Urdu poet Munawwar Rana to meet PM Modi soon

Lucknow, Oct 22: Urdu poet Munawwar Rana, who have returned his Sahitya Akamdei award would meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi soon.

"I got a call from PMO on Tuesday with a request to meet him the next day. As I was in Gwalior I said that it was not possible and the date and time should be fixed for some other day...On this I was told that it will take some time," Rana told PTI here today.

Rana (62), a big name in contemporary Urdu poetry further said that whenever PM would call him he would meet him and narrate his grief over the present scenario and would explain the reason behind his decision of returning award.

"I will meet the PM as a poet with reference to Ganga-Jamuna tehzeeb of the country. My intention is to live the life which I was born with," he said.

On being asked if he will meet PM along with other litterateurs, he said, "Somebody goes with me or not is his or her personal choice, but if Modi calls me I will definitely meet him."

Meanwhile, Rana evaded the question of accepting his award again if Prime Minister would request.

Rana had recently announced to give up his Sahitya Akademi award dramatically during a live TV debate over the killing of Kannada writer MM Kalburgi and lynching of a man in Dadri for allegedly consuming beef.

The Rae Bareli-born writer conferred the Sahitya Akademi award by Modi government in 2014 for his book 'Shahdaba'.

PTI