdu poet died due to cardiac arrest. He has been battling with prolonged illness for the last 7 months. He undergoing treatment at the PGI Hospital in Lucknow.

While speaking to a National news agency, Rana’s daughter Sumaiya Rana said, her father took his last breath at the hospital in Lucknow on Sunday night and the funeral ceremony will take place on Monday.

Several poet lovers have extended their tribute to the Urdu poet. They shared many of his popular Mushairas on social media platforms.

Rana was born on November 26, 1952, in Raebareli, Uttar Pradesh. He was a renowned Urdu poet and writer, especially known for his ghazals. His unique style of poetry was appreciated by Indian audiences as it included Hindi and Awadhi words and avoided the use of Persian and Arabic. He was known for making his poetry easily accessible to a wider audience.

During his career, Rana was honoured with several awards, including the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award in 2014 for his poetry book Shahdaba. However, he returned the award after about a year due to concerns over increasing intolerance in the country.

In addition to the Sahitya Akademi Award, Rana also received other notable awards such as the Ameer Khusro Award, Mir Taqi Mir Award, Ghalib Award, Dr. Zakir Hussain Award, and the Saraswati Samaj Award. His literary works have been translated into multiple languages.

Rana lived most of his life in Kolkata and was a prominent participant in Mushairas both in India and overseas. In addition to his literary pursuits, he was also involved in political activities in Uttar Pradesh. His daughter Sumaiya is a member of the Samajwadi Party (SP), which is led by Akhilesh Yadav.

Another person shared his Shayari and paid his tribute.

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Amid the controversy going around remarks in favour of Taliban, renowned poet Munawwar Rana has come out in support of Taliban and said Talibani are not terrorists, they can be called aggressive. He also said that there are few Talibanis in Uttar Pradesh as well, not only Muslims but also Hindu Talibanis.

In a statement, he refused to recognize Taliban as a terrorist organization instead referred to them as aggressive group and said that Taliban has done no wrong by taking over the control of Afghanistan

The 68-year-old poet said that India has no reason to worry from Taliban in Afghanistan. He told the reporters that Taliban has actually liberated their country. When asked about Taliban’s act of destroying Buddha statues in Bamiyan, Munawwar Rana asked, what do you have to say about a mosque being destroyed to built a Ram Temple. No one is sacred enough, he said.

Rana also said that history is evidence that Afghans have never done anything bad to India. India should not be afraid of the Taliban. Amid huge turmoil in Afghanistan, there was not a single incident reported where any Indian was harmed by any Taliban or Afghanistan, he said.

On the opening of Anti Terrorists Squad (ATS) centers in Shaharnpur’s Deoband by the Uttar Pradesh government, Munawwar Rana said that as long as this government is there, it can do anything. Taliban-like work is being done in Uttar Pradesh. Issues like conversion ruin the country, but we want our country to be as it was before, he said.

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Rana’s statements comes after several leaders in Uttar Pradesh including Sambhal SP MP Shafiqur Rahman Barq, All India Muslim Personal Law Board spokesperson Maulana Sajjad Nomani, Peace Party’s Shadab Chauhan and the district General Secretary of Samajwadi Yuvjan Mahasabha Chaudhary Faizan Shahi made their statements in favour of Taliban.

Munawwar Rana had been in the headlines for his controversial remarks in which he had said that if Yogi Adityanath returns to power again in 2022, he would be forced to leave Uttar Pradesh, after which he had to face criticism from a section of people.

In other India News, A statue of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a Pune temple has been removed overnight after strong objections were raised by the Prime Minister’s office.

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The Uttar Pradesh Police on Monday booked renowned Urdu poet Munawwar Rana for his disrupting remarks on recent killings in France. An FIR has been registered against Rana at the Hazratganj police station for disrupting social harmony and communal peace in the country.

Rana has been booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code including 153A- promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, 295A- deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings and 505-statements conducing public mischief. According to the Police his remarks also violate the Section 66 of the Information Technology Act.

In an FIR, the sub-inspector Deepak Kumar Pandey allegedly claimed that Rana had made objectionable remarks in an interview with a TV channel. Pandey wrote in the FIR that Rana’s statement is potentially promoting enmity between different communities which could have adverse effects on India’s social harmony and peace.

Earlier, Munawwar Rana had talked to several media channels over the recent killings in France. Spoke to a media channel mentioned in an FIR, Rana said if a person makes his father’s dirty cartoon-like prophet’s cartoon he would definitely killed that person. If someone in Hindustan makes a dirty cartoon of mother Sita and Lord Rama, Rana will also killed that person. Speaking to a newspaper, Rana said sketching Prophet Mohammad’s cartoon is wrong and the French magazine deliberately drew them to insult Muslims. He also said honor killing has been accepted in India for thousands of years and there is no punishment for that, then how one can call this illegitimate.

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Rana’s comments came after three people were killed in a knife attack at a church in Nice last week. A few weeks ago, a middle school teacher in a Paris suburb was killed days after he showed cartoons of Prophet Mohammad from the satire magazine, Charlie Hebdo, during a discussion on freedom of expression.

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