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Chapter III Factors Contributing to the Formation of Progressive Writers

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Chapter III Factors Contributing to the Formation of Progressive Writers Chapter III Factors Contributing to the Formation of Progressive Writers’ Association The political consciousness, the desire for the formation of a new nation, economic upheavals, and social, cultural and religious reform movements, all occurred in the form of waves in India, and these new trends brought revolutionary ideas and the new awakening in national thinking. Politically and culturally the age of nationalism had taken a revolutionary posture. The fast moving events of inter­ war period, the successful socialist revolution in Russia, the political formations of the left which emerged were the Communist Party of India (CPI), and the Congress Socialist Party (CSP) gave a revolutionary thinking among Indian intellectuals. The national movement, which took a concrete shape in 1885 with the establishment of Indian National Congress (INC), was slowly gathering momentum under the inspiration of these great social changes. The British government sought to control it, by imposing several restrictions on freedom of association and expression.62 But it only sharpened and infused the imagination among Indian intellectuals, which had already been inspired by the Russian revolution and the socialist literature. It gave new content in literature and very often to national movement as a whole. Songs of patriotism became more outspoken in tone. The British government offers of constitutional reforms came too late to satisfy even the liberals and ‘nationalist India stood poised for a major political strike’. The mass movement of the twenties saw 62 Ali Jawad Zaidi, History o f Urdu Literature, (New Delhi: Sahitya Academy, 1993), p. 348. 80 the merging of the Khilafat movement into political mainstream. This unity gave a boost to Progressive National thinking and lot of patriotic poetry was written. The acceptance of the call for ‘Complete Independence’ (Poorna Swaraj’) by the Indian National Congress marked a complete break from the reformism of the past. The slogan o f “Inquilab ZindabacV (long live the revolution) reverberated throughout the country and the theme of freedom or revolution became more frequent and direct in the verses of most of the writers. The motive behind the writing of revolution was the freedom to rule the nation’s destiny according to the people’s wishes. When Jawaharlal Nehru added his voice in support of the socialists and a group of young Congress men began functioning as its Congress Socialist wing, most communists joined it as the Communist Party of India was banned. It flashed the message of working class and peasantry who were joining the National movement. The plight of these classes was echoed in the literature. As a result o f all these ideas, India was “rocked by huge political hurricanes between the end of First World War and 1935. The non­ cooperation movement, the Khilafat movement, the two civil disobedience movements of Congress, movements for revolution by young terrorists, the conservative poising, spraying of communal Hindus and Muslims, what did all these lead to? In the eyes of common man, all these were failures, because of British Imperialism; with its paranoiac arrogance it continued to prevail over us.”63 The shadow of oppression, hunger and ignorance still hung over the country. The people of the middle and lower middle classes had constantly lived under economic stress. 63 Sajjad Zaheer, The Light, A History of Movement for Progressive Literature in the Indo-Pakistan Sub-continent, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006), p. 27. 81 They had borne the brunt of political humiliation, and had lived under the shadow of want during the world wars. People like Sajjad Zaheer firmly believed that while the literature created by such a class may lack variety, it already carried within it the sense of revolt and resentment, which found a ready echo in the writings of the leftists. The young writers were staggered by new forces of change, and these inspired them to explore and experiment with the new styles and techniques in writings. They had experience of colonial subjugation and inspired by the revolutionary, radical trends and had zeal of changes in their society. The first attack on the society through their literature was the book “Angare (Chingaree)” - A collection of ten short stories’, by Sajjad Zaheer, Rashid Jahan, Ahmed Ali and Mahmuduzzafar. It was published in Lucknow in December 1932, and marked a major turning point in the history of Urdu literature. According to Aziz Ahmed, a historian, “It was a declaration of war by the youth of the middle class against the prevailing social, political and religious institutions’".64 The Angare stories dealt with the prevailing problems of the noble families and descendants, hypocrisy of social and religious life in contemporary India, and took more than one pot-shot at religious orthodoxy, attacking it with what Ahmed Ali later referred to as the ‘absence of circumspection’. Within a month of its publication, it was condemned by a variety of organizations and Muslim circles, as “obscene” and “blasphemous”. Newspapers and journals published angry editorials and articles denouncing the book. “The 64 Shabana Mahmud. “Angare and the Founding of the Progressive Writers’ Association”, Modem Asian Studies, Vol. 30, (Cambridge University Press, 1996), p. 447. 