5 Decades On: No Clear Answers on Rebel Poet Nazrul's Illness

It might sound bizarre, but it was Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, founder of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, who made sincere and significant efforts to help the ailing rebel poet Kazi Nazrul Islam recover his baritone voice.

- KANCHAN SIDDIQUI

However, these efforts ultimately failed, as experts deemed the case a 'much-delayed medical intervention'.

Was it schizophrenia, Alzheimer's, or the extremely rare Pick's Disease? Even after 50 years of the poet's death, on 29 August 1976, there has been no definitive consensus among physicians. Yet, they all agreed on one point: timely and appropriate intervention could have made a difference in the case of the 'lost' Nazrul.

Dr Gourab Chowdhury, research associate at Kazi Nazrul University, Asansol, said: "He was suffering from severe schizophrenia and Alzheimer's, and due to failure in early detection and lack of adequate medical support, his condition truly deteriorated."

World War II, according to both researchers and the poet's family members, was a primary reason for the delay. However, the key obstacle, they agreed, was financial: the poet's family was deeply mired in economic hardship, which hindered access to better medical treatment.