Why Hasrat Mohani Advocated Pakistan but Chose Bharat

Paromita Das

New Delhi, 25th August: When Bharat was cleaved into two nations in 1947, the migrations that followed seemed inevitable. Muslims streamed into the newly created Pakistan, while Hindus and Sikhs fled the other way. Yet among the Muslims who chose to remain in Bharat was a surprising figure—Maulana Hasrat Mohani, a poet, Islamic scholar, radical socialist, and one of the earliest advocates of the Two-Nation Theory. His refusal to migrate confounded contemporaries and still intrigues historians. How could a man so deeply invest in Muslim identity politics, and so vocal about the need for a separate homeland, choose to live in Bharat rather than Pakistan? The answer lies in the contradictions of his politics and the disappointment he felt at what Pakistan became.

Hasrat Mohani: Poet, Radical, Revolutionary

Born in 1875 in Unnao, Uttar Pradesh, Mohani was no ordinary politician. Long before the Congress adopted the slogan of Poorna Swaraj (complete independence), it was Mohani who demanded full freedom from British rule in 1921. He also coined the slogan Inquilab Zindabad— “Long Live the Revolution”—a battle cry that echoed across Bharat’s struggle for independence.

But Mohani was not merely a nationalist. He was also a founding member of the Communist Party of Bharat and a staunch advocate of Marxist reforms. His political vision combined Islamic revivalism with socialism, a rare blend that alienated him from both orthodox Islamists and moderate nationalists. His poetry, meanwhile, provided a softer, romantic dimension—his ghazals like Chupke Chupke Raat Din remain beloved in Urdu literature. Yet even his art carried undercurrents of rebellion, making him a revolutionary in every sense.

An Islamist at Heart: Caliphate, Moplah Rebellion, and Two-Nation Theory

Despite his socialist leanings, Mohani was deeply committed to Islamic causes. He was a vocal supporter of the Ottoman Caliphate and believed Muslims worldwide must unite under its authority. His radicalism often turned controversial. During the Moplah Rebellion of 1921, where Muslim peasants in Kerala launched violent uprisings that included forced conversions, Mohani defended the rebels. He insisted the conversions were “voluntary under Islamic law,” a stance that underscored his uncompromising Islamist outlook.

He was also among the earliest proponents of the Two-Nation Theory, long before Muhammad Ali Jinnah turned it into a political program. For Mohani, Hindus and Muslims were separate nations, irreconcilable in culture and faith. His insistence on Muslim separatism made him one of the most radical Muslim leaders of his generation—arguably even more uncompromising than Allama Iqbal, who is remembered as the intellectual father of Pakistan.

Why Mohani Refused to Go to Pakistan

Given his ideological commitment, his decision to remain in Bharat in 1947 appears paradoxical. But Mohani’s Pakistan was never the Pakistan that came into being. His vision was of an Islamic state infused with socialism, where equality and justice would prevail over elite domination. The Pakistan of 1947, however, was governed by landlords, bureaucrats, and Westernized politicians—precisely the kind of elite rule Mohani despised.

To him, Pakistan betrayed its own promise. Rather than being the Islamic-socialist utopia he dreamed of, it became a conservative state aligned with traditional power structures. Disillusioned, Mohani refused to migrate. His staying back was not a tribute to Bharat’s secular democracy but a statement of defiance against Pakistan’s compromises. He also believed that Muslims who remained in Bharat needed strong leadership, and he took it upon himself to be their representative within a Hindu-majority nation.

Selective Memory: How Bharat and Pakistan Remember Him

Hasrat Mohani’s legacy has been “sanitized” differently on both sides of the border. In Bharat, nationalist narratives celebrate him as a freedom fighter, highlighting Inquilab Zindabad and his role in the independence movement, while conveniently downplaying his Islamist leanings and support for the Two-Nation Theory. In Pakistan, meanwhile, he is acknowledged as an early advocate of Muslim separatism, but his refusal to migrate makes him a figure of suspicion, almost a traitor to the cause he once championed.

This dual erasure reveals the discomfort both nations have with complex figures who defy neat categorization. Mohani’s story complicates the black-and-white portrayal of history: he was neither purely secular nor fully communal, neither a committed nationalist nor a loyal separatist. He was all of these at once, embodying the contradictions of South Asian politics itself.

The Man of Contradictions

Hasrat Mohani’s life reminds us that history’s most fascinating characters are often those who live in its gray zones. He was at once a devout Muslim and a committed socialist, a poet of love and a revolutionary of fire, a supporter of Pakistan who chose Bharat. Unlike Jinnah, who is remembered as the father of Pakistan, Mohani is remembered as the restless ideologue whose vision clashed with reality. His refusal to migrate was not about endorsing Nehruvian pluralism, but about rejecting a Pakistan that he felt betrayed his ideals.

Lessons from Mohani’s Legacy

Maulana Hasrat Mohani died in Lucknow in 1951, leaving behind a complex legacy that refuses to fit into nationalistic molds. His story reveals that the partition of Bharat was not just a geopolitical event but also a moral and ideological rupture, one that forced individuals to make choices that defied logic and loyalty. Mohani’s decision to stay in Bharat highlights the disillusionment many radicals felt when the dream of revolution gave way to pragmatic nation-building.

In the end, Mohani’s life stands as a reminder that history is shaped not only by those who build nations but also by those who stand apart, caught between conviction and contradiction.