KBC 14: Which Jnanpith winner’s poems did Atal Bihari Vajpayee carry with him during the inaugural Sada-e-Sarhad bus to Lahore?

KBC 14: Which Jnanpith winner’s poems did Atal Bihari Vajpayee carry with him during the inaugural Sada-e-Sarhad bus to Lahore?

Options:

Ali Sardar Jafri

Firaq Gorakhpuri

Shahryar

Sumitranandan Pant

Answer: Ali Sardar Jafri

Ali Sardar Jafri was invited to join Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s delegation to Lahore but had to decline on account of ill health. Jafri sent a set of 10 cassettes of Sarhad to Vajpayee to be gifted to poets and writers of Pakistan as a message of love and friendship. This nazm was part of the audio collection.

“Tum aao Gulshan-e-Lahore se chaman bardosh
Hum aayen subh-e-Banaras ki raushni le kar
Himalaya ki havaaon ki taazgi le kar
Phir is ke baad ye poochen ki kaun dushman hai?

(Come bearing the fragrant garden of Lahore
And we will bring the light of a Banaras morning
And the fresh breeze from the Himalayas
And then let us ask: who is the enemy?)”