The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur has set up a panel to decide whether Faiz’s poem ‘Hum dekhenge lazim hai ki hum bhi dekhenge’, is anti-Hindu.
The panel was set up in response to a complaint filed by a faculty member who claimed that the students, during a protest, sang the poem, which is anti-Hindu.
The panel will also see if whether the students posted objectionable content on the social media and whether the Faiz poem is anti-Hindu.
The poem reads—‘Lazim hai ke hum bhi dekhenge. Jab arz-e-Khuda ke kaabe se. Sab but uthwaye jayenge, Hum ahl-e-safa mardood-e-harm. Masnad pe bithaye jayenge. Sab taaj uchale jaenge. Sab takht giraye jayenge. Bas naam rahega Allah ka. Hum dekhenge.’
It is the last line of the poem on which the faculty member claims that the poem is anti-Hindu.
The IIT-Kanpur students had taken out a peaceful march on the campus on December 17 in support of the students of Jamia Millia Islamia and during the march the students sang the Faiz poem.
The IIT faculty member, in his complaint, has alleged that the students made anti-India and communal statements during their demonstration.
The complaint was based on two lines of the poem, which have obviously been misinterpreted—“When all idols will be removed, only Allah’s name will remain.”
The faculty member further stated that “organisers and masterminds must be identified and expelled immediately”.
Along with the faculty member, 15 students have signed the complaint.
In an article published on the IIT-Kanpur student media portal, the students gave their side of the story. They stated that they had recited a few lines of the Faiz poem in reference to the police crackdown on the Jamia students. However, their chants were misinterpreted and called “communal and misleading.”
The poem was written by Faiz in reference to military dictator Zia-ul-Haq in 1979 and was against the military rule in Pakistan. The poem is time and again sung in revolutionary marches.