AMN/ HYDERABAD
Renowned humourist, satirist and doyen of Urdu literature Mujtaba Hussain passed away here today after a prolong illness. He was 88.
He breathed his last at his residence in Red Hills here around 9 am today. He was well known for his humourous writings, columns in Urdu newspapers and books.
An awardee of Padam Shri, Hussain has many book to his credit including 15 volumes of humour journalism, with many of them translated into Hindi, English and other languages. Apne Yaad Mein, an autobiographical satire, Urdu ke sheher urdu ke log, Behar hal, Safar lakht lakht and Mera Column are some of his notable works.
He began writing humour with ‘Seesha-o-Teesha’ column in Siasat. Later he started writing his own humour column in Siasat which was published every Sunday.
Mujtaba Husain authored 25 books, received 13 awards, including the coveted Padma Shree.
Recently he had returned his Padma Shree in protest against what he called anti people policies of the government.
Mujtaba Hussain had said that he would return his award as he was pained by the state of democracy in India.
It was in 2007 that the 87-year-old author was awarded the Padma Shri.
“The unrest in the country, the atmosphere of fear which is being created, and the flame of hatred which is being fanned is truly disturbing. The democracy which we worked for with so much pain and effort, and the way in which it is being destroyed, is condemnable. In these circumstances, I do not wish to keep any government award in my possession,” Mr Hussain said.
“I am in my 87th year. I am more worried about the future of this country. I am worried about the nature of this country which I leave for my children, and the next generation,” he said.