Ali Sardar Jafri, the ebullient literary giant, had his genesis in the same democratic soil that produced the world’s great thinkers. He was shaped by the turbulence that transforms a complacent political order into a more rational understanding of geopolitics and new social constructs. Though born with majestic royal blood, his poetry drew its power from the senses—his thoughts burned bright, and his moral discourse soared as he discarded the politics of the day, disagreed with major political platforms, and stoked protest with the fire of his furious soul. In total defiance of his inheritance, he reminded the earth of its power to burn.
Among many, Jafri sung songs to lure the working class into not a fictive narrative but a microcosm of hope—never into a macrocosm of avarice. He urged progress toward a dignified tomorrow. Fiercely optimistic about the Communist dawn—though a little skeptical of his own half-baked optimism—his poems became a true Communist manifesto: learn to live with dignity and fight for progress by engaging in decisive conflict with the monsters of capitalism. To break slavery was no easy task; to humiliate capitalism proved a humongous enterprise. But the way forward, he asserted, was protest—“to take the rain without a raincoat.”
Jafri played a decisive role in forming the Progressive Writers’ Movement in 1936 alongside writers such as Sajjad Zaheer, Mulk Raj Anand, and Rashid Jahan. The movement emerged with the publication of Angaare, blending liberal views, including those of Karl Marx and Iqbal, to create an egalitarian society opposing capitalist trends and feudal overlordship. Jafri was more than a lyricist singing anthems of resistance—he was an activist jailed thrice: twice by the British government and once by independent India for writing revolutionary poems that rattled nervous governments. He contributed to the Progressive cause through literary journals like Naya Adab, Naya Zamana, and Guftagoo.
His collections—Khoon ki Lakeer (The Line of Blood), Asia Jaag Utha (Asia Has Awakened), Patthar ki Deewar (The Stone Wall), Ek Khaab Aur (One More Dream), Lahu Pukarta Raha (The Blood Calls), and Parwaaz (Flight)—have earned him a place in the hall of fame as a poet who challenged bourgeois structures and pro-capitalist tendencies. Driven by vision and raised by dreams of a socialist era where a beggar’s bowl would not run empty and a laborer’s blood would not fuel capitalist valor, Jafri read Iqbal and Marx thoroughly. In 1977, he published Iqbal Shanasi (Understanding Iqbal), arguing that Iqbal predated the Progressive movement in envisioning the working class as part of poetic discourse.
Iqbal’s social philosophy—on wealth production, income distribution, societal composition, and political and economic systems—greatly influenced modern thought and appears in his poems: Khizar-e-Raah (The Guide), Tulu-e-Islam (The Rise of Islam), Baang-e-Dra (The Call of the Marching Bell), Armoghaan-e-Hijaz (The Gift of the Hijaz), Ishtrakiat wa Malukiat (Communism and the Monarchy), Millat-e-Rusah (A Message to Soviet Russia), Karl Marx ki Awaaz (The Voice of Karl Marx), Bolshevik Roos (Bolshevik Russia) from his 1936 Zarb-e-Kaleem (The Rod of Moses), and Lenin Khuda ke Huzoor Me (Lenin Before God) and Farman-e-Khuda Farishton Ke Naam (God’s Command to His Angels) from his 1935 Baal-e-Jibrail (Wings of Gabriel). Jafri deciphered Iqbal’s endorsement of equality, fraternity, and social justice, noting Iqbal’s profound impact by the establishment of a socialist state in Russia after World War I.
Two of Jafri’s poems—Niwaala (Morsel) and Ek Khaab Aur (One More Dream)—exemplify his poetic prowess. In Niwaala, Jafri portrays a young boy’s suffering under brutal capitalist exploitation, evoking Dickens’s early childhood narratives:
Maa hai resham ke karkhaane mein Baap masroof sooti mill mein Kokh se Maa ki jab se nikla hai Baccha kholi ke kaale dil me hai Jab yahan se nikal ke jaiga Karkhaano ke kaam aayega Apne majboor pet ki khatir Bhook sarmaaye ki bharegaa Haath sone ke phool unglegey Jism chandi ka dhan lutayegaa Khirkiyaan hongi bank ki Roshan khoon iska diya jalaygas Yeh jo nanha bhola bhala hai Khooni sarmaaye ka niwalaa hai Poochti hai yeh iski Khamoshi koi mujh ko Bachanay wala hai?
