Khwaja Abdul Hamied, Founder Of CIPLA, And The Indian Freedom Struggle
By
Saquib Salim, New Age Islam
20 Feb 2023
“As I was
one who had opposed the Muslim League candidate and won the election, everyone
called me a great Nationalist Muslim. I said that I was an Indian and there was
no question of being a Nationalist, an Indian was an Indian and belonged to the
Nation….. Every Indian belongs to India and is therefore a Nationalist.”
Khwaja
Abdul Hamied, said this after defeating a Muslim League Candidate during the
1937 elections from the home constituency of Mohammad Ali Jinnah in Bombay.
Hamied, a
PhD in Industrial Chemistry from Germany, is well known for establishing The
Chemical, Industrial & Pharmaceutical Laboratory (CIPLA), one of the first
modern pharmaceuticals in India, in 1935. But, what is less known about this
scientist and entrepreneur is that he was one of the prominent freedom fighters
and voice against the two nation theory propounded by Jinnah. When, in 1945,
press reporters in England asked his opinion about Jinnah he said, “We cannot
afford to let loose these (Jinnah and Muslim League) dangerous political
lunatics”.
Hamied had
received the early lessons of nationalism at home. His uncle Abdul Majeed
Khwaja was a close associate of C.R Das, M.A Ansari, Mahatma Gandhi and T.A.K
Sherwani during the freedom struggle and had served jail for fighting the British
Colonial rule in India.
He was
pursuing MSc (Chemistry) at Allahabad University when Khilafat Movement and
anti-Rowlett agitation started. One of the brightest students of the University
could not keep himself away from the nationalist struggle. He led the boycott
of University Convocation where Governor Sir Harcourt Butler was coming. Hamied
was briefly arrested for blocking the way of the Governor's carriage. It was
1920. The spirit of Non-Cooperation was high among the nationalists.
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