Inquilab Zindabad… Inquilab Zindabad… Inquilab Zindabad…
The cry still sends shivers down spines. A phrase shouted in protests, scribbled on placards, and passed through generations like a torch of rebellion. Most people know it through the voice of Shaheed Bhagat Singh, the young revolutionary who made it roar through colonial corridors.
But who is the creator of Inquilab Zindabad?
The answer is not a fighter with a gun… but a poet with a pen. A man both fierce and spiritual, fearless yet soft-spoken. Say hello to Hasrat Mohani.
The poet who dared first
Born Syed Fazl-ul-Hasan in 1875 in Mohan, a small town in present-day Uttar Pradesh, he grew up to become many things… a poet, a marxist, a mystic, and a freedom fighter. He adopted the pen name ‘Hasrat’ (meaning longing) and ‘Mohani’ (after his hometown), and with it, carved a space for himself in India’s turbulent history.
In 1921, during a time when even the Indian National Congress tiptoed around the idea of full independence, Hasrat Mohani stood up and said it out loud. He coined ‘Inquilab Zindabad’… Long Live the Revolution… not as a mere slogan, but as a vision for a completely new India.
For Hasrat, revolution was not just about kicking out the British. It was about tearing down every form of injustice… social inequality, religious division, class oppression. His dream was of a nation that was equal, fearless, and free in every sense.
Shaheed Bhagat Singh carried the torch, but Hasrat lit it
Eight years after Mohani first uttered those words, Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt made them echo in the Central Legislative Assembly by shouting ‘Inquilab Zindabad’ as they threw pamphlets. From that moment on, the slogan belonged to the people… but its soul came from Hasrat.
Bhagat Singh gave the slogan its roar. But Hasrat Mohani gave it its fire.
A scholar, a rebel, a boy with a pen
Hasrat’s rebellion began early. As a schoolboy, he topped his classes and won scholarships for his brilliance in mathematics. He studied at the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College (now Aligarh Muslim University), where he was expelled not once, but three times… for challenging British policies and raising his voice when it was not convenient.
Still, he finished his BA in 1903, proving that brilliance and resistance could go hand in hand.
His sharp intellect extended beyond the classroom. Under masters like Tasleem Lucknawi and Naseem Dehlvi, he became a formidable Urdu poet… but his verses were not just about love and longing. They were weapons.
Words that moved a nation
Hasrat Mohani’s poetry carried both tenderness and thunder. His most famous ghazal, ‘Chupke Chupke Raat Din,’ later immortalised by singers like Ghulam Ali and Jagjit Singh, was written from prison.
But love was not his only muse.
Through his magazine ‘Urdu-e-Mualla,’ started in 1903, he criticised British imperialism… not just in India, but even in places like Egypt. The British did not take kindly to that. They threw him in jail, where he wrote ‘Mushahidaat-e-Zindaan,’ a prison diary filled with reflection and resistance.
His poetry was not just beautiful… It was brave.
The first to demand Poorna Swaraj
In 1921, while Congress still spoke in half-measures, Hasrat Mohani boldly demanded ‘Azadi-e-Kaamil…’ complete independence. This was eight years before the Congress would officially do the same in 1929.
He was not content with partial reforms or dominion status. He wanted full freedom. And he was not afraid to say it.
A revolutionary who slept in mosques
Hasrat was elected President of the All India Muslim League in 1919, but he walked his own path. When Partition was proposed, he rejected it. He believed India belonged to all, and chose to stay after 1947… not in Pakistan, but in India, to represent Muslims who did not want to leave their homeland.
Despite being a member of the Constituent Assembly, he refused government perks. No bungalows. No cars. He travelled in third-class compartments, often on foot, and once told someone, “There is no fourth class.”
His humility was not for show. It was his life.
The Sufi communist
Yes, you read that right. Hasrat Mohani was a rare fusion of ideals. A founder of the Communist Party of India in 1925, he admired the Russian Revolution and imagined a federal India with regional autonomy… much like the USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics).
But he was also deeply spiritual. A devout Muslim, he went on multiple Hajj pilgrimages. And yet, he also celebrated Janmashtami in Mathura and wrote poetry about Lord Krishna.
He saw no contradiction in loving both Allah and Krishna. He believed India could be a land where many faiths coexisted, not just tolerated… but celebrated.
A visionary… not always understood
Mohani’s ideas were often ahead of their time… sometimes too far ahead. His dream of a confederated India, split into six autonomous zones, did not fit the post-Partition political reality. He even refused to sign the Indian Constitution, believing it did not go far enough to uplift the poor and marginalised.
Noble? Absolutely. Practical? Maybe not always. But Hasrat was not in politics to please. He was there to push boundaries.
A legacy that still breathes
Hasrat Mohani died on 13 May 1951 in Lucknow. Today, his name lives on through institutions, street names, and hostels. But his true legacy? That still pulses in the air every time someone cries out ‘Inquilab Zindabad!’
He gave Bhagat Singh a slogan. He gave India a vision. He gave Urdu poetry a conscience.
So the next time you hear that chant in a protest, on a street, or in a film… remember the man who first whispered it. Not in fury, but in hope. Not with a sword, but with a pen.
Hasrat Mohani did not just shout revolution. He lived it.
Also Read: Bal Gangadhar Tilak: A Multifaceted Legacy
