New Delhi — India’s Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan from the BJP party paid homage to nation’s first Education Minister Moulana Abul Kalam Azad on his birthday, while celebrating ‘National Education Day’ on Friday.
Minister Pradhan who also holds the position of Minister of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, tweeted, “Greetings on #NationalEducationDay. Today, we pay homage to an exemplary stalwart and the first education minister of India, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad. He will be remembered for his invaluable role in India’s freedom struggle and for his contributions towards our education sector”.
Azad was born on November 11, 1888, in Mecca, which is today a part of Saudi Arabia. Sayyid Ghulam Muhiyuddin Ahmed bin Khairuddin Al Hussaini was his true name, although he later went by the name Maulana Abul Kalam Azad.
Moulana Azad opposed the idea of creation of Pakistan and opposed Mohammed Ali Jinnah’s demand for a separate country, and he voiced in the favor of undivided India.
Azad had developed an adversarial relationship with Jinnah when the latter referred to him as a “Congress Showboy” and the “Muslim Lord Haw-Haw”.
Politicians from the Muslim League charged Azad with allowing the Hindu community to rule over Muslims in both culture and politics.
Azad maintained his belief in the harmony of Hindus and Muslims, “I am proud of being an Indian. I am part of the indivisible unity that is Indian nationality. I am indispensable to this noble edifice and without me this splendid structure is incomplete. I am an essential element, which has gone to build India. I can never surrender this claim.”
Under his tenure as Education Minister, the first IIT (Indian Institutes of Technology) Kharagpur was launched in 1950. His contributions in the field of education system is remembered till date.
Moulana Azad wrote many books including the exegesis of the Holy Quran called as Tarjumanul Quran, and other books like India Wins Freedom, Ghubar-e-Khatir, etc.
