Abul Kalam Azad

History glossary

Also called: Maulana Azad · Topic: The National Movement: Gandhian Era · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 3 "Mahatma Gandhi and the Nationalist Movement"

Meaning

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (1888–1958) was an Islamic scholar, journalist and Congress leader. He joined Gandhi during the Khilafat and Non-Cooperation years. He was Congress president in 1923 and again from 1940 to 1946, and he became free India's first Education Minister.

He matters because he was the main nationalist Muslim leader of the Congress. All his life he argued that Hindus and Muslims were one nation. He rejected the Muslim League's demand for a separate Pakistan.

Explanation

Background: scholar and journalist

He was born in 1888 in Mecca, into a family of Islamic scholars. He grew up in Calcutta.
"Azad" means "free". He took it as a pen name.
In 1912 he started an Urdu weekly called Al-Hilal ("The Crescent").
It asked Muslims to join the fight against British rule.
The government banned it, so he started Al-Balagh.
The British then interned him (kept him under police control in one place) at Ranchi during the First World War.

Joining Gandhi: the Khilafat link

Khilafat Movement (1919–24): Indian Muslims protested against the harsh treatment of the Ottoman Sultan (the Khalifa) after the First World War. Azad was one of its main leaders, along with the Ali brothers.
Gandhi joined the Khilafat cause to the Non-Cooperation Movement. Congress approved Non-Cooperation at Calcutta in September 1920 and launched it that December [2].
This was the first time Hindus and Muslims came together in a large all-India struggle.
Azad belonged to the 1917–22 cohort (group) of leaders who joined Gandhi. The others included Mahadev Desai, Vallabhbhai Patel, J.B. Kripalani, Subhas Chandra Bose, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sarojini Naidu, Govind Ballabh Pant and C. Rajagopalachari.
These leaders were trained in Gandhi's methods. They gave Congress a lasting national leadership.

Congress president: two terms

1923: At a special session in Delhi he became Congress president at about 35. He was one of the youngest people ever to hold the post.
1940–46: His second term began at the Ramgarh session (1940). It became one of the longest terms, because the war and the jailing of leaders meant no new elections were held.
At Ramgarh he said Indian Muslims were a full and proud part of one Indian nation. This was a direct answer to the Muslim League's Lahore Resolution (1940).
He was jailed in 1942 during the Quit India Movement, along with the Congress Working Committee, at Ahmednagar Fort.
As president he led Congress talks with the British: the Cripps Mission (1942), the Shimla Conference (1945) and the Cabinet Mission (1946).

After 1947: building education

He served as Education Minister from 1947 until his death in 1958.
New institutions were set up while he was in office. They include the University Grants Commission (UGC), the first IIT at Kharagpur and the national academies of arts and letters.
He died in 1958. In 1992 he was given the Bharat Ratna after his death.
His birthday, 11 November, is celebrated as National Education Day.

Time, place and evidence

Period: He was active from the 1910s to 1958. His key years in the national movement were 1919–1947, the Gandhian era (1915–1948).
Places: born in Mecca; worked in Calcutta; interned at Ranchi; presided at Delhi (1923) and Ramgarh (1940); jailed at Ahmednagar Fort (1942–45).
Key people: Gandhi, Nehru, Patel, the Ali brothers (Khilafat partners), and Jinnah (his main political opponent on the Pakistan question).
How we know:
His newspapers Al-Hilal and Al-Balagh.
Ghubar-i-Khatir, a set of Urdu letters he wrote in Ahmednagar jail.
India Wins Freedom, his account of the freedom struggle, published in 1959, after his death. Some pages were kept sealed for 30 years and released in full in 1988.
Congress session records and NCERT Class 12, Ch 3 "Mahatma Gandhi and the Nationalist Movement".

Don't confuse with

Ali brothers (Mohammad Ali and Shaukat Ali): They were Azad's partners in the Khilafat Movement. Later they drifted away from Congress. Azad stayed with Congress all his life.
Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan ("Frontier Gandhi"): He was another nationalist Muslim who opposed Partition. He led the Khudai Khidmatgars in the North-West Frontier Province. Azad was a scholar-politician who worked from Calcutta and Delhi.
Chandra Shekhar Azad: He was a revolutionary of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association who chose armed struggle. Maulana Azad was a Gandhian Congress leader. The two only share a name.
Muhammad Ali Jinnah: Jinnah led the Muslim League and the demand for Pakistan. Azad was the Congress president who opposed it, and he led Congress at the Cabinet Mission talks.

Prelims Hooks

Azad started the Urdu weekly Al-Hilal in 1912. Its successor was Al-Balagh.
He was Congress president in 1923 (Delhi special session) and 1940–46 (Ramgarh, 1940 onwards). As president he led Congress talks with the Cripps Mission, Shimla Conference and Cabinet Mission.
He was free India's first Education Minister (1947–58). 11 November, his birthday, is National Education Day.
His books: India Wins Freedom (account of the freedom struggle) and Ghubar-i-Khatir (letters written in Ahmednagar Fort jail).
Trap: Azad was part of the 1917–22 cohort that joined Gandhi, along with Patel, Nehru, Bose, Kripalani, Sarojini Naidu, G.B. Pant, Rajagopalachari and Mahadev Desai. The Ali brothers are not on this list.
He received the Bharat Ratna after his death, in 1992.

Mains Points

Composite nationalism against the two-nation theory. Azad said Hindus and Muslims were one nation. His Ramgarh address of 1940 came the same year as the League's Lahore Resolution. This shows that Muslim politics was not one single bloc. Use it in GS-I answers on communalism and Partition.
Khilafat as a bridge, and its limits. Azad's entry through Khilafat shows how Gandhi used a religious issue to build Hindu–Muslim unity in 1920–22. The unity weakened after Khilafat ended in 1924. Azad was one of the few Khilafat leaders who stayed with Congress.
From freedom struggle to nation-building. As Education Minister he set up UGC, IIT Kharagpur and the national academies. This shows continuity: leaders trained in the Gandhian movement went on to build the institutions of independent India.

Related concepts

The people's Mahatma: differing strands of swaraj

Sources

1Class 12, Ch 3 "Mahatma Gandhi and the Nationalist Movement" (primary)
2What made Gandhiji wear only Loincloth or Dhotipib.gov.in · tier 1