Tryst with Politics: An Indian Muslim at Crossroads of Partition
By
Mushtaq Ul Haq Ahmad Sikander, New Age Islam
26 October
2021
The
Partition of the Subcontinent Is an Open Wound That Still Continues To Hurt
Main
Points:
1. The struggle
of Indian Independence is a tumultuous event in the contemporary history.
2. Hashim analyses
the dynamics of Congress becoming unpopular among Indian Muslims in the
aftermath of 1937 elections .
3. The book is
an important source for anyone who is interested in the contemporary politics
of India and given its essence it deserves to be translated into English.
----
Meri
Siyasi Sarguzasht (My Political Memoir)
Author:
Dr Muhammad Hashim Kidwai
Compiled
by Dr Saleem Kidwai
Publisher:
Applied Books, New Delhi, India
Year
of Publication: 2021
Pages:
104 + 32 (Colour Photos Album) Price: Rs 200
----
Autobiographies
of important people become essential to understand the developments and trends
of an era. If the era is one of great political turmoil, struggle and conflict
then autobiographies of people existing in that era simply help in engaging and
analysing the era factually. The struggle of Indian Independence is a
tumultuous event in the contemporary history, so is the partition of the
subcontinent an open wound that still continues to hurt. Understanding the
reasons of the partition and Muslim malaise in India, the primary sources like
autobiographies become essential.
Dr Muhammad
Hashim Kidwai, ex Member of Indian Parliament was an eminent educationist,
politician and writer. His two volume autobiography in English “The Life and
Times of a Nationalist” has already been published. This Urdu volume compiled
by his son Dr Saleem Kidwai documents his life till 1944. It is an incomplete
autobiography however it deals with his life as a student, his tryst with
politics and other related issues. Hashim Kidwai’s uncle Maulana Abdul Majid
Daryabadi was a great scholar of Islam, writer, theologian, journalist and
editor, so his influence on young Hashim was inevitable and immense. Further
his youth was a period of political turmoil and last days of British Empire in
India coupled with the raging Second World War. So these dynamic events casted
their shadows on the impressionable mind of young Hashim. He was drawn to the
politics of Indian National Congress and composite nationalism as compared to
the divisive politics of Muslim League. He embedded hatred against the British
colonialists. The meeting with nationalists like Maulana Muhammad Ali and
versatile orator like Syed Attaullah Shah Bukhari added to his zeal of
nationalism. His acquaintance as a child with Maulana Muhammad Ali deeply
impacted and influenced him.
Hashim
describes his participation in politics and being punished for it at school,
then being a member of Students Federation in college, while taking part in the
boycott of foreign goods and the Swadeshi movement. Further the atrocities
against the Satyagrahis by police made his blood boil, instilling hatred
against the British government. Hashim has some words of appreciation for the
British colonialists too because they did not stoop low to persecute him,
despite the fact that he was antagonistic to their policies and government
(P-75). To add insult to injury his father was a senior official of the British
government. Something that is inconceivable in today’s India because political
rivals not only wait for an opportunity to vanquish their opponents but even
the government has snooped so low that they crackdown every voice of dissent.
So if we start contrasting the colonial government was tolerant towards dissent
and criticism whereas democratic clique is abhorrent and allergic towards it.
Hashim
analyses the dynamics of Congress becoming unpopular among Indian Muslims in
the aftermath of 1937 elections when provincial governments of Congress were
formed in many states. He describes that Hindu revivalism surged when Congress
became part of the provincial assemblies and Muslim League exploited the
situation, hence profiting from the same. Hashim agrees that Congress
provincial governments did commit a lot of discrimination against Muslims and
even against Urdu language (P-66), thus the politics of Muslim League became
popular. So this tussle between the politics of Congress and Muslim League did
not remain confined to political stages only, but families got divided on this
basis. A father was supporting Congress whereas his son believed in ideology of
Muslim League. Further the Muslims supporting Congress were alleged and described
as enemies of Islam by Muslim League. This divide also impacted the student
politics in Lucknow and ultimately resulted in Muslims getting divided between
supporting and opposing Congress and Muslim League. Also documented are the
details about the Second World War and Quit India movement and how their
dynamics played on the people of India. Hashim upholds the Congress stalwart
leader Rafi Ahmad Kidwai as his political mentor because along with teaching he
also indulged in practical politics later on.
He also
describes the Shia-Sunni riot that took place in Lucknow in 1939 and how
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and Allama Inayatullah Mashriqi came to pacify the
warring factions and resolving the issue. This book becomes essential
documentary proof in vernacular Urdu about the happenings in and around Lucknow
in particular and among Indian Muslims in general at a crucial phase of
history. We must congratulate Dr Saleem Kidwai for compiling and publishing
this important work of his late father. The book is an important source for
anyone who is interested in the contemporary politics of India and given its
essence it deserves to be translated into English. Although the book leaves
many questions unanswered but the details that it documents compensates for the
same.
-----
M.H.A.Sikander
is Writer-Activist based in Srinagar, Kashmir.
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/books-documents/tryst-politics-indian-muslim-partition/d/125645
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