Denial of their right to remembrance, coupled with the psychological torment of being expropriated, often force Partition survivors to consign their memories to some dark recesses of the mind.
On his birthday, a look at the poet extraordinaire's writing on communal violence, corruption, unemployment. The tone and words here are different from Gulzar's beautiful romantic verse.
The Muslim League unleashed a reign of terror that attacked secular leaders such as Maulana Abul Kalam Azad. In their aggression, they often found support from the British, the Hindu right-wing, even sections of the Congress.
They wear their Indian identity on their sleeve. Their heroes are Sachin, Dhoni and, of course, Salman Bhai. But 2014 and its following politics have placed Indian Muslims at a crossroads yet again.