Abul Kalam Azad
For the Bangladeshi politician,
televangelist, and convicted war criminal, see Abul Kalam
Azad (Bachchu). For the Indian photographer, see Abul
Kalam Azad (photographer).
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15 August 1947 – 2 February 1958 |
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Abul Kalam Muhiyuddin Ahmed Azad pronunciation (help·info)
(Urdu: مولانا
ابوالکلام محی الدین احمد آزاد, Bengali: আবুল কালাম মুহিয়ুদ্দিন আহমেদ আজাদ) (11
November 1888 – 22 February 1958) was an Indian scholar and a senior political leader of the Indian
independence movement. One of the most prominent Muslim
leaders, he opposed the partition of India because he thought Muslims would be more powerful and
dominant in a united India. Following India's independence, he became the first Minister of Education in the Indian government. In 1992 he was posthumously awarded India's highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna. He is commonly remembered as Maulana Azad;
the word Maulana is an honorific meaning `learned man', and he had adopted Azad
(Free) as his pen name. His contribution to establishing the education
foundation in India is recognised by celebrating his birthday as "National
Education Day" across India.
As a young man, Azad composed poetry
in Urdu, as well as treatises on religion and philosophy. He rose
to prominence through his work as a journalist, publishing works critical of
the British Raj and espousing the causes of Indian nationalism. Azad became the leader of the Khilafat Movement,
during which he came into close contact with the Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi.
Azad became an enthusiastic supporter of Gandhi's ideas of non-violent civil disobedience, and worked to organise the non-cooperation
movement in protest of the 1919 Rowlatt Acts.
Azad committed himself to Gandhi's ideals, including promoting Swadeshi
(indigenous) products and the cause of Swaraj
(Self-rule) for India. In 1923, at an age of 35, he became the youngest person to
serve as the President of the Indian
National Congress.
Azad was one of the main organisers
of the Dharasana Satyagraha in 1931, and emerged as one of the most important national
leaders of the time, prominently leading the causes of Hindu-Muslim unity as
well as espousing secularism and socialism. He served as Congress president from 1940 to
1945, during which the Quit India rebellion was launched. Azad was imprisoned, together with
the entire Congress leadership, for three years. Azad became the most prominent
Muslim opponent of the demand for a separate Muslim state of Pakistan and
served in the interim national government.
Amidst communal turmoil following
the partition of India, he worked for religious harmony. As India's Education
Minister, Azad oversaw the establishment of a national education system with
free primary education and modern institutions of higher education. He is also
credited with the establishment of the Indian
Institutes of Technology and the
foundation of the University
Grants Commission, an important institution to supervise
and advance the higher education in the nation.
Early
life
Azad was born on 11 November 1888 in
Makkah, Saudi Arabia.
His forefathers had immigrated to India from Herat, Afghanistan, after the Shi'a Safavids took over
Persia and Babur
established the Sunni Mughal Empire in India. Azad's father was Maulana Khairuddin, a
Bengali Muslim of Afghan origins, while his mother was an Arab, the
daughter of Sheikh Mohammad Zaher Watri. Azad's real name was Abul Kalam Ghulam
Muhiyuddin who became known as Maulana Azad by everyone. He lived with his
family in the Bengal region until he left India during the First
Indian War of Independence and settled
in Mecca, where he met his wife, Zulaikha Begum.
He returned to Calcutta with his
family in 1890. Azad began to master several languages, including Arabic, English,
Urdu, Hindi, Persian and Bengali. He was
also trained in the Mazahibs of Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i and Hanbali fiqh, shariat, mathematics, philosophy, world history
and science by reputed tutors hired by his family. An avid and determined
student, the precocious Azad was running a library, a reading room, a debating
society before he was twelve, wanted to write on the life of Ghazali at
twelve, was contributing learned articles to Makhzan (the best known
literary magazine of the day) at fourteen, was teaching a class of students,
most of whom were twice his age, when he was merely fifteen and succeeded in
completing the traditional course of study at the young age of sixteen, nine
years ahead of his contemporaries, and brought out a magazine at the same age.
