Gujarat Police versus Congress’s poet-politician Imran Pratapgarhi, and a question of freedom of expression

Last Monday, the Supreme Court pulled up the Gujarat Police over the FIR it filed against Pratapgarhi over one of his social media posts, and said that “75 years after the existence of the Constitution, freedom of speech and expression has to be at least now understood by the police.” According to the prosecution, after attending a wedding function at Jamnagar, Pratapgarhi had uploaded a video with the poem “Ae khoon ke pyase baat suno” running in the background. The words in the poem were alleged to be “objectionable”. Acting on a complaint, the Gujarat Police booked Pratapgarhi on January 3 under several BNS sections.

Born in Shamsherganj Bazaar village in UP’s Pratapgarh among 10 siblings, Pratapgarhi has a humble background, with his father Mohammad Iliyas Khan being a Unani medicine doctor and mother Sajida Khan a homemaker.

He studied at a school in Pratapgarh, and went to the Allahabad University for his graduation and then did his post-graduation in Hindi literature in 2008 there. He also got a diploma in journalism from the varsity. From his college days, he wrote poetry and recited it at Hindi Kavi Sammelans (poetry functions). He then started participating in Urdu Mushairas (poetry symposiums), and quickly became a crowd-puller at these events, acquiring a fan base which is now spread across the country and even overseas.

Pratapgarhi’s poetry has been marked with social and political themes, focusing on the concerns of the marginalised and vulnerable sections, celebrating India’s pluralism, and giving “messages of peace, tolerance and resistance against divisive forces”.

Before entering politics, a key theme of Pratapgarhi’s poetry was lynchings. He was also said to have helped those who lost their family members to various lynching incidents in different parts of the country. In 2017, he held a blood donation camp at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar where 2,816 units of blood was donated as a symbolic protest against lynchings – labelled “Lahu bol raha hai (blood is speaking)”.

Impressed by his poetry and social activism, the Congress camp called him for a meeting with the then party president Rahul Gandhi in November 2018, which was part of a series of the meetings the latter was then holding with prominent faces from different fields. Pratapgarhi was allotted 20 minutes for his appointment with Rahul, but the meeting went on for almost two hours, where they discussed a range of political and social issues.

Barely a few months later, the Congress allotted its ticket for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections to Pratapgarhi from the Moradabad constituency, where he finished third with a 4.62% vote share with the SP’s S T Hasan defeating the BJP candidate to clinch the seat.

However, the AICC leadership appointed Pratapgarhi as its minority department head in June 2021. In July 2022, he was elected to the Rajya Sabha as the Congress nominee from Maharashtra, becoming one of the youngest members of the Upper House.

His speeches in Parliament are laced with verses. He is also popular in the Congress circles. “When Imran Pratapgarhi comes to the AICC headquarters in Delhi and sits in his office, there are many people who line up for hours to meet him. They come from far off places from across the country. And such gatherings are often bigger than those outside the offices of some senior leaders,” says a party activist.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Pratapgarhi says, “Social media, Mushairas and Kavi Sammelans made me what I am today”. “My poetry is very simple. You can’t say it is difficult Hindi or Urdu, and hence, it is accessible to all,” he says.

He had a keen interest in poetry since childhood and started taking part in the poetry and debate competitions since his school days. “I used to attend poetry events during my school days. Once I went to Allahabad University, it came across as a big arena that provided a culturally rich atmosphere to aspiring poets,” he says. His poetry is inspired by Indian poet Rahat Indori and Pakistani poet Habib Jalib.

Pratapgarhi was awarded “Yash Bharti” by the then Akhilesh Yadav-led SP government in 2016 for his “contribution to poetry and social work”. At 29, he was said to be the youngest recipient of this award.

“Even when I was not in active politics, I was trying to make a difference in society by reciting poems on social issues, and helping families who suffered due to lynchings,” says Pratapgarhi.