He was 72.
Rana was on a ventilator for the last six days.
Rana's poem Maa is one of the iconic works in Urdu literature. His poem Shahdaba had earned him Sahitya Akademi in 2014. Rana had published multiple ghazals.
Born in Rae Bareli, he married and stayed in Lucknow.
Rana had stirred controversy after the Supreme Court's Ram Temple verdict.
He accused then Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi of "selling him" to deliver the verdict.
He had even declined to recognise the Taliban as a terrorist organisation and said they were fighting for their country.
Though he was honoured with Sahitya Akademi Award in 2014, Rana returned it a year later protesting against the alleged rising intolerance in the country.
He had supported the protest against the Narendra Modi government's Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in 2019.