In the market driven Politics your art and creativity is ‘nothing’ without ‘reach’.
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat
(Asian independent) The sudden and untimely demise of author activist Frank Huzur has shocked every one who knew him. He reportedly passed away at a hospital in Delhi due to cardiac failure in the intervening night of March 5th-6th. Though there was no clarify in the beginning about his whereabouts but it was certain that his last meeting was with Mr. Rahul Gandhi on March 4th along with other activists, a group photo of which he shared with me on the same day.
Frank was an acclaimed author and his biography of Imran Khan entitled Imran vs Imran was highly appreciated by critiques but he could not continue with that tradition of internationalism. A die hard secularist, Frank was actually born as Manoj Kumar Yadav in Buxar district of Bihar. He got his education at St Xavier’s Ranchi and then at the Hindu College in Delhi and started participating in cultural events particularly theatre at an early age as Manoj Kumar as he wanted to keep away from the domestic caste identities. He was not satisfied with that and became Manoj Khan. His first drama, ‘Hitler in Love with Medona’ actually came under his title Manoj Khan. The drama could not be played due to political controversy in the mid-1990s when the Hindutva groups were getting activated not merely in the streets and villages of India but also in the universities. There was a lot of controversy and realizing this he actually completely changed his identity to Frank Huzur. He lived in London initially but returned to India to settle in Lucknow. One does not know whether that was a right decision or wrong but his creative world moved towards the rustic politics of Samajwadis in Uttar Pradesh. It must have been a difficult decision for him but one does not know what inspired him for the same but he remained unsatisfied with it despite giving his hundred percent to it.
We met around 2004 and became instant friends. He was very impressed with our humanist work and wanted to be part of it. He respected my thoughts and understanding of not only the caste issues in India but also admired my understanding of important international issues too. He had a great grasp over the language and knew well how to ‘play with the words’ but somehow his talent remained unused and unrecognized. Years later he jumped into the bandwagon of Samajwadi Party and started a glossy monthly journal ‘Socialist Factor’. Perhaps Akhilesh Yadav thought the magazine would help build his brand in the English-speaking people. Frank did everything to promote Samajwadi Party as well as brand Mulayam and Akhilesh but it is also the fact that the magazine was not merely devoted to Samajwadi Party. Frank used his connections among the creative people world over to write for the journal. He was extremely fond of me and would ask me to contribute regularly which I always did. To propagate the Samajwadi Party and its agenda, Frank used his soft writing skills to write portraits and lives of the prominent leaders. Later, he wrote biographies of not only Mulayam Singh Yadav but also of Akhilesh Yadav.
Frank Huzur was allotted a bungalow in Lucknow during the Samajwadi Party government headed by Akhilesh Yadav. It became the office of Socialist Factor where he put all his creativity on the walls and lawns of his house. He was fond of photographs and was in immense love with his wife Femina Mukta Singh and their son Marcos. Their love story fascinated every one and even after years of their marriage, they remained in true love with each other. His house became a center for all the young or old Samajwadis who would come to Lucknow for their own work and stay there. He was a great host but that was the price you pay to be part of a political culture because the people that throng your placed don’t necessarily respect your ‘intellect’ but your connections. The crowd and the people who were coming to his house were political activists who felt that Frank’s connections with top echelons of Samajwadi Party leadership would help them and secondly, they were getting the necessary support in terms of hospitality. Though Femina Mukta Singh too is a creative person, I personally feel, they have to pay a price of this kind of ‘political activism’ which they were not really familiar with. The resources given for the Socialist Factor were not that much that Frank could run an independent autonomous office with several staff including writers and editors. The Magazine did not do well in terms of circulation and could gain nothing out of advertisement because except for being a’ trophy’ for some of the Samajwadi Party workers, it was not of any use for them. Afterwards, Frank started Socialist Factor in Hindi too which could galvanise the party workers in Uttar Pradesh. He started participating in the Samajwadi Party rallies and meetings all over the state for the purpose of not only reporting but also finding people who could write regularly though it is a difficult task as political activists at the ground are not supposed to be more than sloganeers. To find out ‘writers’ from political activists at the ground is difficult where ‘intellectualism’ is a ‘drawing room’ work. Political parties actually want pamphleteers and even more than that. They want you to become as artificial as possible in their ‘glorification’. Some want you to be their ghost writers but none want you to become the propagandists of their ideology. The parties which are surviving today have a history of ideological propaganda and none can understand it more than the Dravidian parties. They enriched the political discourse and encouraged youngsters and creative people. That spirit is absent in north India.
After Akhilesh Yadav was out of office, Frank Huzur became the target and one day he was forcibly evicted from his house. He lost many of cats. There was difficulties for him. After Socialist Factor, his house had become a place for young Samajwadi Party activists who would come and stay over. Frank was actually investing more money into social capital but the fact is people were merely coming to him because they felt he has powerful connections with Akhilesh Yadav. Perhaps, that resulted in internal backbiting and soon he was out of favor though Akhilesh Yadav provided him a place to stay, a house where Mulayam Singh Yadav used to stay but definitely Frank was finding it difficult.
