Eight-day Jamia exhibition to remember Indian poets

In a bid to mark India’s 70th year of Independence, Jamia Millia Islamia University’s Premchand Archives and Literary Centre on Thursday organised an eight-day exhibition on “Qalam ke Sipahiyon Ko Salam”.

The exhibition, which is a selection of Hindi, Urdu Kavya-Kalaam of Indian freedom movement poets, will be on exhibit from August 18 to 25.

“There were hundreds of known and unknown poets across undivided India, poets from north, south, east and west, who raised their voice against exploitation of India by the foreign rulers.”

“Their poetic verses became potent weapons to unite the Indian masses against the ‘divide and rule’ policy of the colonial power. It also threatened the British government so much that quite a few of these verses were banned and the poets severely punished,” an official statement read.

“Despite the sinister plan of the British, thousands of folk bards and wandering minstrels came forward in support and walked from village to village and street to street to spread the tales of heroes and martyrs,” it added.