Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, an Independent India’s first education minister was born on 11 November 1888 in Mecca and is popularly known as Maulana Azad. The word maulana refers to master and Azad was his pen name. After the 1857 revolt, his family moved to mecca and then returned in 1898 to Calcutta, India. As the youngest congress, Azad gained a lot of popularity. The Gandhian approach is sole to his philosophies. His great mind and personality make him a successful journalist and politician. In 1911, he also started a magazine named Al-Hilal which becomes widely popular among people because of its revolutionary and patriotic articles. Apart from his intellect and thinking, he was a keen supporter of Hindu-Muslim Unity.
Azad never supported the politics of divide and rule, he criticized the Britisher’s racial policies. In certain phases influence of revolutionaries like Aurobindo Ghose and Shyam Sundar Chakraborty can also be seen in Azad philosophies. In India, the birth anniversary of Maunala Abul kalam Azad is celebrated as National education day. In 1992, he received the noble prize posthumously.
Contribution of the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad in Pre-Independent India:
Abul Kalam Azad worked tirelessly to unite the Hindu and Muslim communities.
- During pre Independence, at an early age, his interest was in writing and journalism. He published an Urdu weekly newspaper Al-Hilal in Calcutta in 1912 in which he highlighted the Harsh British policies towards Indians along with underlining the challenges faced by common people in everyday life, which was banned by Press Act in 1914.
- He spread nationalism feeling among Indians especially the Muslim community via his writings and always tried to keep them united with Gandhi’s ideology as kalam Azad was a true supporter of Mahatma Gandhi, a man behind spreading Gandhi’s non-violence and satyagraha to a person sitting on the edge of colonial India.
- He strongly supported the Khilafat Movement and believed it was every Muslim’s religious duty to participate in politics against oppressors and colonists.
During the conduction of the first election, Azad was the one who organized the election campaigns and rallies, raised funds, and selected candidates for election. Not contesting the election for himself but arranging everything for the smooth coordination between provinces sparked his habit of working behind the scenes. - To Keeping Indians United was his foremost priority as even during the congress split, he worked as a bridge between supporters of congress and the one who criticized congress for being a soft corner for the British.
- Whether it’s about bridging the congress or two different communities, it’s never been an easy task for Azad as many criticized him for being too close to the congress and putting the Muslim community in a cliff-hanging situation, furthermore, Jinnah once called him a ‘Congress Showboy’. Besides being humiliated a lot by his own community, Azad always thirst for India’s unity.
- Been in jail for many years in Ahmednagar along with other leaders, yet that zeal for liberating India had ignited in his heart a very long time before in his teen. After coming out, he travelled across India for encouraging people to rebel and to heal relations between Hindus and Muslims.
- One could easily understand that he was doing double work, one- struggling for liberating India from the cage of British rule and second himself belonging to the Muslim community, trying to unite Hindus and Muslims together for a single enemy.
Contribution of the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad After the Post-Independent India:
After hitting up that most awaiting day 15th august 1947, Azad was a bit sad witnessing the horrible partisan of India.
- He hadn’t left a single stone unturned by going to each affected border area lines of Bengal, Punjab, and Pakistan encouraging peace and calm to remain in India and shouldn’t fear for their safety and security.
- He got education ministry in Nehru’s government and in that he played an important and remarkable role in framing national policies for education. He once stated that “We must not for a moment forget, it is a birthright of every individual to receive at least the basic education without which he cannot fully discharge his duties as a citizen”.
- Since childhood, he was very much inclined towards education and skill-gaining. After being elected twice in Lok Sabha, he gave thrust to universal primary education, compulsory education for all children up to 14, girls’ education, vocational training, and adult literacy.
- We all must hear about University Grants Commission (UGC) under which all graduates did their graduation is the one established under his tenure being education minister.
Along with this, under his leadership, India witnessed its first Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) as IIT Kharagpur. - He focused more on education foundation as India had just been released from the Western Cage, promoting education among Indians became the first priority to Azad therefore he laid the foundation of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) which is today one of the most prominent universities in India.
Apart from this, Writing is something he always enjoys doing- in the last year of his life, Abul wrote ‘India wins Freedom’, published in 1959. - In 1989, the central government set up Maulana Azad Education Foundation, a ministry of minorities that provides that fellowship after his name.
- National Education Day is celebrated on 11 November every year on his birth anniversary to celebrate his vision for educating every individual irrespective of their religion.
- He left us with all his immortal work behind in 1958. For his selfless service, he received Bharat Ratna in 1992.
Conclusion:
His heart always beats for India’s unity, always supported secular India, and never wanted separate electorates based on religion. Maulana Abul was truly an Indian who keep on working his entire life for India’s welfare despite being criticized by many Muslims. It’s not always about the main actor, the role of the person playing behind the scenes also adds bricks to the building of a nation.