82 Hindustan times of 21 February 1933 carried an article entitled ‘‘Urdu pamphlet denounced: Shias gravely upset"’, and quoted a resolution passed by the Central Standing Committee of the All India Conference, Lucknow. This resolution stated that “the meeting strongly condemns the heart rending and filthy pamphlet called “Angare” which has wounded the feelings of the entire Muslim community by ridiculing God and his Prophet and which is extremely objectionable from the standpoints, both of religion and morality”.65 The book was banned by the government of United Provinces under Section 295 A of the Indian Penal Code on 15th March 1933, which reads “whoever, with deliberate and malicious intention of outraging the religious feelings of any class of his majesty’s subjects, by words, either spoken or the religious belief of that class, shall be punished with imprisonment either description for a term which may extend to 2 years, or with fine or with both”.66 Once the book was banned, ali but five copies were destroyed by the police. In reply to this widespread criticism, on 5th April 1933, one author of "Angare" issued a statement in the newspaper Leader (Allahabad) entitled "In Defence of ‘Angare’, Shall we submit to Gagging?” It was drafted by Mahmuduzzafar. The text read: “Some five months back four young authors, among them young women brought out a collection of short stories in Urdu under the title ‘Angare’. I happened to be one of the contributors to this collection. This book at once raised a storm in Moslem circles. It was said to be 65 Ibid., p. 448. 66 Ibid., p. 450. shameless attack on Islam and everything decent in society. The book has already been proscribed by the UP government under Section 295-A of the I.P.C. It is even said that funds are being collected to start the prosecution of the authors. Shall we submit to such gagging? That is the question I wish to raise here. Coming to the contents of the book itself, the stories o f my friend S. Sajjad Zaheer are concerned chiefly with the criticism and a satire of the current Moslem conceptions, life and practices. His attack is directed primarily against the intolerable theological burden that is imposed from childhood upon the average Moslem in this country - a burden that leads to a contortion and a cramping of the inquisitive or speculative mind and the vital vigour of body of both man and women. Ahmed Ali essays into the realms of poverty, material, spiritual and physical, especially the poverty of the Moslem woman, and imagination and admirable boldness breaks through the veils of convention to expose the stark reality. Rashid Jahan, who is also a doctor of Medicine drawing on her practical experience, also portrays vividly the ghastly plight of the woman behind the purdah. My own single contribution is an attack on the vanity of man which seeks to find an outlet at the expense of the weak and defenceless womanhood. Nobody can deny the truthfulness of those portraits, and anyone who chooses to exert himself can see that they are not drawn for the sake of literary 'flair’, but spring from an inner indignation against 'this sorry scheme of things’. The authors of this book do not wish to make any apology for it. They leave it to float or sink of itself. They are not afraid of the consequences of 84 having launched it. They only wish to defend ‘the right of launching it and all other vessels like it'... they stand for the right of free criticism and free expression in Indian people in particular. They have chosen the particular field of Islam not because they bear any ‘special’ malice, but because, being born into that particular society, they felt themselves better qualified to speak for that alone. They were surer of their ground there. Whatever happens to the book or to the authors, we hope that others will not be discouraged. Our practical proposal is the formation immediately of League of Progressive Authors, which should bring forth similar collections from time to time, both in English and various vernaculars of our country. We appeal to all those who are interested in this idea to get in touch with us. They may communicate to S Ahmed Ali, M.A. Jalal Manzil, Kucha Pandit, in Delhi.”67 Hence the idea of forming a league of progressive writers was seen in this statement. This does not in any way imply that this was the original intended goal of the Angare authors.
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