In fact, in the field of journalism, he was publishing a poetical journal (Nairang-e-Aalam)
and was already an editor of a weekly (Al-Misbah),
in 1900, at the age of twelve and, in 1903, brought out a monthly journal, Lissan-us-Sidq,
which soon gained popularity. At the age of thirteen, he was married to a young
Muslim girl, Zulaikha Begum. Azad compiled many treatises interpreting the Qur'an, the Hadith,
and the principles of Fiqh and Kalam. A young man, Azad was also exposed to the modern
intellectual life of Kolkata, the then capital of British-ruled India and the centre of
cultural and political life. He began to doubt the traditional ways of his
father and secretly diversified his studies. Azad learned English through
intensive personal study and began learning Western philosophy, history and contemporary politics by reading advanced
books and modern periodicals. Azad grew disillusioned with Islamic teachings
and was inspired by the modern views of Muslim educationalist Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, who had promoted rationalism.
Increasingly doubtful of religious dogma, Azad entered a period of self-described about atheist and
about sin that lasted for almost a decade.
Revolutionary
and journalist
Azad developed political views
considered radical for most Muslims of the time and became a full-fledged
Indian nationalist. He fiercely criticised the British for racial
discrimination and ignoring the needs of common people across India. He also
criticised Muslim politicians for focusing on communal issues before the
national interest and rejected the All India Muslim League's communal separatism. Azad developed curiosity and
interest in the pan-Islamic doctrines of Jamal al-Din al-Afghani and visited Afghanistan,
Iraq, Egypt, Syria
and Turkey. But his
views changed considerably when he met revolutionary activists in Iraq and was influenced by their fervent anti-imperialism
and nationalism. Against common Muslim opinion of the time, Azad opposed the partition
of Bengal in 1905 and became increasingly
active in revolutionary
activities, to which he was introduced by the
prominent Hindu revolutionaries Sri Aurobindo
and Shyam
Sundar Chakravarthy. Azad initially evoked surprise
from other revolutionaries, but Azad won their praise and confidence by working
secretly to organise revolutionaries activities and meetings in Bengal, Bihar and Bombay (now called Mumbai).
Azad's education had been shaped for him to
become a cleric, but his rebellious nature and affinity for politics turned him
towards journalism. He established an Urdu weekly newspaper in 1912 called Al-Hilal and openly attacked British policies while exploring the
challenges facing common people. Espousing the ideals of Indian nationalism,
Azad's publications were aimed at encouraging young Muslims into fighting for
independence and Hindu-Muslim unity. His work helped improve the relationship
between Hindus and Muslims in Bengal, which had been soured by the controversy
surrounding the partition of Bengal and the issue of separate communal electorates.
With the onset of World War I,
the British stiffened censorship and restrictions on political activity. Azad's
Al-Hilal was consequently banned in 1914 under the Press Act.
Azad started a new journal, the Al-Balagh, which increased its active
support for nationalist causes and communal unity. In this period Azad also
became active in his support for the Khilafat agitation
to protect the position of the Sultan of Ottoman Turkey,
who was the caliph for
Muslims worldwide. The Sultan had sided against the British in the war and the
continuity of his rule came under serious threat, causing distress amongst
Muslim conservatives. Azad saw an opportunity to energise Indian Muslims and
achieve major political and social reform through the struggle. With his
popularity increasing across India, the government outlawed Azad's second
publication under the Defence
of India Regulations Act
and arrested him. The governments of the Bombay Presidency,
United
Provinces, Punjab and Delhi prohibited his entry into the provinces and Azad was moved
to a jail in Ranchi, where he
was incarcerated until 1 January 1920.
Non-cooperation
Main article: Non-Cooperation
Movement
Upon his release, Azad returned to a
political atmosphere charged with sentiments of outrage and rebellion against
British rule. The Indian public had been angered by the passage of the Rowlatt Acts
in 1919, which severely restricted civil liberties and individual rights.
