Mohammad Irfan and the worker-intellectual that we still refuse to recognise

Like Mohammad Irfan, the Marathi poet Narayan Surve defied the boundaries between elite and subaltern, high and low class, labour and intellect, and head and hand. 5 min readJul 29, 2026 03:04 PM IST First published on: Jul 29, 2026 at 03:04 PM IST Popular movements often produce popular leaders. They rarely produce worker intellectuals. Yet, what struck the media, among the many stories of courage of the Cockroach Janta Party-led student protest, was the “unthinkable” intellect of Mohammad Irfan. I call it “unthinkable” because the media could not place Irfan in familiar categories of intellect. Rahul Gandhi paid Irfan a visit in his slum abode. Despite claiming to have no social media accounts, Irfan is a social media sensation. It is the paradox and contradictions of his life that intri