Indian civilisation had a rich history of two conflicting ideologues engaging in ‘Shastrarth’ for ironing out the differences in opinions or enriching their knowledge about the subject involved. But the oppressive colonising powers engrained a false sense of inferiority complex for Indian civilisation and its all-inclusive, tolerant ideas.
Under the patronage of those in power, pseudo intellectuals wrecked the process of deliberation, debate and tolerance and replaced it with their narrow and perverse viewpoint.
This dominant narrative tried to maintain unchallenged hegemony over the flow of ideas. For that, it carried out hideous acts to achieve their nefarious motives. Acclaimed Punjabi poet Shiv Kumar Batalvi is the most prominent example of the blatant intolerance of these pseudo intellectuals.
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Leftists hated Batalvi’s prolific work
In normal circumstances, there can’t be a better feeling for a creator than his or her work making them immortal in the hearts of erudite literature fans. But the case is different for Shiv Kumar Batalvi. The leftist intellectual class did every sinister act in the book to erase his work from the literary sphere.
Driven by intense hatred against Shiv Kumar Batalvi, the leftist class stole his diaries, which contained all his literary work, and burned them. Additionally, they also made sure to delete every recording that Shiv Kumar Batalvi ever made. For example, his recordings with Akashvani were deleted. Now, his only public recording available is an excerpt of an interview with the BBC.
These pseudo-intellectuals wanted to ensure that there was no trace of Batalvi’s work left behind for public consumption. Their goal was to cage Batalvi’s ideas and art, which rattled these leftist intellectuals and stop its propagation. But the leftist intellectual class forgot that nobody in the world has the power to cage an idea, especially one that has strong appeal among the masses and directly forges a connection with their hearts.
Ironically, these leftist intellectuals now-a-days cry foul that they have been silenced for being on the other side of the political spectrum and there is no free flow of ideas and thought processes that have been forcefully caged, conspired against. Basically, they shout all those virtues for which they didn’t even have an iota of respect, as was evident throughout the independent history of India. This was highlighted by the evil conspiracy hatched to silence the voice that didn’t seek validation from them.
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Batalvi’s literary work will always belittle these pseudo-intellectuals
Shiv Kumar Batalvi was a renowned Indian poet, writer, and playwright who did immense work for Punjabi literature and language. He was widely popular for romantic poetry as well as poetry on separation and a lover’s agony. For imbibing the real pain of separation, he earned the moniker “Virha Da Sultan.”
Batalvi was born on the Pakistani side of Punjab in undivided India in the year 1936 (his date of birth is disputed). After the demonic partition, his family shifted to Gurdaspur, India. His father, Pandit Krishan Gopal Sharma, worked as a patwari. Consequently, his father was inclined to see him take a regular job as a clerk. However, young Batalvi would spend the day wandering around, sitting beneath a tree and listening to local renditions of the Hindu epics Ramayana and Mahabharat.
He was fascinated by these Hindu epics and felt inclined towards opting to work in the literary field. He frequently dropped studies to pursue other streams. In Baijnath, Himachal Pradesh, he did a diploma in Civil Engineering, which he left in the middle just the way he did in earlier courses. He attended Govt. Ripudaman College in Nabha for a time.
He was blessed with words and would often turn his real-life story into mesmerising poetry. For example, he had three love interests, and every time separation brought new iconic poetry. Once he saw a girl at the Baijnath fair, but when he visited her hometown, he got to know about the unfortunate death of the girl named Maina. Reminiscing about her, he wrote the iconic elegy Maina, which brought him initial fame.
His love interest once went to Venezuela and married there. On the birth of her first child, Batalvi wrote, “Maye ni main ik shikra yaar banaya.” After that, he went on to give one fine poem after another. His roaring success was such that he became the youngest recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1967. He was bestowed this prestigious award for his epic verse based on the ancient legend of Puran Bhagat, Loona (1965). This later developed into a new genre of modern Punjabi kissa.
Punjabi singer Diljit Dosanjh reaped giant success on account of the song “Ikk Kudi Jihda Naam Mohabbat Ghum Hai,” but the audiences hardly know the fact that it was written by Shiv Kumar Batalvi, courtesy of a leftist conspiracy against him.
Similarly, there are many more iconic songs that were based on the poetry written by Shiv Kumar Batalvi. Other examples include “Maiye Ni Maiye” and “Ajj Din Chhadeya Tere Rang. It was not that Shiv Kumar Batalvi didn’t know about the conspiracy going against him. In fact, he voiced his angst against this cruel tactic of leftists to needlessly criticise his poetry. It was sad that for a long time, the leftist class got success in erasing his work but as they say great men live long even after their death through their prolific work.
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