Renowned Urdu poet Munawwar Rana on Sunday passed away after a prolonged illness. He was 71.
Rana was being treated at Lucknow’s Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences.
Rana, who warned global fame for his poetry on mother, was suffering from throat cancer for a long time.
He will be buried in Lucknow on Monday.
He is survived by four daughters, his wife and a son.
In 2015, Rana had shocked everyone by announcing on a LIVE TV that he was returning his prestigious Sahitya Akademi award along with the cheque of Rs 1 lakh to protest the growing religious intolerance in India.