URDU poetry is weathering a new trend in India: salacious thoughts expressed in risqué language, not only trampling decency but intentionally trying to shock the readers while ignoring all the rules of critical theory that favour the delicate art of saying something without actually saying it. This is the gist of what Dr Ather Farouqui has said in his article in the just-published Jan-March, 2026 issue of Urdu Adab.

Farouqui has given a few shocking samples from the poetry of some young Indian poets of Urdu, with explicit language and disgusting lascivious images. The trend, a perceived “shortcut to earn fame”, has unfortunately caught the fancy of quite a few new poets. What Farouqui dislikes most about the new trend is that it lacks finesse and delicacy. While emphasising that erotic feelings have very much been part of Urdu literature, just like the great literature of any other language, he gives some examples from some Urdu poets who have expressed the libidinous impulses with subtlety and refinement. For instance, Farouqui says, Meeraji, Makhmoor Saeedi and Akhterul Imaan have tackled the sensitive topic with metaphors, metonymy and lovely imagery, beautifully capturing the essence of an idea without using offensive language or resorting to obnoxious images. Farouqui blames it on so-called or misunderstood modernism.

Here Ather Farouqui recalls two Urdu literary magazines launched in India over half-a-century ago, namely Tehreek and Shabkhoon, that were, as he puts it, masqueraded in the garb of modernism to promote the capitalist American ideals and to counter the rise of the leftist ideas and Soviet political influence in India and elsewhere. Farouqui says with the market economy ideals unleashed in India and closing down of magazines like Shabkhoon, as consumerism had taken over everything, these new poets have no outlet to display their lacklustre and gimmick ridden poetry except at mushairas (poetry recital sessions) as they do not get published in print media.

Urdu Adab is a literary Urdu magazine published by Delhi’s Anjuman Taraqqi-i-Urdu Hind (ATUH) and its latest issue offers much food for thought. Launched in 1921 by Moulvi Abdul Haq, it has gone through several peaks and valleys, reflecting the policy and mindset of the editor, but Ather Farouqui has made it an independent and impartial academic journal ever since he took over as ATUH’s secretary and the editor, says in his editorial Prof Sadiqur Rahman Kidvai, the chief editor and president of ATUH. Kidvai has crisply summed up the challenges Urdu has been facing, especially in India in the wake of independence. Urdu’s diminishing circle of influence in post-independence India is indeed a cause of concern as literature basically depends on the overall influence and blooming of the language, but in India now the teaching of Urdu is restricted to either at the higher levels or in religious seminaries (madressahs), says Kidvai. The teaching of Urdu — the backbone of the language — has been discontinued and this intentional demolition of Urdu’s strongest fort at school level, especially in UP, is a great tragedy for Indian civilisation, he adds.

Kidvai has raised other burning questions, too: for an ideological institution like ATUH, it is a must to work for the standardisation and unification of Urdu orthography as well as the canonisation of Urdu literature. One agrees that these two all-important works should be the priority of Anjuman. Kidvai has mentioned ATUH’s efforts in this regard, but rues at the effects of endeavours made to modernise Hindi at the cost of Urdu. It was not only intended to change the script but the actual agenda was to transform Hindi into a language with a totally different style and vibe, making it sound different from Urdu. This policy’s repercussions can be seen in the great damage caused by transliterating Prem Chand’s works from Urdu to Hindi. When Prem Chand began writing in Hindi he just intended to publish his works in Nagari script to reach a wider audience, but later on Prem Chand’s writings were transformed into a text quite different from his original Urdu works. If Prem Chand’s writings published in Hindi would be compared with the original manuscripts, this agenda of transforming him into a Hindi writer rather than an Urdu one, could be easily revealed. In this context, Kidvai also mentions Masoom Rahi Raza’s Urdu novel Aadha Gaaon, which Raza had penned in Urdu but he had to get it published in Nagari script for certain reasons and now it is being touted as a Hindi novel and Raza a Hindi writer.

Some other articles in Urdu Adab’s latest issue, too, make an absorbing read.

Published in Dawn, July 13th, 2026