51 years in exile: Adieu to poet Daud Haider

Death is the inviolable opposite of birth. Everyone, regardless of race or religion, has to submit to that infallible truth one day. Poet Daud Haider (February 21, 1952-April 26, 2025) departed, holding the hand of that inevitable death.

He will not write a single new poem. He will not even talk to anyone in Bangladesh from faraway Berlin. Daud Haider has become separated from this planet called Earth forever. Everyone goes to this world of infinite separation, but not all individuals get separated. Some, even after their eternal departure, remain partially, fragmentedly with memories in their creativity, they keep the lamp of remembrance lit differently. This is all the consolation for relatives and friends after the death of a famous poet-literary-artist, i.e. a creative person.

The much-discussed and criticized poet Daud Haider may also be able to keep himself alive in his creativity for a long time. A lifetime of exile for a single poem! It is astonishing, but this is what happened in Daud Haider's case. After a poem offended religious sentiments and was met with a movement of protesting people against it, poet Daud Haider became a man without a homeland for the rest of his life from 1974 onwards!

The fierce protests and demonstrations that Daud Haider faced in 1974 after publishing a poem containing negative comments about Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH), Jesus Christ, Gautam Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, and other religious figures, are what essentially drove him out of the country. The poem was published on the literary page of Sangbad on February 24, 1974, and he had to leave the country within three months, on May 21, 1974.

Daud Haider was well-known even before this 'controversial' poem was published in the newspapers. Despite his young age, his name as a poet spread throughout the country, especially for his poetry collection “Janmoi Amar Ajanmo Paap” published in 1973. Moreover, he also won an international award for poetry in 1972.

Many people think that the protest against him was due to the poem titled Janmoi Amar Ajanmo Paap. It is not. In the poem in which Daud used negative adjectives before the names of prophets and avatars of various religions including Islam, the title of that poem was “Kalo Surjer Kalo Jotsnai Kalo Bonnai”.

When the poem was published on the literature page of the newspaper in which Daud Haider himself was the editor of the page, there was no immediate protest about it in February, the trouble started after a teacher of Dhaka College filed a case against poet Daud Haider, saying that the poem hurt religious sentiments. In the wake of that case, police arrested him on March 11, 1974. Information from various sources shows that the movement started mainly after his arrest. Newspaper reports say: “A protest meeting was held in Baitul Mukarram on March 12. The meeting expressed anger against the newspaper and called on the government to confiscate the February 24 copies of the newspaper. After this, several copies of the newspaper were set on fire, and a mob staged a protest in front of the newspaper office and threw bricks. Bangladesh Sirat Majlish and Bangladesh Soap Workers Union strongly condemned it.”

Then protests began against the poet in different parts of the country including Dhaka. Protest rallies and processions were even held in his birthplace Pabna. Although he was arrested and sent to jail on March 11, he was released on May 20; but the then government failed to provide him with security. The day after his release, i.e. on the morning of May 21, a Bangladesh Biman flight landed in Kolkata with the only passenger, Daud Haider.

He was sent to Kolkata empty-handed. The poet wrote: "At that time, he had only 60 paisa, a book of poetry, two pairs of shirts, pants, slippers, and a toothbrush in a bag slung over his shoulder. He had no choice. The radicals would have killed him."

After being expelled from the country, Daud Haider stayed in Kolkata for 13 years. Later, with the help of German Nobel Prize-winning novelist Gunter Grass, he left for Germany on July 22, 1986. The poet, without a passport, went on a United Nations travel document. From then until his death, he lived in Berlin, Germany. Occasionally, he would travel to various European countries including the United States, and would also visit Kolkata, the city of his young age.

In this context, it should be mentioned that after the independence of Bangladesh, Daud Haider was the first writer who had to go into exile for writing. Poet Daud Haider was in exile for more than 50 years. His sorrows and cries for his homeland were not hidden. Where is the memory, its identity is as clear as poetry. For these long 51 years, he has not breathed the air of his motherland. No government in the country has taken any initiative to bring him to Bangladesh.

After Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was killed along with his family on August 15, 1975, it became impossible for Daud Haider to stay in India. His passport expired in 1976. It is said that he had submitted his passport for renewal. But, it was not renewed. There is also a saying that in 1976, while he was living in Annadashankar Roy's house in Kolkata, the authorities of the Deputy High Commission of Bangladesh in Kolkata seized Daud Haider's passport on government orders. Despite applying for a passport during the tenure of various governments, poet Daud Haider did not get a passport from Bangladesh. Even to President Hossain Muhammad Ershad As a poet, another poet, Daud Haider, appealed to the President; but does a government that has made Islam the state religion have the mental strength to bring back a poet like Daud Haider? People who have never read a single poem of Daud Haider have opposed him, and many who have read two or three poems do not know why and how he left the country!

In May 1974, Daud Haider was sent out of the country on the orders of Prime Minister Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Daud wrote in detail in his autobiography in this regard, as well as from various reports, we can learn about the situation at that time.

On reaching Kolkata, he first stayed at the house of Gaur Kishore Ghosh, a renowned journalist and famous writer of the Anandabazar Group of India. After staying there for a few days, Annadashankar Roy, another leader of Bengali literature, gave him permanent shelter. He spent almost a decade in West Bengal from his house. During this long period, he was associated with journalism in the media there, as well as writing and translating various types of poetry and prose.

The passport-less poet couldn't go anywhere else from India. Nobel laureate German writer Gunter Grass played an important role in his political asylum in Germany.

