In a circular dated November 21, the UGC discussed the “inspirational legacy” of Dattaji Didolkar and talked about his role as the founder of numerous social and other organisations and called him “an inspiration to thousands of students.” The UGC announced that 2023 marks the birth centenary year of Dattaji Didolkar and talked of plans for various programs scheduled from August 7, 2023, to August 7, 2024, in commemoration of the ABVP founder. The circular directed higher education institutions in Maharashtra to actively promote and engage the state’s youth and students in the planned centenary celebrations. 

The UGC also referred to a letter by Nitin Gadkari, Minister for Road Transport and Highways of India, to Dharmendra Pradhan, who is the Union minister for Education, where Gadkari has highlighted about the need for programmes being organised to commemorate Didolkar and plans of publishing a book on him. 

According to the report, the Yuva Sena, which is the Shiva Sena’s youth wing, has registered its dissent over this move by the UGC and demanded its withdrawal.

Pradeep Sawant, former Mumbai University Senate member from the Yuva Sena, has stated they are not against celebrating birth centenaries, “But it should be done by the political party and RSS with their own funds. It should not be imposed on colleges and universities. The programme is going to be held in Nagpur. Then why are letters issued to all higher education institutions in Maharashtra?”

Furthermore, head of the ABVP Konkan region talking about the alleged contribution of Didolkar, Amit Dhomse, has stated that, “Dattaji Didolkar has made great contributions in social and education fields. He was at the forefront of the struggle for the construction of the Vivekananda Memorial. Celebrating the birth centenary year of such social activists has been our culture. Yuva Sena should study the educational and social contribution of Didolkar without bringing politics into anything.”

In recent times, there has been growing concern over the government led inclusion of right-wing RSS figures as part of school and college syllabus. In June, 2023, the Madhya Pradesh government had revealed plans about introducing Savarkar Damodar as part of a school syllabus by including a whole chapter on him. Savarkar is known to be a hardline figure and is a revered ideologue of the Hindutva movement.

 Related:

Unshackling Education: High Court Unravels Madrasa Order in Jammu and Kashmir

11 educational institutions target of organised Hindutva mobs in in Kolhapur: Fact-finding team

Government a threat to Indian legacy, education, jobs: Gandhian institute taken over, residents evicted, bulldozer to follow

More than 5,000 teaching & 15,000 non-teaching posts kept vacant: Education Ministry

The post UGC asks Maharashtra colleges to encourage students to attend the celebration of RSS leader’s birthday appeared first on SabrangIndia.

In 2008, November 11 was designated as National Education Day to commemorate the birthday of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, independent India’s First Education Minister. Maulana Azad an internationally well-known educationist was born in Mecca, Saudi Arabia (KSA) on November 11, 1888 and passed away in New Delhi, India, on February 22, 1958. This multifaceted genius can be taken for discussion in various dimensions e.g. Azad as an educationist, Azad as a commentator of the Quran, Azad as a thinker, Azad as a theologian, Azad as an orator, Azad as an editor, Azad as a journalist, Azad as a politician, Azad as a debater, Azad as an author, Azad as a husband even Azad as a spokesman for the plight of poor etc.

The personality of Maulana Azad needs no introduction. Almighty Allah bestowed upon him extraordinary knowledge and wisdom. Right from his childhood, he was quite sharp-minded. He had exhibited his erudition and scholarship by rendering the address of Allama Syed Rashid Reza of Egypt in Urdu when he had come to address a meeting in Nadwatul Ulama, Lucnkow on the invitation of Allama Shibli Nomani in 1912.

A.B. Rajput describing the influence of Maulana Azad says: Caesar was a man of the moment and Paul a man of the future for Caesar was the symbol of his age and Paul was the embodiment of those prophetic qualities which create a future age. But Abul Kalam Azad happily combines in him the qualities of both Caesar and Paul, for his actions and achievement, though symbolical of the present age, required yet another age to be fully understood and recognize.(Khilafat to Partition)

According to Mahatma Gandhi, “Maulana Azad is the most forceful, truthful, and fearless satyagrahi and fighter against oppression and injustice that I have come across.” Jawaharlal Nehru once said, “Though I am grateful to all my companions, I would like to mention especially Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, whose erudition has delighted me incredibly, and has sometimes overwhelmed me. In Azad along with the good qualities of the past, the graciousness, the deep learning and tolerance, there is a strange and unique mixture of the urges of today and the modern outlook.”

In fact Maulana Azad wanted to make India an ideal country where all people may live with peace and amity by carrying out the principles and tenets of their respective religions. He never like slavery, servitude and serfdom. That is why he remained an ardent preacher of his religion also. Even when he became the first Education Minister of free India he adhered to his principles and faith strictly. His monumental work Tarjumanul Quran is the best exposition of his religious thoughts and concepts.

