Correcting “History” – one bit at a time
Yesterday morning, while reading Jamiat has undone its past good work by Javed Ansari, I got stuck at the very first sentence:
The Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind is one of countless organisations that claim to represent Muslims in India. However, unlike most others, the Jamiat stands out because of its track record. It was at the forefront of the freedom movement and vehemently opposed the country’s partition
This was not a *new* statement. Hon Sh Chidambaram had said something similar at Deoband last week:
The Home Minister lauded the role played by Jamiat during freedom struggle, nation building, and opposing the two-nation theory espoused by the Muslim League.
The facts though are somewhat different – and difficult.
As Prof Hari Om explains in his article, Sh Chidambaram is only partly right on this. Yes, the Jamiat did oppose the British rule and the partition. Its motives howevere were far from being liberal and “secular“. As Prof Om writes (emphasis added):
It needs to be underlined that the JuH, which came into being in 1919 as a political organ of the Deoband School to join the Turkey-centric Khilafat Movement, opposed the two-nation theory because it believed that the division of India and creation of Pakistan would defeat its ultimate objective of converting the non-believers and re-establishing Islamic rule in all of India.To be more precise, its arguments against the two-nation theory were: “The Pakistan demand has British backing; Pakistan will split and therefore weaken Muslim India; Muslims left behind in India after separation will be at the mercy of the Hindus; partition will hinder the missionary activities of the Ulema; Muslim League leaders are ignorant of Islam, have no ideology, and are only exploiting the name of Islam for the worldly gains of Muslim vested interests; and Muslim League leaders are incapable of building up an Islamic state and their Pakistan will be no better than the Turkey of Mustafa Kamal.â€
What were the stated aims and objectives of the Deoband seminary and its political outfit, the Jamait-Ulama-i-Hind? Their aims and objectives were “to defend Islam, Islamic rituals and customs, and Islamic nationalism against all odds injurious to them; achieve and protect the general religious and national rights of the Muslims; establish good and friendly relations with the non-Muslims of the country to the extent permitted by the Shariat-i-Islamiyah; fight for the freedom of the country and religion according to the Shari objectives.â€
I have left a comment on the DNA website for Javed but I am not sure it will be published. Fingers crossed.
Related Posts:
Distorting history…and getting paid for it
Lies and half-truths in the name of national integrationÂ
Somewhat related to Khilafat, Global Islamism, Jihadism etc. “Global Islamism, jihadism and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, my defence lawyer” by Tufail Ahmed, 29th Aug ’16
Shantanu, Chidambaram took various names of Jamiat “freedom fighters” in his statement.
This statement is available at pib.nic.in.
These very “freedom fighters” were caught by the British in a conspiracy called as the Silk Letter Conspiracy.
They wanted to take of radical Islamists outside India to Islamise India after British rule.
Here is the link:
http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=53793
Search for “freedom fighters” like Maulana Ubaidullah.
Thanks.
Thanks for the link Anon
In about 25 years from now, Rahul Gandhi might proclaim that Moplah Moslems played an integral role in the freedom struggle. Until or unless the imbeciles in this country (read secular Hindus) wake up from their deep slumber, politicians will continue spouting such nonsense.
Azad does a Chidambaram..
From Role of Muslims not portrayed properly: Azad:
…Addressing a public meeting organised by the Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind on the occasion of its second State-level meeting here on Thursday (5th Jan ’11) night, Mr. Azad asserted that Muslims of the country did not lag behind others in the fight for the country’s independence but they were ahead of others. Unfortunately, the facts were not put in proper perspective in the history, he stated.
Going into the history of Jamiat, Mr. Azad said it was established much before the India National Congress and had taken part in the 1857 rebellion. It was on August 31, 1920 that Jamiat had called for non-cooperation against the British and called for boycott of the Simon Commission much before the INC did, he pointed out.
The Jamiat was also against the partition of the country even as another Muslim outfit led by Mohammed Ali Jinnah insisted upon the division. Stating that Muslims were an integral part of Indian history, culture and heritage he said there was nothing wrong in their demand for reservation as they were backward.
A brief excerpt that confirms Prof Hari Om’s assertion in the second para (from “The Hindu-Muslim Problem” by Lala Lajpat Rai, 1924):
Jamait-ul-Ulema-i-Hind, [a] religio-political association of Muslim divines (Ulemas), was founded in 1919 in the wake of the Khilafat movement. It was set up with the object of safeguarding the ‘Shariah” and giving the Muslims religious and political guidance according to the tenets of Islam.