Many people remember that in 1986, Gunter Grass toured Bangladesh and West Bengal for about two to three months. Renowned poet Belal Chowdhury played the role of his guide during his visit to Dhaka. He drew Gunter Grass's attention to the crisis of Daud Haider to play a role in granting him political asylum in Germany. Gunter Grass gave his word and he kept it. After speaking to the high-ranking officials of the German government, he took the passport-less poet Daud Haider to Germany on July 21, 1987, on a special travel document issued by the United Nations, and Daud traveled to many countries of the world with that travel document.

The poet spent nearly four decades in exile in Berlin. The extraordinarily talented Daud Haider has left behind this loneliness and a sigh of longing for his homeland in his poetry. He has published about 30 books of poetry. In addition, he has left his signature of creativity in various works including stories, novels, memoirs, and translations.

Now let's look back at the poetry of the poet Daud Haider: He started writing poetry from a very young age, which is why he established his reputation as a poet by the age of 18. Reading the poems in the dateline of 1970 and 1971, especially, gives an idea of the poet's maturity and foresight.

His much-discussed poetry book 'Janmoi Amar Ajanmo Paap' was published in November 1973. It was dedicated to his three famous literary elders, Zia Haider, Rashid Haider, and Makeed Haider. The dateline of a poem in that book is 28/9/71.

Daud wrote:

‘এদেশ এখন সৈন্যকবলিত
এ মাটি এখন রক্ত কিংশুক
এই আমার দেশ।
স্বদেশে নেমেছে সান্ত্রী।
সান্ত্রীর বুটের আওয়াজ তীক্ষ্ণযাত্রী।
এই আমার স্বদেশ
মিছিলে মৃত্যুতে উজ্জ্বল।
এই আমার আকাশ
আকাশ বজ্রগর্ভে আলোকিত।
বাতাস বারুদগন্ধে ভরপুর।
এই আমার দেশ। আমার স্বদেশ
মিছিলে-মৃত্যুতে উজ্জ্বল।'

(This country is now occupied by soldiers
This soil is now stained with blood
This is my country.
The soldiers have landed in our homeland.
The sound of the soldiers’ boots is a sharp traveler.
This is my country
The procession is bright with death.
This is my sky
The sky is illuminated by thunder.
The air is filled with the smell of gunpowder.
This is my country. My country
The procession is bright with death.)

Reading this poem, it is understandable that this is a picture of Bangladesh under siege by the Pakistani invaders in 1971. Most of the poems in his first poetry collection were written before the liberation war, in 1970-71, some poems are burning pictures of mass movements, liberation struggles, and Pakistani oppression in besieged Bangladesh.

The extraordinary pictorial description of rain in a poem titled ‘Journal Smriti Chitra’ will allow the conscious reader to feel the glow of his poetic power at the beginning of his life. The poem is arranged through the metaphors of clouds, rain, sky, river, and luminous fog.

Even without staying within the conventional structural rhythm, Daud Haider has skillfully preserved the flow of rhythm in many poems. We can also see the ending of some poems. Let us quote the poem titled Mahasweta:

‘বলো মহাশ্বেতা
এই দেশ নিয়ে কেন আদিখ্যেতা?
কী পেয়েছে দেশের মানুষ, সাধারণ?
দিনরাত্রি কেবল ভাষণ,
কান ঝালাপালা। নিশ্চয় নির্বোধ
আমরা। কখনো প্রতিরোধ
করিনি সদলে
শুনেছি শহরে, মফস্বলে
ঠিক দুপ্পুর বেলায় ভূতে মারে ঢেলা-
তাই যদি হয়, সারাবেলা
ভূত আনাচেকানাচে
দূরে কাছে
জানো মহাশ্বেতা
এই জাতি
আত্মঘাতী
সমাজের প্রতি-গৃহে
বহুব্রীহে'

(Say Mahasweta
Why is so much talk in this country?
What has the people of the country, the common people, gained?
Day and night are only speeches,
disturb the ears. Surely Foolish
us. Never
resisted
I heard in the city, in the district
Right at noon, ghosts beat the drums-
So if it is, all-day
Ghosts dance here and there
Far and near
Known Mahasweta
This nation
Suicides
Society
In front of the house)

Among the diverse topics of his poetry, he never lost his Bengaliness, whether in the country or abroad. He had a deep connection with the international literary world. That impression has become clear in various poems. While talking to him on the telephone, I often got a feel for the developments in world literature and had the opportunity to learn about contemporary German drama and poetry. Due to his extensive studies and contact with the leaders of world literature, Daud Haider was a progressive poet.

I will conclude the discussion with a quote from a poem by Daud Haider. The title of the poem is “My Identity”. When I read the poem, I find the refugees of 1971, as well as the poet Daud Haider:

‘ভুলে যাও ভিটেমাটি দেশ
তুমি উদ্বাস্তু, আশ্রিত।
তোমার স্বদেশ বলে কিছু নেই
তুমি পরগাছা, তুমি মৃত
তোমার সামাজিকতা, তোমার পারিপার্শ্বিক
তোমার চেহারা তোমার চালচলন
উদ্বাস্তুর; আমাদের ঘৃণা-করুণায়
তোমার জীবন
এদেশ তোমার নয়
এই ভিটেমাটিজমিন তোমার নয়
তুমি আশ্রিত, উদ্বাস্তু;
এই তোমার মানব পরিচয়'

(Forget the homeland
You are a refugee, a refugee.
There is no such thing as your homeland
You are a weed, you are dead
Your sociality, your surroundings
Your appearance, your behavior
You are a refugee; in our hatred and pity
Your life
This country is not yours
This homeland is not yours
You are a refugee, a refugee;
This is your human
Introduction.)

While a student of the Bangla Department of Dhaka University, a young man's life was ruined forever by a single poem that offended religious sentiments - the poet apologized to the newspaper authorities and religious fanatics through the newspaper but did not receive forgiveness, what could be more sad than this!

Nasir Ahmed: Poet and senior journalist.