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad was one of those remarkable personalities who could not only stir the whole world, but when necessary could direct the current of human history in more useful and profitable grooves. His life was a stormy one full of sensational and epoch making events. The life of this great scholar who could make his own way in every walk of life requires to be divided into five broad divisions.
a) His childhood upto the age of seven years (1895).
b) His traditional education upto fifteen years (1902).
c) His struggle for the discovery and realization of Truth (1902-1910).
d) The crusade for the promotion of the appreciation of the Truth and its implementation upto 1947.
e) The glorious last ten year upto 22nd February 1958. (Abul Kalam Islam and Humanity,P,13).

Maulana Azad selfless contributions and arduous services in National Struggle for Freedom can never be overlooked. He fought alongside Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi to get India free from the British rule. In 1947, Jawaharlal Nehru appointed him as the first Education Minister in the newly formed Indian cabinet. He remained Union Minister of Education till his death in 1958.

It was Maulana Azad who gave the first call for Swaraj in 1912 when he launched Al-Hilal from Calcutta. In 1922 Maulana Azad claimed in his court statement that the job of creating spiritual and religious spirit in the hearts of youths which Mahatma Gandhi had started, AL-Hilal had already fulfilled this obligation in 1914. Maulana Azad  had the right to this claim.

Dr. Najma Heptulla says, “His writing had such an electrifying effect in masses that British Govt. confiscated the Al-HILAL Press and sent Maulana Azad in confinement at Ranchi. This confinement and many arrests that follow did not deter him from the path he had chosen for himself. Maulana was a devout Muslim and staunch Nationalist he believed that the country cannot be free from the foreign rule until and unless Muslims and Hindus jointly fight for it. His message on the eve of his arrest on December 1921 spells this out clearly: The faithful should neither worry nor grieve. They should rest assured that if they have true faith they will be victorious over all. Our victory depends on four principles of truth Hindu-Muslim Unity peace, discipline and sustained sacrifice.”

Maulana Azad said in his presidential address delivered at the Congress Session of 1923: If an Angel were to decent from the clouds today, settle on Qutub Minar Delhi and proclaim from there  that India can win Swaraj within twenty four hours provided that India renounces Hindu-Muslim unity., then I would renounce Swaraj and not Unity. Because if Swaraj is delayed that is the loss of India, but if Hindu-Muslim unity is lost it is a loss to humanity.

Maulana Azad’s  education plan had four objectives. First, the removal of illiteracy. This was to be achieved through the universalisation of elementary education upto the secondary level. The project reached out to women as well. Second, the provision for offering equal educational opportunities to all irrespective of caste and class. Third, the three language formula. This made Hindi and the state languages the medium of instruction. English was offered as an important second language. Fourth, the expansion of primary education throughout the country.
K.N. Nizami has precisely said: The corner-store of Maulana Azad’s educational policy was his conviction that democracy cannot function without eradication of illiteracy. This supplied the motive power to his efforts in the field of national education. He often approvingly quoted Disraeli who used to say that a democracy has no future unless it educates its masses. Maulana Azads educational conspectus covered all segments of Indian population and dealt alike with the villages and the towns. He gave his attention to every important problem whether it concerned the medium of instruction, syllabi, future of graduates, linguistic tension, adult illiteracy, sports, festivals, roads, houses etc. 

The India of Maulana’s dreams was a country proudly following its past traditions of enlightenment and culture but keeping itself abreast of all intellectual and scientific developments in the world. (Azad Academy Journal)

It goes without saying that the system of education which we have today is largely built by Maulana Azad. On account of his selfless patriotism, indomitable courage, free and forceful tendencies and inclinations he is considered one of the builders of great India. Azad has been posthumously awarded India’s highest civilian honour, Bharat Ratna in 1992. In short, Maulana Azad was a complete genius. He was, no doubt, India’s Jewel and Bharat Ratna. He will remain immortal in Indian history. 

*The author is a Faculty Member of Nadwatul Ulama, Lucknow-226 007  

Related:

India’s composite culture and Muslim stalwarts
Are citizenship and secularism ‘disposable’ subjects for Indian students?  

The post Remembering Maulana Azad on National Education Day appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Trade Unionist and lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj was among the five activists and human rights defenders rounded up by a vindictive regime in August 2018, as a part of a crackdown on dissenting voices. She was picked up in a second wave of arrests due to her alleged “maoist links” that somehow, according to the police, meant that she was a part of the Bhima Koregaon conspiracy!

It is noteworthy that Bharadwaj was neither an organiser of nor present in Pune during the Elgaar Parishad! If it sounds preposterous, it is because it is indeed utterly ludicrous!

On November 1, Bharadwaj will be spending her birthday behind bars for the third straight year. Here’s what you can do to make it ‘happy-ish’.

