A crude translation in English follows after the original.

Explanation of the rebellion - I

The love and devotion of my young friends made the victory-emblem of the "Rebel" permanent on my forehead. Many of them misinterpreted it as the emblem of defamation, but I did not. Just because I sang the song of the pain-beauty, does that mean I have rebelled against the truth-beauty? I rebelled - sang the song of rebellion - against wrong and injustice, against what is false and polluted, against the fabricated, rotten taboos and traditions, against the hypocrisy and superstition in the name of faith and religion. May be my crime is that I could not state everything gently and politely, or that I did not try to display the dazzle of my silver-sheath while hiding the sword in it. That's the reason I am the "Rebel"! I have rebelled against oppression and injustice; I have crossed the boundary of all the superstitious rules and traditions, because I felt it was necessary . . . .

Let me reiterate: those who think - I am against Islam or I have rebelled against its truth - then it is an unfounded mistake. To reject as Islam all the piled up trash of superstition and taboo in the name of Islam, is that a quest against Islam? Those who make such mistake, what else can I say other than to beseech them to read my writings with care and empathy?

Also, those who rebel against me because of (my poem) the Rebel, I don't think they have high regard for Hafiz or Rumi either. In my view they were greater "rebel" than me. . .

[These are excerpts from a letter of Nazrul to Principal Ibrahim Khan, published in 1334, Bangla year,  or 1927 in Saugat. Nazrul Rochonaboli, 1996 ed., Bangla Academy, Vol. 4, pp. 392-401.]