‘Maana ki teri deed ke qabil…’ when Manmohan Singh’s Urdu mastery took on BJP's Sushma Swaraj in parliament | Watch

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who passed away on December 26 in New Delhi at the age of  92, is often credited for opening the Indian economy to global competition. But some of his soft skills are lesser known.  

Singh retired from the Rajya Sabha in April 2024 after serving 33 years in the Parliament. Singh was Prime Minister of the Congress-led UPA government for two terms between 2004 and 2014.

While Manmohan Singh could speak Hindi and English fluently, his speeches were written in Urdu due to his proficiency in the language. More often than not, Singh was seen citing Urdu couplets to defend himself or target the opposition.

As the leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha from 2009-2014, veteran Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former foreign minister late Sushma Swaraj was often involved in verbal duels with Manmohan Singh, with both leaders throwing up Urdu couplets to take on each other.

On one such occasion in 2013, during the debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President's Address, Prime Minister Singh, looking at Sushma Swaraj, quoted Mirza Ghalib – "Hum ko un se wafa ki hai umeed, jo nahin jante wafa kya hai (We are expecting loyalty from those who do not know the meaning of the word)."

Swaraj, also well-versed in Urdu, responded by saying that a couplet should be countered by a couplet. She quoted famous poet Bashir Badr's 'sher' and said, “Kuch toh majboorian rahi hongi, yun hi koi bewafaa nahi hota (there must have been some compulsions, nobody becomes disloyal for no reason).”

Tumhe wafa yaad nahi…

The former external affairs minister added another couplet responding to the prime minister: “Tumhe wafa yaad nahi, humein jafa yaad nahi; zindagi aur maut ke toh do hi tarane hein, ek tumhe yaad nahi, ek hamein yaad nahi (You don't remember my loyalty, I don't remember your disloyalty, life has only two songs - one you don't remember, one I don't remember).”

A similar poetic face-off was witnessed in the Lok Sabha in 2011 when the Parliament saw heated arguments over a Wikileaks cable that accused the then ruling Congress of bribing MPs during the 2008 trust vote.

Swaraj led the opposition charge and targeted the Prime Minister with Shahab Jafari's famous ‘sher’, “Tu idhar udhar ki na baat kar, yeh bata ki qafila kyun luta, humein rahzano se gila nahi, teri rahbari ka sawal hai (Don't digress, just say why the caravan was looted, we have nothing to say about the robbers, but this is a question on your leadership).”

Prime Minister Singh responded to criticism by citing Allama Iqbal's couplet, “Maana ki teri diid ke qabil nahin hoon main tu mera shauq dekh mera intizar dekh (I admit that I am not worthy of your sight you should look at my zeal, and look at my perseverance).”

When Swaraj died in August 2019, Singh described her as a great parliamentarian. Now, with Singh no more, the poetic banter on the floor of the parliament between the two leaders representing two ideologically different political parties lives on.