Consequently, thousands of political activists had been arrested and many
publications banned. The killing of
unarmed civilians at Jallianwala Bagh
in Amritsar on 13
April 1919 had provoked intense outrage all over India, alienating most
Indians, including long-time British supporters from the authorities. The
Khilafat struggle had also peaked with the defeat of the Ottoman Empire
in World War I
and the raging Turkish
War of Independence, which had made the caliphate's
position precarious. India's main political party, the Indian National Congress
came under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi, who had aroused excitement all
over India when he led the farmers of Champaran
and Kheda in a successful revolt against
British authorities in 1918. Gandhi organised the people of the region and pioneered
the art of Satyagraha — combining mass civil disobedience with complete
non-violence and self-reliance.
Taking charge of the Congress,
Gandhi also reached out to support the Khilafat struggle, helping to bridge
Hindu-Muslim political divides. Azad and the Ali brothers
warmly welcomed Congress support and began working together on a programme of non-cooperation by asking all Indians to boycott British-run schools, colleges,
courts, public services, the civil service, police and military. Non-violence
and Hindu-Muslim unity were universally emphasised, while the boycott of
foreign goods, especially clothes were organised. Azad joined the Congress and
was also elected president of the All India
Khilafat Committee. Although Azad and other leaders
were soon arrested, the movement drew out millions of people in peaceful
processions, strikes and protests.
This period marked a transformation
in Azad's own life. Along with fellow Khilafat leaders Dr. Mukhtar Ahmad Ansari, Hakim Ajmal Khan
and others, Azad grew personally close to Gandhi and his philosophy. The three
men founded the Jamia Millia Islamia in Delhi as an institution of higher education managed
entirely by Indians without any British support or control. Both Azad and
Gandhi shared a deep passion for religion and Azad developed a close friendship
with him. He adopted the Prophet Muhammad's ideas by living simply, rejecting
material possessions and pleasures. He began to spin his own clothes using khadi
on the charkha,
and began frequently living and participating in the ashrams organised by Gandhi. Becoming deeply committed to ahinsa
(non-violence) himself, Azad grew close to fellow nationalists like Jawaharlal Nehru,
Chittaranjan Das and Subhas Chandra Bose. He strongly criticised the continuing suspicion
of the Congress amongst the Muslim intellectuals from the Aligarh
Muslim University and the Muslim League.
The rebellion began a sudden decline
when with rising incidences of violence; a nationalist mob killed 22 policemen
in Chauri Chaura in 1922. Fearing degeneration into violence, Gandhi asked
Indians to suspend the revolt and undertook a five-day fast to repent and
encourage others to stop the rebellion. Although the movement stopped all over
India, several Congress leaders and activists were disillusioned with Gandhi.
The following year, the caliphate was overthrown by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and the Ali brothers grew distant and critical of Gandhi
and the Congress. Azad's close friend Chittaranjan Das
co-founded the Swaraj Party, breaking from Gandhi's leadership. Despite the
circumstances, Azad remained firmly committed to Gandhi's ideals and
leadership. In 1923, he became the youngest man to be elected Congress president. Azad led efforts to organise the Flag Satyagraha
in Nagpur. Azad
served as president of the 1924 Unity Conference in Delhi, using his position
to work to re-unite the Swarajists and the Khilafat leaders under the common
banner of the Congress. In the years following the movement, Azad travelled
across India, working extensively to promote Gandhi's vision, education and
social reform.
