During the 2002 anti-Muslim riots of Gujarat, the popular tomb of one of the finest Urdu Sufi poets, Vali Gujarati, was desecrated. Ironically, Vali’s poetry
is full of lavish admiration for Gujarat’s cosmopolitanism as a divine gift to this region.
Wali Gujrati (known as Wali Deccani to Urdu poetry readers) was the poet for whom Mir Taqi Meer said:
Khugar nahin kuchch yoon hi hum Rikhta-goi kay/ Mashooq jo apna tha, bashindah-e-Daccan tha.
It reads: It’s not casually that I’ve been possessed by Urdu: He who was my love was that native of the Deccan. The man Mir is referring to is Wali Muhammad Wali, who died in 1707, the first poet of Urdu. Wali is called Wali Daccani because he was born in Aurangabad, but also Wali Gujarati because that is where he lived and was buried.
Mir Taqi Mir was the poet, who was praised by Ghalib in words:
Rikhta kay tumhi ustad nahin ho, Ghalib Kehtay hain aglay zamanay may koi Mir bhi tha.
(Rekhta / Rikhta = Urdu in its origin/ initial forms)