Sajjad Zaheer
| Sajjad Zaheer | |
|---|---|
| Born |
5 November 1905 Lucknow, India |
| Died | 11 September 1973 (aged 67) Alma Ata, Kazakhstan (then in USSR) |
| Occupation | Marxist ideologue, writer and poet in Urdu |
| Nationality | Indian, Pakistani (briefly) |
| Citizenship | Indian, Pakistani (briefly) |
| Genre | Ghazal, Drama |
| Literary movement | Progressive Writers' Movement |
| Notable works | Angaaray |
| Spouse | Razia Sajjad Zaheer |
| Children | Four daughters (Najma Baquer, Naseem Bhatia, Nadira Babbar, Noor Zaheer) |
Syed Sajjad Zaheer (Urdu: سید سجاد ظہیر ) ( 5 November 1905 – 13 September 1973) was an Urdu writer, Marxist ideologue and radical revolutionary who worked in both India and Pakistan. In the pre-independence era, he was a leading member of the Communist Party of India. Upon independence and partition, he moved with his family to newly-created Pakistan and became a founding member of the Communist Party of Pakistan. In 1951, he was caught and jailed for his involvement in the Rawalpindi Conspiracy Case, a soviet plot to overthrow the first prime minister of Pakistan. Upon being released, he moved back to India and resumed his activities, now aimed at the Indian state, under the aegis of various "progressive" cultural organizations that functioned as arms of the Communist Party. He died in 1973, during the high noon of soviet influence in India, on one of his frequent visits to the USSR.
Zaheer was the father of Nadira Babbar and uncle of Nurul Hasan, the Congress politician. Zaheer was also the grandfather of Pankhuri Zaheer, the communist activist at JNU who organised the "Kiss of Love" event outside the RSS office in Delhi and is an active supporter of Kanhaiya Kumar, who was jailed and charged with sedition in February 2016.
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