Congress
leader
Azad became an inspiring personality
in the field of politics. Azad became an important national leader, and served
on the Congress
Working Committee and in the offices of general
secretary and president many times. The political environment in India
re-energised in 1928 with nationalist outrage against the Simon Commission
appointed to propose constitutional reforms. The commission included no Indian
members and did not even consult Indian leaders and experts. In response, the
Congress and other political parties appointed a commission under Motilal Nehru
to propose constitutional reforms from Indian opinions. In 1928, Azad endorsed
the Nehru Report, which was criticised by the Ali brothers and Muslim League
politician Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Azad endorsed the ending of separate electorates based on religion, and called for an independent India to
be committed to secularism. At the 1928 Congress session in Guwahati, Azad
endorsed Gandhi's call for dominion status
for India within a year. If not granted, the Congress would adopt the goal of
complete political independence for India. Despite his affinity for Gandhi,
Azad also drew close to the young radical leaders Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhash
Bose, who had criticised the delay in demanding full independence. Azad
developed a close friendship with Nehru and began espousing socialism as the
means to fight inequality, poverty and other national challenges. Azad decided
the name of Muslim political party Majlis-e-Ahrar-ul-Islam. He was also a friend of Syed Ata
Ullah Shah Bukhari founder of All India
Majlis-e-Ahrar. When Gandhi embarked on the Dandi Salt March
that inaugurated the Salt Satyagraha
in 1930, Azad organised and led the nationalist raid, albeit non-violent on the
Dharasana salt works in order to protest the salt tax and restriction of its
production and sale. The biggest nationalist upheaval in a decade, Azad was
imprisoned along with millions of people, and would frequently be jailed from
1930 to 1934 for long periods of time. Following the Gandhi-Irwin Pact
in 1934, Azad was amongst millions of political prisoners released. When
elections were called under the Government
of India Act 1935, Azad was appointed to organise the
Congress election campaign, raising funds, selecting candidates and organising
volunteers and rallies across India. Azad had criticised the Act for including
a high proportion of un-elected members in the central legislature, and did not
himself contest a seat. He again declined to contest elections in 1937, and
helped head the party's efforts to organise elections and preserve coordination
and unity amongst the Congress governments elected in different provinces.
At the 1936 Congress session in Lucknow, Azad was
drawn into a dispute with right-wing Congressmen Sardar
Vallabhbhai Patel, Dr. Rajendra Prasad
and Chakravarthi
Rajagopalachari regarding the espousal of socialism
as the Congress goal. Azad had backed the election of Nehru as Congress
president, and supported the resolution endorsing socialism. In doing so, he
aligned with Congress socialists like Nehru, Subhash Bose and Jayaprakash Narayan. Azad also supported Nehru's re-election in 1937, at the
consternation of many conservative Congressmen. Azad supported dialogue with
Jinnah and the Muslim League between 1935 and 1937 over a Congress-League
coalition and broader political cooperation. Less inclined to brand the League
as obstructive, Azad nevertheless joined the Congress's vehement rejection of
Jinnah's demand that the League be seen exclusively as the representative of
Indian Muslims.
Quit
India
Main article: Quit India Movement
In 1938, Azad served as an
intermediary between the supporters of and the Congress faction led by Congress
president Subhash Bose, who criticised Gandhi for not launching another
rebellion against the British and sought to move the Congress away from
Gandhi's leadership. Azad stood by Gandhi with most other Congress leaders, but
reluctantly endorsed the Congress's exit from the assemblies in 1939 following
the inclusion of India in World War II.
Nationalists were infuriated that the viceroy had entered India into the war
without consulting national leaders. Although willing to support the British
effort in return for independence, Azad sided with Gandhi when the British
ignored the Congress overtures. Azad's criticism of Jinnah and the League
intensified as Jinnah called Congress rule in the provinces as "Hindu
Raj," calling the resignation of the Congress ministries as a "Day of
Deliverance" for Muslims. Jinnah and the
League's separatist agenda was gaining popular support amongst Muslims. Muslim
religious and conservative leaders criticised Azad as being too close to the
Congress and placing politics before faith. As the Muslim League adopted a resolution
calling for a separate Muslim state in its session in Lahore in 1940, Azad was elected Congress president in its session
in Ramgarh. Speaking vehemently against Jinnah's Two-Nation Theory
— the notion that Hindus and Muslims were distinct nations – Azad lambasted
religious separatism and exhorted all Muslims to preserve a united India, as
all Hindus and Muslims were Indians who shared deep bonds of brotherhood and
nationhood. In his presidential address, Azad said:
"...Full eleven centuries have
passed by since then. Islam has now as great a claim on the soil of India as Hinduism. If
Hinduism has been the religion of the people here for several thousands of
years Islam also has been their religion for a thousand years. Just as a Hindu
can say with pride that he is an Indian and follows Hinduism, so also we can
say with equal pride that we are Indians and follow Islam. I shall enlarge this
orbit still further. The Indian Christian is equally entitled to say with pride
that he is an Indian and is following a religion of India, namely
Christianity."