1)     Empower yourself with facts

Who is Sudha Bharadwaj?

Sudha Bharadwaj has been associated with the trade union movement in Chhattisgarh for more than 25 years. She is the general secretary of the Chhattisgarh unit of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), and a member of Women against Sexual Violence and State Repression (WSS). It is her long track record of helping workers and Adivasis get their rights that have made her a thorn in the side of a regime which has many crony capitalists among its benefactors.

How authorities attempted to subvert the law

But what was most shocking about the manner in which Bharadwaj was detained, was the sheer disregard for the law shown by authorities. And though she managed to get a stay order against her Transit Remand from the Punjab and Haryana High Court, in what was clearly a breach of law and procedure, an out-and-out contempt of the High Court, the Pune police thwarted the stay granted against the transit remand of Sudha Bhardwaj and till well past midnight attempted to forcibly whisk her away to Pune!

Bharadwaj, renowned for her committed advocacy on the democratic rights of workers and Adivasis was first ‘detained’, then ‘arrested’ following a Panch document shown to her in Marathi (a language she cannot comprehend) in the early hours of Tuesday, August 28. Neither the warrant for her arrest nor the FIR were given to her in the language that she could read. She was with her young daughter, alone in her residence at the time. The police seized her laptop, pen drive, and external hard drives leading to genuine fears of “their tampering with data.”

Finally, when advocate Vrinda Grover apprised the local CJM (Chief Judicial magistrate) of the HC Order, around midnight, did he pass the Order restoring house arrest. But even this relief was temporary as we all know that the State used any and all means necessary to keep this human rights defender captive and she continues to be behind bars even today.

Fake news and concocted ‘evidence’

The most ridiculous element of the State’s willful campaign of misinformation was a strangely worded letter issued to the press as proof of her “Maoist links”. Bharadwaj denounced the letter as “concocted” and says it was “fabricated to criminalise me and other human rights lawyers, activists and organizations.” She points out to how it is a “mixture of innocuous and publicly available facts and baseless fabrication.” She further questions the police’s own confidence in the letter given how they have never presented it before any court or officer of the court.

2)     Empower others with facts

Use social media to share the truth about Sudha Bharadwaj. Here’s a profile that captures the highlights of Sudha Bharadwaj’s journey as a human rights defender:

Meet Sudha Bhardwaj: Lawyer and Trade Unionist accused of being an “Urban Naxal”

Bharadwaj is also a scholar and prolific writer. Here is a piece that she has penned for SabrangIndia:

Has India betrayed its indigenous peoples, the Adivasis?

And here the activist-lawyer gives a fitting reply to the fake letter circulated by Pune Police:

Mixture of Innocuous and Publicly Available Facts and Baseless Fabrication: Sudha Bharadwaj

Help you friends and peers understand how the law was subverted to forcibly drag Sudha Bharadwaj into a conspiracy that never was:

EXCLUSIVE: Did the Pune Police violate Settled Law on Arrests, Seizure and Raid?

EXCLUSIVE: How Pune Police violated the Law on Seizure and Raid

Feel free to share these resources online on November 1, 2020 with #HappyBirthdaySudha and #FreeBhimaKoregaon16

3)     Demand justice for activists falsely implicated and arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case

Because of the pandemic it is not advisable to come together in large numbers to hold demonstrations or hold protests. Use peaceful and creative means to express your views online. Create art for justice; posters, songs, poems and share them online. Use #HappyBirthdaySudha and #FreeBhimaKoregaon16

You can also write to your elected representatives and community leaders; tell them you do not support persecution of human rights defenders.

Another good way to walk the talk is to volunteer for a human rights initiative. Try to devote a few hours every week to empower those less fortunate than you. Educate yourself about rights of Dalits, Adivasis, socio-cultural, ethnic and religious minorities, empower yourself with the correct vocabulary before you engage in advocacy.

Remember dissent is democratic. Recognise your rights as a citizen and make sure nobody snatches them away from you. Though no birthday behind bars can ever be ‘happy’, your strong steps to empower your fellow Indians will truly honour this human rights defender and maybe make it a ‘happy-ish’ birthday this year.

Related:

Meet Sudha Bhardwaj: Lawyer and Trade Unionist accused of being an “Urban Naxal”
Has India betrayed its indigenous peoples, the Adivasis?
Mixture of Innocuous and Publicly Available Facts and Baseless Fabrication: Sudha Bharadwaj
EXCLUSIVE: Did the Pune Police violate Settled Law on Arrests, Seizure and Raid?
EXCLUSIVE: How Pune Police violated the Law on Seizure and Raid

The post Sudha Bharadwaj to spend birthday behind bars, third year in a row! appeared first on SabrangIndia.