A POET AND A POLITICIAN

Sydney-based poet and musician Abbas Raza Alvi talks to Indian Link Radio’s CHARUTA JOSHI about his links with Vajpayee

“Mere prabhu, mujhe itni unchaai kabhi mat dena, gairon ko gale na laga sakun itni rukhai mat dena (God, don’t ever give me heights that I’m not able to embrace strangers).”

Abbas Raza Alvi narrates the first lines of Vajpayee’s book of poems Meri Ekyavan Kavitayen with ease that can only come from genuine love for poetry. “His poems reflect the reality of life as he saw it,” says Alvi. “His words are replete with irony, pain and empathy for the common man’s problems.” Alvi set to music a select sample of Vajpayee’s poems, in an album called Sandesh featuring local singers.

“No other political leader made a more earnest effort to thaw the tense relationship between India and Pakistan,” Alvi recalls. “When I met him, he told me how much he liked one of the compositions, Jung na hone denge (We won’t let the war happen). He was appreciative of the fact that I had roped in both Indian and Pakistani singers for this song.”

Vajpayee the poet, Alvi tells, was not very different from Vajpayee the politician. He talked about the ordinary man and his daily struggle, but he talked about politics in his poems too. “Desh ki rajdhani me Sansad ke saamne dhool kab tak udegi? Meri ankhen band hain, mujhe kuch dikhai nai deta (How long will dust fly in front of the Parliament in the nation’s capital? My eyes can’t see anything). That’s Vajpayeeji talking politics. What other politician writes about things like these?” Alvi asks.

Giving music to Vajpayee’s poems was no mean feat, but Alvi insists that it was a gratifying experience to breathe life into the words of the man who gave so much, both to the country and the common man.

“His death is a great loss to us. Vajpayeeji was a Prime Minister for Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Parsis, everyone. He was India’s true Prime Minister.”