‘Being the capital of a country is a matter of prestige and honour for a city – though it holds only when the government is stable, and the country is safe and secure. In such circumstances, prosperity prevails, and people enjoy all sorts of luxuries. But once things go awry and the glory of a regime declines, pride gives way to humiliation. The victorious turn on it to become the real masters. Everything that ever made sense becomes irrelevant. This is precisely what happened to the splendid city of Dehli. There was a general slump – socially, materially and in terms of moral values. Dehli was so beautiful, glorious and prosperous that its glory invited adversaries to come and eradicate it.’- Prince Mirza Ahmad Akhtar Gorgani

Ather Farouqui is a pioneering scholar of Urdu language and education. He was conferred the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award in 2012 for his Urdu and Hindi translations of Sons of Babur (Babur ki Aulad), an English play written by Salman Khurshid. Farouqui’s academic focus lies on aspects of Urdu, Urdu-related politics, as well as Muslims in contemporary India. One of his notable publications include the translation of The Life and Poetry of Bahadur Shah Zafar. He also edited Muslims and Media Images: News versus Views and Redefining Urdu Politics in India. His most recent publication, Delhi in Historical Perspectives, is a translation of essays on the historical and cerebral cultural life of the capital city by medieval Indian historian Professor K.A. Nizami.

Presently, he is the General Secretary of the oldest Urdu organization, Anjuman Taraqqi Urdu (Hind) established in 1882. A PhD from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), he is firmly of the view that the enhancement of civil society is the only answer to the scourge of religious madness in the country.