Javed Akhtar- A Poet of hope and optimism

It was a pleasure listening to Javed Akhtar’s views expressed by him at various platforms during his recent visit to Pakistan, where he had gone in response to invitation extended to him to participate in Faiz festival 2023.

Whether it was recital of his poetry at the festival or his candidly expressed views during various interactions and interviews, it was a sheer delight to witness his grace and persona. How he grew up in a family comprising communists and congress supporters, but all puffed up with the pride of Indianness, fighting for its freedom, his rebellion and his initial days of struggle in Mumbai, his life is inspirational to say the least. And here it’s futile to talk about his talent as a story teller and a poet, fields in which he has touched an acme in excellence.

His interpretation of why secularism is the basis of democracy is something that’s extremely noteworthy and deserves to be adopted as the right definition of democracy. According to him, a party in majority forms government and then brings acts and bills to implement its policies. These bills get passed by a majority vote. However, this majority and minority get redefined every 5 years and is not perpetual. This, according to him, is the right definition of minority and majority as it’s redefined every 5 years. On the contrary religious based majority and minority are non changing and hence not secular.

As he ends one of his interviews with his own couplet:

Kabhi to insaan karega zindagi ki izzat

Yeh ek ummeed aaj bhi dil main pal rahi hai!

Hats off to you Javed Sahab! Please do continue to spread this hope, optimism and happiness.