Arts Council of Pakistan Karachi held a function to pay homage to Indian critic Dr. Gopi Chand Narang at Hasina Moin Hall which was presided over by renowned scholar, writer, and poet Iftikhar Arif. Prof. Shafi Qadwai (India), Nasir Abbas Nair (Lahore), Satya Pal Anand, Mohammad Hameed Shahid, and Asghar Nadeem Syed spoke online, while Dr. Ambareen Haseeb Amber performed the duties of moderator. Iftikhar Arif said that Urdu is the national language of Pakistan.
Its greatest critic was Gopi Chand Narang. Urdu became very poor without him. The passing away of Shams-ur-Rehman, Shamim Hanafi, and Gopi Chand Narang is a loss for us. Narang loved me very much.
This is also my loss. Narang was a very good friend, father, and husband. I have never seen Gopi Chand Narang as a hardworking person in his life. His prose is so excellent that man was compelled to read it himself.
“We are very bigoted people. We did not give Gopi Chand Narang the place he deserved. In India, he was punished for working on Urdu. He wrote critical articles and confronted him. Academic institutions and here People ignored him because he was a Hindu.
The Arts Council of Pakistan Karachi should be credited for choosing a great man and paying tribute to him, Professor Shafi Qadwai Online from India said that, Gopi Chand Narang used to say that language has no religion, he used to look at things in a new way, he lived a full life, he has published more than 70 books which gives a new kind of critical insight.
Satyapal Anand, while talking to the US online, said that in the last conversation with Narang, he realized that he was losing his senses. Tried to share memories that only he and I could share, but perhaps by then his memory had been affected, he said.
Asghar Nadeem Syed said that Gopi Chand Narang was a very simple man, he connected many people through literature, and he used to say that language is the only language. No, there is life and the strings of life should spread all over the world. Urdu is not a trivial word.