Actually, it is difficult for a creative person to be comfortable in a political party particularly if the leaders want you to be their propaganda tool. Frank was a great copy editor and writer. He could have been used in Samajwadi Party’s media department but that did not happen. There was no space for him the Social media cell where he could have excelled and helped the party. Clearly the party was looking for the ‘professionals’ and must have invested a lot into it. I have always asked why the Bahujan parties mostly encourage and support the Brahmanical ‘intellectualism’ or so called ‘liberals’ and ignore those who have been associated with Bahujan movement. Probably, they need people who can get them ‘space’ in the media. Rather than creating our own media, they just wish to be part of that media which has been hostile to them. Samajwadi Party has a record of encouraging and supporting such forces which later became part of the Hindutva forces. Frankly, they had no sympathy with Samajwad or social justice except their own power and connections bring them to these parties.
It is more than two days and we did not hear anything from Samajwadi Party officially. Neither did Akhilesh Yadav spoeak about him. This is extremely shocking and sad. Frank Huzur associated with Samajwadi Party for long and work diligently for the party. He was extremely loyal to Akhilesh Yadav from the beginning and did everything to project them as ‘greatest’ ‘Samajwadi’ leaders. I always resented many of these overhyped terminologies being used but he continued with them, probably because of the political pressure.
I don’t know what happened between him and Samajwadi Party that he had to look for new avenues. He was very disappointed and slowly started moving towards Congress Party particularly Rahul Gandhi who has been speaking on caste census and issues of social justice. The last meeting of Frank Huzur actually was with Rahul Gandhi but after his return he reportedly had a cardiac failure and was brought to hospital but passed away.
We discussed many time the issue of a cultural organization and engagement with more and more creative people building up intellectual capital emerging from the ground and mostly from the marginalized sections but those ideas do not excite in the age of fast-food activism. You are known from your ‘reach’ on twitter, Instagram and Facebook. If you don’t have anything of such kind you are of no use for the political parties. So, an intellectual with understanding on culture and society particularly those who promote Bahujan philosophy and ideology are actually ‘unwanted’ and ‘persona-non-grata’ for these parties.
Frank Huzur actually was an ‘alien’ in the political activism. He was a creative person who could write great ‘profiles’ and interesting stories sitting on his desk or interviewing people. Unfortunately, he was compelled to do those things which was against his ‘intellect’. He was a liberal humanist who enjoyed his evenings with his friends and family. Politics started taking its toll. He was a creative person but in the din of political activism there was little time that he could devote to his creativity. Political activism is not really meant for the creative people as you have to either leave that and be full part of the shouting brigade of your respective parties and influence your ‘jaatis’ which he was not really comfortable with.
In India you cannot survive being autonomous as nobody would consider you a ‘writer’. You need your jaatis and your parties to acknowledge that you are a writer. Unfortunately, that is called political sloganeering and pamphleteering. Reality is today’s writers are Fastly turning into that. Those who are truly independent are despised by all because there is a huge ‘competition’ everywhere. There are people ready to ‘crawl if asking to bend’ (famous quote from L K Advani on Emergency period but we are worst than that now) resulting in isolation of those who have a principled stand on things that we face today. As I said Frank was doing which was not natural in him. The political activism actually was not giving him everything that he deserved and in return it wanted ‘full loyalty’ even at the cost of keeping away from your own creativity which need to be converted into the propaganda tool for the parties you work for. In compulsion, our body do things that our heart and mind actually resist and the result is depression and suffocation. There are many people suffering like this. We critique capitalism, fanaticism and religious bigotry and today we realise that these are the only things selling in the market. Those who have been uncompromising feel suffocated and unwanted as they cant be too submissive and subjugated in their thoughts and actions. In the absence of flattery and total submission you gain nothing but only rejection and isolation. The crisis is serious and we need serious introspection.
Frank Huzur’s creative skills remained unfulfilled and unutilized. He talent would have been useful for the party and leadership for whom he devoted his life for twenty years. Sadly, neither the Samajwadi Party nor its leadership thought it fit to express condolences or a few words of sympathy to his wife Mukta Singh and son Marcos till today. In todays social media age this look sad. That only reflect the brutality of our political system where the leadership are fast turning highly insensitive to their own people and as I said your value is limited to your ‘outreach’ on social media. For an intellectual competing with ‘professionals’ of the media is difficult as well as unwanted. The fact is our netas today only need a Kumar Vishwas or the Babas from Satguru to Art of Living to Bageshwar one and not a creative person. Frank Huzur’s untimely death is a warning for all those who find them incapable on the social media, should desist expecting anything from the political class. In the market driven politics, your capability and intellect are reduced to nothing if you don’t have a ‘reach’. Sadly, Frank Huzur seems to become victim of such a trap where he dedicated his life in the hope that his creativity would flourish but it did not happen which must have been very frustrating for him and must have impacted his health.
Frank Huzur will be missed particularly among those youngsters in the Bahujan communities aspiring to be in the creative world. Our sincere condolences.