The imagery evokes the child’s plight, consumed by a bestial capitalist system. The laborer, devoid of future prospects, has nothing to sell but his ability to toil. His sweat, blood, and hands fuel the capitalist machine, producing money, silver, and golden fruit that adorn the monstrous institutions. The poem ends with an unanswered question, a rallying cry for revolutionary change and a reflection of Iqbal’s influence on Jafri’s social existentialism.
Ek Khaab Aur offers another hard-hitting vision of social rebirth:
Sar Kashi phir mai tujhay aaj sada deta hoon Mai tera shair-e-awara-o-bebak-kharaab Phaink phir jazba-i-betaab ki aalam pe kamand Ek khaab aur bhi aay Himmat-e-dushwaar pasand Hear me, O spirit rebellious again I give thee a call I, a poet of ill repute, a reckless, roving bard Cast again on the world the magic of your stirring thoughts, Dream another daring dream, O danger-loving resolve
Here, Jafri connects with suppressed forces of struggle, urging social transition with lyrical energy that awakens humanity’s profound ideals. His art penetrates the toxic psyche of the times, envisioning an untarnished tomorrow where money’s inflated ego can be tamed by revolutionary fervor.
Another dimension of Jafri’s art is his prolonged lamentation of Partition’s legacy. In Subah-e-Farda, he expresses despair and hope:
sarhad pe kal dooba tha sooraj ho ke do tukade Isi sarhad pe kal zakhmi huyi thi subh-e-azaadi Yeh sarhad khoon ki, ashqon ki, aahon ki, sharaaron ki Jahan boi thi nafrat aur talwarein ugaayin thi Main is sarhad pe kab se muntazir hoon subh-e-farda ka Yahan mehboob aankhon ke sitaare tilmilaye the Yahan maashooq chehare aansuon mein jhilmilaye the Yahan beton se maa, pyaari behen bhai se bichhadi thi Ye sarhad jo lahu peeti hai, angarey ugalti hai Hamari khaak ke seeney pe naagin ban ke chalti hai Sajaa kar jung ke hathiyaar, maidan mein nikalti hai Yeh sarhad phool ki, khushboo ki, rangoon ki, bahaaro.n ki Watan ke aarzoyon pe zulf ki maanind lehrati Dhanak ki tarah hansti, nadiyo.n ki tarah bal khaati Mahakti, jagamagati ik dulhan ki maang ki soorat Jo baalon ko do hisson mein to takseem karti hai Nigahbaani ho shab ko aasmaan ke chaand-taron ki Zameen paamal ho jaaye, hare kheto.n ki yurish se Sipaahe.n hamla-aawar hon darakhton ki kataaro.n ki Khudaa mehfooz rakkhe isko ghairon ki nigaahon se Pade na nazar ispe khoon ke taajir taaj-daaron ki Muhabbat hukmaraan ho, husn qaatil, dil masiiha ho Chaman pe aag barse shola-paikar gul-izaaron ki Woh din aaye ke aansoo ho ke nafrat dil se bah jaaye; Woh din aaye ye sarhad bosa-e-lab ban ke reh jaaye Yeh sarhad manchalo.n ki, dil-jalon ki, jaan-nisaaron ki Yeh sarhad sarzameen-e-dil ke
This narrative blends history and personal pathos, robust in diction and optimistic for human hearts to unite. Jafri’s career, crowned with the prestigious Janpath Award, solidifies him as a poet of the masses and a cherished voice even among elite.
[Dr Afroj Ashrafi is a faculty member in the department of English at the college of commerce, Arts and science , Patna university ]
