Urdu poet Rahat Indori, whose powerful and lucid poetry filled halls, connected with the young and old alike and lent itself to protests against oppression such as that against the new citizenship regime, died after a heart attack at a hospital here on Tuesday while being treated for Covid-19. He was 70.

The teacher-turned-poet had been admitted to hospital on Tuesday morning after he tested positive. He is survived by three sons and a daughter.

Indori had tweeted on Tuesday morning: “After initial symptoms of Covid-19, my corona test was done yesterday which came out positive. Pray that I defeat this disease as soon as possible.”

Indori’s career in poetry spanned 50 years, during which the Urdu scholar was one of the biggest mushaira (poetry symposium) draws in the country and someone who fearlessly called a spade a spade.

Indori translated the mood of the nation in his poetry, which was emotive, direct and political. He famously wrote: “Sabhi ka khoon hai shaamil yahan ki mitti mein, kisi ke baap ka Hindustan thodi hai (Everyone’s blood is mingled in this earth. Hindustan is no one’s property).”

When these lines written three decades ago were used on posters and banners during the anti-CAA protests last winter, Indori told The Indian Express: “I wrote this ghazal some 30-35 years ago, though I don’t remember the exact year or the context in which it was written…. Had even forgotten about it, but I don’t know what’s happened in the last three to four years that like a crop rises again, these words have risen again.

“Now, wherever I go, people request me to recite this but it’s unfortunate that it’s often taken as a sher by a Muslim. Yeh kisi ek mazhab ka sher nahi hai (these lines are not for any particular religion). They are for everyone. I wrote this sher as an Urdu poet and as a citizen of India. This country is not the property of any particular individual, party or religion.... But I am happy that people are using it to raise their demands; that they are using it to add weight to their voice; that it’s being used as a call for peace in the country.”

Indori had also written on the atmosphere of intolerance and cow vigilantism. He penned the lyrics of some Bollywood songs.

Earlier this year, Indori’s poem “Bulati hai magar jane ka nahi” took a life of its own on social media and was immensely popular among youths.

Lyricist-poet Gulzar said Indori’s death was an “unquantifiable loss”.

On Tuesday, lines from another Indori poem circulated on social media: “Main mar jaaun to meri eik alag pehchaan likh dena, lahu se meri peshaani pe Hindustan likh dena (If I die, write a new identity for me. With blood, write Hindustan on my forehead).”