In face of increasing popular
disenchantment with the British across India, Gandhi and Patel advocated an all-out
rebellion demanding immediate independence. The situation had grown precarious
as the Japanese conquered Burma and approached India's borders, which left
Indians insecure but resentful of the British inability to protect India. Azad
was wary and sceptical of the idea, aware that India's Muslims were
increasingly looking to Jinnah and had supported the war. Feeling that a
struggle would not force a British exit, Azad and Nehru warned that such a
campaign would divide India and make the war situation even more precarious.
Intensive and emotional debates took place between Azad, Nehru, Gandhi and
Patel in the Congress Working Committee's meetings in May and June 1942. In the
end, Azad became convinced that decisive action in one form or another had to be
taken, as the Congress had to provide leadership to India's people and would
lose its standing if it did not.
Supporting the call for the British
to "Quit India," Azad began exhorting thousands of people in rallies
across the nation to prepare for a definitive, all-out struggle. As Congress
president, Azad travelled across India and met with local and provincial
Congress leaders and grass-roots activists, delivering speeches and planning
the rebellion. Despite their previous differences, Azad worked closely with
Patel and Dr. Rajendra Prasad to make the rebellion as effective as possible.
On 7 August 1942 at the Gowalia Tank
in Mumbai, Congress president Azad inaugurated the struggle with a vociferous
speech exhorting Indians into action. Just two days later, the British arrested
Azad and the entire Congress leadership. While Gandhi was incarcerated at the Aga Khan Palace
in Pune, Azad and
the Congress Working Committee were imprisoned at a fort in Ahmednagar,
where they would remain under isolation and intense security for nearly four
years. Outside news and communication had been largely prohibited and
completely censored. Although frustrated at their incarceration and isolation,
Azad and his companions attested to feeling a deep satisfaction at having done
their duty to their country and people.
Azad occupied the time playing bridge and
acting as the referee in tennis matches played by his colleagues. In the
afternoons, Azad began working on his classic Urdu work, the Ghubhar-i-Khatir.
Sharing daily chores, Azad also taught the Persian and Urdu languages, as well
as Indian and world history to several of his companions. The leaders would
generally avoid talking of politics, unwilling to cause any arguments that
could exacerbate the pain of their imprisonment. However, each year on 26
January, the leaders would gather to remember their cause and pray together.
Azad, Nehru and Patel would briefly speak about the nation and the future. Azad
and Nehru proposed an initiative to forge an agreement with the British in
1943. Arguing that the rebellion had been mis-timed, Azad attempted to convince
his colleagues that the Congress should agree to negotiate with the British and
call for the suspension of disobedience if the British agreed to transfer
power. Although his proposal was overwhelmingly rejected, Azad and a few others
agreed that Gandhi and the Congress had not done enough. When they learnt of
Gandhi holding talks with Jinnah in Mumbai in 1944, Azad criticised Gandhi's
move as counter-productive and ill-advised.
Partition
of India
With the end of the war, the British
agreed to transfer power to Indian hands. All political prisoners were released
in 1946 and Azad led the Congress in the elections for the new Constituent
Assembly of India, which would draft India's
constitution. He headed the delegation to negotiate with the British
Cabinet Mission, in his sixth year as Congress
president. While attacking Jinnah's demand for Pakistan and the
mission's proposal of 16 June 1946 that envisaged the partition of India, Azad
became a strong proponent of the mission's earlier proposal of 16 May. The
proposal advocated a federation with a weak central government and great
autonomy for the provinces. Additionally, the proposal called for the
"grouping" of provinces on religious lines, which would informally
band together the Muslim-majority provinces. While Gandhi and others were
suspicious of this clause, Azad argued that the Jinnah's demand for Pakistan
would be buried and the concerns of the Muslim community would be assuaged.
