FM quotes Kashmiri poet in speech

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, February 1

During the opening remarks of her Budget speech in Parliament on Saturday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman quoted famous leftist Kashmiri poet Pandit Dinanath Nadim.

Sitharaman recited one of Nadim’s verses in Kashmiri and translated it into Hindi, “Humara watan khilte hue Shalimar Bagh jaisa, humara watan Dal Lake mein khilte hue kamal jaisa, naujawanon ke garam khoon jaisa, mera watan tera watan, humara watan, duniya ka sabse pyara watan” (Our nation is like Shalimar Bagh, our nation is like the lotus in the Dal Lake, our nation is like the energy of the youth, my nation your nation, our nation, the most adorable nation in the world). She received a thunderous applause from MPs after the recitation.

Dinanath Nadim was born in Ganpatyar, Srinagar, on March 18, 1916, and was a prominent Kashmiri poet in the 20th century. He was greatly influenced by communism and progressive writers and was instrumental in starting the progressive writers’ movement in Kashmir. Most of his works are in Kashmiri, but he also wrote in Hindi and Urdu. He passed away on April 8, 1988.

Kashmiri poet Farooq Nazki called Dinanath Nadim an epoch-making poet of Kashmiri. He started the trend of progressive writing and had travelled largely to Russia and China, said Nazki.

“I was so happy and touched that the FM, despite dealing in a dry subject like finance, recited the verse. She must have recited it as it mentions lotus flower, which especially suits the ruling party.”