Daud Haider, Bangladesh's First Poet to be Exiled, Passes Away at 73
The Wire Staff
New Delhi: Daud Haider, a Bangladeshi poet, writer and columnist Daud Haider, the first to be exiled from his home country, has died in Berlin at the age of 73, his family and friends confirmed.
Haider, a prominent figure in Bengali literature, was exiled by the Sheikh Mujibur Rehman government in 1974 under the Special Powers Act, effected that year, over his poem that "insulted" religions, including Islam, as it criticised radicalism and bigotry in the newly-independent country.
Born on February 21, 1952, in Pabna district, he was a widely recognised poet in the 1970s.
In 1973, the London Society of Poetry honoured him with the “Best Poem of Asia” award for one of his poems.
In 1974, his poem “Kalo Surjer Kalo Jyotsnaye Kalo Bonyaye” (In the Black Flood of the Black Light of the Black Sun) was published in a Bangladeshi daily called Dainik Sangbad, of which he had served as the literary editor. It was a provocative take on Bangladesh’s socio-political climate in the 70s and questioned the role of god, pointed at religious hypocrisy, and expressed anger towards communalism.
The poem received immense backlash from Islamic groups. Ultimately, he was forced to flee the country. His ancestral home was reportedly destroyed and one of his relatives was also allegedly killed. Later, he held a special UN visa as a “stateless person”.
Haider lived in India for 13 years before moving to Germany where he took his last breath. He resided in Kolkata and studied at Jadavpur University until 1987, when the Indian government finally refused to extend his stay.
Speaking to news agency PTI, Sahitya Akademy Award-winning Bengali poet Subodh Sarkar said that Haider's poems reflected anger and rebellion and the one for which he was expelled had a controversial line.
His settling in Berlin was facilitated by Nobel laureate writer Gunter Grass at a time he was not sure about his future moves, Sarkar told the agency. He added that lately, his works resonated with a yearning to come back to his roots, his motherland Bangladesh.
He was also a columnist at the Bangla Tribune.
The American Center and International PEN have described him as a "distinguished poet".
Haider had been suffering from several physical complications over the past few years, as per reports, and had even suffered a serious injury in 2024 after falling off the staircase at his home. He never returned to normal life after that.
His death was mourned in the literary circles of Kolkata and elsewhere.
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