Under Azad and Patel's backing, the Working Committee approved the resolution
against Gandhi's advice. Jawaharlal Nehru replaced Azad as Congress president
and led the Congress into the interim government. Azad was appointed to head
the Department of Education. However, Jinnah's Direct Action Day
agitation for Pakistan, launched on 16 August sparked communal violence across
India. Thousands of people were killed as Azad travelled across Bengal and
Bihar to calm the tensions and heal relations between Muslims and Hindus.
Despite Azad's call for Hindu-Muslim unity, Jinnah's popularity amongst Muslims
soared and the League entered a coalition with the Congress in December, but
continued to boycott the constituent assembly. Later in his autobiography, Azad
indicted Patel having become more pro-partition than the Muslim League, largely
due to the League's not cooperating with the Congress in the provisional
government on any issue.
Azad had grown increasingly hostile to Jinnah,
who had described him as the "Muslim Lord Haw-Haw"
and a "Congress Showboy." Despite being a learned scholar of Islam
and a Maulana, Azad had been assailed by Muslim religious leaders for
his commitment to nationalism and secularism which were deemed un-Islamic Muslim
League politicians accused Azad of allowing Muslims to be culturally and
politically dominated by the Hindu community. Azad continued to proclaim his
faith in Hindu-Muslim unity:
"I am proud of being an Indian.
I am part of the indivisible unity that is Indian nationality. I am
indispensable to this noble edifice and without me this splendid structure is
incomplete. I am an essential element, which has gone to build India. I can
never surrender this claim."
Amidst more incidences of violence
in early 1947, the Congress-League coalition struggled to function. The
provinces of Bengal and Punjab were to be partitioned on religious lines, and on 3 June 1947
the British announced a proposal to partition India on religious lines, with
the princely
states free to choose between either
dominion. The proposal was hotly debated in the All India
Congress Committee, with Muslim leaders Saifuddin Kitchlew and Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan expressing fierce opposition. Azad privately discussed the
proposal with Gandhi, Patel and Nehru, but despite his opposition was unable to
deny the popularity of the League and the unworkability of any coalition with
the League. Faced with the serious possibility of a civil war, Azad abstained
from voting on the resolution, remaining silent and not speaking throughout the
AICC session, which ultimately approved the plan.
Post-Independence
India's partition and independence
on 15 August 1947 brought with it a scourge of violence that swept the Punjab,
Bengal, Bihar, Delhi and many other parts of India. Millions of Hindus and
Sikhs fled the newly created Pakistan for India, and millions of Muslims fled
for West Pakistan and East Pakistan,
created out of East Bengal. Violence claimed the lives of an estimated one million
people. Azad took up responsibility for the safety of Muslims in India, touring
affected areas in Bengal, Bihar, Assam and the Punjab, guiding the organisation
of refugee camps, supplies and security. Azad gave speeches to large crowds
encouraging peace and calm in the border areas and encouraging Muslims across
the country to remain in India and not fear for their safety and security.
Focusing on bringing the capital of Delhi back to peace, Azad organised
security and relief efforts, but was drawn into a dispute with the Deputy prime minister and Home Minister
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel when he demanded the dismissal of Delhi's police
commissioner, who was a Sikh accused by Muslims of overlooking attacks and neglecting
their safety. Patel argued that the commissioner was not biased, and if his
dismissal was forced it would provoke anger amongst Hindus and Sikhs and divide
the city police. In Cabinet meetings and discussions with Gandhi, Patel and
Azad clashed over security issues in Delhi and Punjab, as well as the
allocation of resources for relief and rehabilitation. Patel opposed Azad and
Nehru's proposal to reserve the houses vacated by Muslims who had departed for
Pakistan for Muslims in India displaced by the violence. Patel argued that a
secular government could not offer preferential treatment for any religious
community, while Azad remained anxious to assure the rehabilitation of Muslims
in India. secularism, religious freedom and equality for all Indians. He
supported provisions for Muslim citizens to make avail of Muslim personal law
in courts.
Azad remained a close confidante, supporter
and advisor to prime minister Nehru, and played an important role in framing
national policies. Azad masterminded the creation of national programmes of
school and college construction and spreading the enrollment of children and
young adults into schools, in order to promote universal primary education.
