When Nehru dies, the shock and grief among the progressive writers is near-palpable. They have already come to his defence when he found himself beleaguered after the debacle of the Indo-China war. Writing about the sick and ailing Nehru in Boorha Majhi, Anand Narain Mulla makes a plea to the young and ruthless waiting to seize power:

Mujh ko dhaare se hataane ki yeh koshish na karo...

When the terrible news comes of his death, a vast amount of poetry is written in a near-spontaneous outpouring of grief. Some among the progressives draw solace that Nehrus tired body may have given up, but his spirit will live on. Sahir writes:

Jism ki maut koi maut nahi hotiJism mitt jaane se insaan nahi mar jaate

In much the same vein, in Dil Tang Na Ho, Ravish Siddiqui writes:

Wadi-e ishq se jab baad-e saba aayegiDil-e Nehru ke dhadakne ki sada aayegiin

But Makhdoom Mohiuddin knows the loss is irreplaceable for there may be many like him but theres only one Nehru:

Hazaar pairahan aaiyenge zamane meinMagar woh sandal-o gul ka ghubar, musht-e bahar...

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Nehru and Hindi, Urdu Writers: How They Enriched Each Other - The Quint