Mohammad Aaquib
The West Bengal Urdu academy, an institution working for the upliftment of Urdu as a language and also the academic development of the city, was scheduled to organize their annual literary festival, ‘Urdu in Hindi Cinema’, between August 31 to September 3, 2025. The most important and anticipated event within the entire programme was their National Mushaira on the 1st of September to be presided over by famous Bollywood lyricist and writer Javed Akhtar. Brandings and posters were seen across the city, and passes had to be reprinted in order to facilitate the audiences’ demand. However, the entire festival was indefinitely postponed on 30 August, so close to its commencement, due to “unavoidable circumstances” as told to local journalists and media houses by Nuzhat Zainab, the Secretary of West Bengal Urdu academy.
Javed Akhtar is known for his contributions to the Urdu language through his poetry, lyrics and dialogues written for famous Bollywood films for decades. Despite his muslim-sounding name, he is often seen publicly referring to himself as an atheist. India is a secular country and not believing in any religion is a personal choice. Javed is often invited to literary fests and programmes within India and abroad. In this case, problems occurred due to his recent remarks going viral on social media “against Allah” and core Islamic beliefs that naturally hurt the sentiments of Muslims across the country. He is also often seen casually making fun of all religions. This did not sit well with some of the Ulama (Islamic clergy) of Kolkata and West Bengal. They began to protest and strongly express their opposition against inviting the famous poet to the Urdu Academy’s aforementioned annual event.
Mufti Shamail Nadwi, representing his Wahyain Foundation, gave a press conference on the 29th of August, 2025, in Kolkata challenging Javed Akhtar for an academic debate entitled, “Does God Exist?”. He said, “kolkata shahar ke musalmanon ke taraf se bil-khusoos aur tamam mazhab walon ke taraf se bil-umoom hum numaindagi karne ke liye taiyyar hain” (I am ready to debate him on behalf of and representing the Muslims of Kolkata, specifically, and people belonging to all faiths, generally).
This statement extracted from his press conference reflects that Mufti not only wanted to academically challenge Javed due to his blasphemous views against Allah but also his attitude of making a mockery of the concept of religion and theism as a whole. Even Maulana Zillur Rahman Arif, Secretary of Jamiat Ulema e Hind’s Kolkata unit, expressed his severe concern and stood in opposition to the idea of Akhtar presiding over West Bengal Urdu Academy’s National Mushaira. A delegation of multiple scholars representing the Jamiat visited the Academy’s office at Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Road on 29th August to meet WBUA’s Secretary Nuzhat Zainab. The delegation’s main aim was to make the academy avoid inviting Javed Akhtar to their programme and the very next day Ms. Zainab gave out the official statement ensuring that the event has been postponed indefinitely due to “unavoidable circumstances”. While no official information was provided as to why the much-anticipated function was postponed, it can easily be understood that such severe pressure from Islamic religious bodies played a crucial role.
The state elections are only a few months away, to be held in 2026, and it is evident that the local government and administrative authorities do not wish to cause any discomfort to the sentiments of local Muslims. The programme was to be attended by Kolkata’s Mayor Firhad Hakim, who is considered to be one of the key figures within the ruling party in West Bengal. The city has, in the past, seen similar protest movements grow considerably taking the form of a riot. The most famous example is when the then government had to impose a curfew and martial law on 27 Novemver 2007 due to protests against Taslima Nasrin. Blasphemous attitude against Islam is, therefore, not something to be taken lightly in the city of Kolkata, be it during the CPIM or today’s TMC.
Some people can also be seen arguing that the Urdu Academy is a language institute having nothing to do with religion. Therefore, the cancellation of a literary festival due to Akhtar’s opinion does not make sense. The Islamic scholars against his participation, however, commented that the Academy is strongly linked to the Muslims and their actions do influence and reflect the sentiments of the city’s Muslim population. Hence, allowing such a blasphemous personality to lead an important literary event being held under the Academy’s name was unacceptable. It is true that Javed’s contribution to the language has been immense but his recent statements regarding Allah can be considered not only arrogant and blasphemous, but also a sign of his deteriorating mental faculties. Muslims have always, throughout history and across regions, been very conscious about religious blasphemy.
Mohammad Aaquib is a Kolkata-based writer and researcher. He works on communalism, political violence, and Muslim identity in contemporary South Asia. He can be reached at maaquib8th@gmail.com and @mohammad._.aaquib.
The views expressed in this article are author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the policy of the platform.