Elected to the lower house of the Indian Parliament,
the Lok Sabha
in 1952 and again in 1957, Azad supported Nehru's socialist economic and
industrial policies, as well as the advancing social rights and economic
opportunities for women and underprivileged Indians. In 1956, he served as
president of the UNESCO General Conference held in Delhi. Azad spent the final
years of his life focusing on writing his book India Wins Freedom, an
exhaustive account of India's freedom struggle and its leaders, which was
published in 1957.
As India's first Minister of
Education, he emphasised on educating the rural poor and girls. As Chairman of
the Central Advisory Board of Education, he gave thrust to adult illiteracy,
universal primary education, free and compulsory for all children up to the age
of 14, gir'’s education, and diversification of secondary education and
vocational training. Addressing the conference on All India Education on 16
January 1948, Maulana Azad emphasised,
We must not for a moment forget, it
is a birth right of every individual to receive at least the basic education
without which he cannot fully discharge his duties as a citizen.
He oversaw the setting up of the
Central Institute of Education,Delhi which later became the Department of
Education of the University of Delhi as "a research centre for solving new educational
problems of the country". Under his leadership, the Ministry of Education
established the first Indian
Institute of Technology in 1951
and the University
Grants Commission in 1953., He also laid emphasis on
the development of the Indian
Institute of Science, Bangalore
and the Faculty of Technology of the Delhi University.
He foresaw a great future in the IITs for India:
I have no doubt that the
establishment of this Institute will form a landmark in the progress of higher
technological education and research in the country.
Criticism
During his life and in contemporary
times, Maulana Azad has been criticised for not doing enough to prevent the
partition of India although he was committed to united India till his last
attempt. He was condemned by the advocates of Pakistan, especially Muslim
League.
Legacy
and influence
Azad is remembered as amongst the
leading Indian nationalists of his time. His firm belief in Hindu-Muslim unity
earned him the respect of the Hindu community and he still remains one of the
most important symbols of communal harmony in modern India. His work for
education and social upliftment in India made him an important influence in
guiding India's economic and social development.
The Ministry of Minority Affairs of
the central Government of India setup the Maulana Azad Education Foundation in
1989 on the occasion of his birth centenary to promote education amongst
educationally backward sections of the Society. The Ministry also provides the
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad National Fellowship, an integrated five-year fellowship
in the form of financial assistance to students from minority communities to
pursue higher studies such as M. Phil and PhD
Numerous institutions across India
have also been named in his honour. Some of them are the Maulana
Azad Medical College in New Delhi, the Maulana
Azad National Institute of Technology
in Bhopal, the Maulana
Azad National Urdu University
in Hyderabad, Maulana Azad Centre for Elementary and Social Education
(MACESE Delhi University) the Maulana Azad College in Kolkata, the Maulana Azad library in the Aligarh Muslim University
in Aligarh and Maulana Azad Stadium in Jammu. He is celebrated as one of the founders and greatest
patrons of the Jamia Millia Islamia. Azad's tomb is located next to the Jama Masjid in Delhi. In recent years great concern has been expressed
by many in India over the poor maintenance of the tomb. On 16 November 2005 the
Delhi High Court ordered that the tomb of Maulana Azad in New Delhi be
renovated and restored as a major national monument. Azad's tomb is a major
landmark and receives large numbers of visitors annually.
Jawaharlal Nehru referred to him as Mir-i- Karawan (the caravan
leader), "a very brave and gallant gentleman, a finished product of the
culture that, in these days, pertains to few". “The Emperor of
learning" remarked Mahatma Gandhi
about Azad counting him as "a person of the calibre of Plato, Aristotle
and Pythagorus".
Azad was portrayed by actor Virendra Razdan
in the 1982 biographical film, Gandhi,
directed by Richard Attenborough.
His Birthday, 11 November is
celebrated as National Education Day in India.
Trivia
Maulana Azad was born on the same day as Acharya Kripalani,
who also was prominent freedom fighter and succeeded the former as the
President of Indian National Congress at the Meerut session in 1946.
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