Abdul Ghaffar Khan

Also called: Frontier Gandhi, Badshah Khan · Topic: The National Movement: Gandhian Era · NCERT: Class 10, Ch 2 "Nationalism in India"

Meaning

Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (also called Badshah Khan and Frontier Gandhi) was a Pathan (Pashtun) leader from the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP). He was a devout follower of Gandhi and founded the non-violent Khudai Khidmatgars ("Servants of God"). His arrest in April 1930 set off mass protests in Peshawar, where police with armoured cars fired on the crowds.

He matters because he took Gandhian non-violence to the Pathans, a people the British saw as warlike. His arrest also caused one of the worst acts of repression during the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM).

Explanation

Background: a Gandhian on the Frontier

• He was born in 1890 in the NWFP, in the area around Peshawar, and lived until 1988.
• He worked as a social reformer among the Pathans. He opened schools, spoke against blood feuds and spread education.
• He joined the national movement and became a devout disciple of Gandhi. That is why people called him "Frontier Gandhi".
• The idea he spread:
• Pathan society had a strong tradition of arms and revenge.
• Badshah Khan taught that non-violence takes more courage than violence.
• Thousands of Pathans took an oath to give up violence.

The Khudai Khidmatgars (Red Shirts)

• He founded the Khudai Khidmatgars ("Servants of God") in 1929, on the eve of the CDM.
• Members wore red-dyed uniforms, so they were popularly called the "Red Shirts" (Surkh Posh).
• Main features:
• Non-violence. Members swore not to use violence.
• Social service: helping villages and spreading education.
• Political work for the national movement. The Khudai Khidmatgars worked closely with the Indian National Congress.

April 1930: arrest and the Peshawar firing

• The Dandi March (12 March – 6 April 1930) began the Civil Disobedience Movement. Unlike Non-Cooperation, the CDM meant openly breaking colonial laws.
• The movement spread to the Frontier, and the government cracked down hard.
• Sequence:
• April 1930: Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan was arrested.
• Angry crowds came out on the streets of Peshawar.
• They faced armoured cars and police firing, and many were killed. Textbooks usually call this the Qissa Khwani Bazaar firing.
• Soldiers of the Garhwal Rifles refused to fire on the unarmed crowd. Their refusal showed the Raj that it could not fully rely even on its own Indian troops.
• A month later, Gandhi himself was arrested (early May 1930). [2]
• Workers in Sholapur then attacked symbols of British rule: police posts, municipal buildings, law courts and railway stations.

Results and later life

• The Peshawar firing showed that the British would meet even non-violent protest with brute force.
• It also showed that the CDM had reached the far north-west and Muslim-majority areas, not just Gujarat and the coast.
• The Khudai Khidmatgars remained strong allies of the Congress through the 1930s and 1940s.
• He opposed the Partition of India in 1947. He felt let down when the Frontier was given to Pakistan.
• In 1987 India gave him the Bharat Ratna. He was the first person who was not an Indian citizen to receive it.

Time, place and evidence

• Period: the Gandhian era of the national movement, especially the Civil Disobedience Movement (1930–34).
• Region: the North-West Frontier Province, with Peshawar as the centre of the 1930 protests.
• Key people:
• Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, the leader
• Mahatma Gandhi, his mentor
• Lord Irwin, the Viceroy in 1930

• the Khudai Khidmatgars, his followers

• How we know:

• NCERT Class 10, Ch 2 "Nationalism in India" records his April 1930 arrest and the Peshawar firing with armoured cars.
• NCERT Class 12 (Part 3, Ch 3) covers the wider Civil Disobedience story.
• Colonial government records and newspaper reports of the time also cover the Peshawar events.

Don't confuse with

• Maulana Abul Kalam Azad: also a leading Muslim nationalist in the Congress, but he was a scholar from Bengal and later Congress President. He did not found the Khudai Khidmatgars or lead the Frontier.
• Dr Khan Sahib: Ghaffar Khan's elder brother, a Congress politician who became Premier (Chief Minister) of the NWFP. Badshah Khan led the movement; Dr Khan Sahib held government office.
• Khudai Khidmatgars vs Muslim League: the Khudai Khidmatgars were pro-Congress and against Partition. The Muslim League demanded Pakistan.
• Peshawar firing (April 1930) vs Dharasana Salt Works raid (21 May 1930): Peshawar came after Ghaffar Khan's arrest, and the police used armoured cars and firing. Dharasana was a march on the salt works led by Sarojini Naidu with about 2,500 marchers, who were beaten with lathis. [4]

Prelims Hooks

• Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan was arrested in April 1930. Crowds in Peshawar faced armoured cars and police firing.
• Khudai Khidmatgars ("Servants of God", also called Red Shirts) was founded by Abdul Ghaffar Khan in 1929.
• His titles "Frontier Gandhi" and "Badshah Khan" refer to the same person.
• Order of events in 1930: Dandi March begins (12 March) → Gandhi breaks the salt law (6 April) → Ghaffar Khan's arrest and Peshawar firing (April) → Gandhi's arrest (May) [2] → Dharasana raid (21 May). [4]
• Trap: the Garhwal Rifles' refusal to fire happened at Peshawar, not at Dharasana or Sholapur.
• He received the Bharat Ratna (1987), the first non-citizen to receive it.

Mains Points

• Non-violence as courage, not weakness.
• The Pathans were seen as a "martial race" with a culture of arms and revenge.
• Badshah Khan turned them into a disciplined non-violent force.

• This is strong evidence that Gandhian satyagraha was not limited to one region, religion or community.

• The CDM as an all-India movement, and the limits of British force.

• The Peshawar firing and the Garhwal Rifles' refusal showed how far the CDM had spread, from Dandi to the Frontier.
• They also showed that the Raj could no longer rely only on force, or even fully on its own troops.

• This links to the larger British realisation that power would have to be devolved, meaning handed over in part to Indians.

• Muslim nationalism beyond the League.

• The Khudai Khidmatgars show that many Muslims stood with the Congress and against Partition.
• Use this example to show that the Muslim League's claim to speak for all Muslims was contested. It is the same argument that came up at the Second Round Table Conference. [3]
• The Frontier going to Pakistan in 1947, against Badshah Khan's wishes, shows the human cost of Partition.

Related concepts

• Eleven demands of Gandhi 1930
• Salt monopoly
• Salt satyagraha
• Sabarmati Ashram
• Civil disobedience movement
• Vedaranyam salt march
• Dharasana satyagraha 1930
• Sarojini Naidu
• Khudai Khidmatgar
• Garhwali soldiers at Peshawar 1930

Read more

• Civil Disobedience and the Salt Satyagraha, 1930–34