Saifuddin Kitchlew

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Saifuddin Kitchlew
Born
Saifuddin Kitchlew

(1888-01-15)15 January 1888
Amritsar, Punjab, India
Died9 October 1963(1963-10-09) (aged 75)
New Delhi, Delhi, India
NationalityIndian
Occupation(s)Independence activist, politician

Saifuddin Kitchlew (15 January 1888 – 9 October 1963) was an Indian

Stalin Peace Prize (now known as Lenin Peace Prize) in 1952.[4]

Early life

Saifuddin Kitchlew was born on January 15, 1888, in

converted to Islam. His ancestor, Prakash Ram Kitchlew, had converted to Islam and his grandfather, Ahmed Jo migrated from Kashmir to Punjab in the mid-19th century after the Kashmir famine of 1871.[1]

Kitchlew went to Islamia High School in Amritsar, later obtaining a

Ph.D. from a German university, before practising law in India.[1][7]

Career

On his return he established his legal practice in Amritsar, and soon came in contact with Gandhi. In 1919, he was elected the Municipal Commissioner of the city of Amritsar. He took part in the

All India Khilafat Committee.[1][3]

Political career

Jallianwala Bagh

Kitchlew was first exposed to

Punjab.[8]

Political mainstream

Kitchlew rose in the Congress Party, heading its Punjab unit before rising to the post of AICC General Secretary, an important executive position in 1924. Kitchlew was also the chairman of the reception committee of the Congress session in Lahore in 1929–30, where on 26 January 1930, the Indian National Congress declared Indian independence and inaugurated an era of civil disobedience and revolution aimed to achieve full independence.

Kithclew was a founding leader of the Naujawan Bharat Sabha (Indian Youth Congress), which rallied hundreds of thousands of students and young Indians to nationalist causes. He was a member of the Foundation Committee of Jamia Millia Islamia, which met on 29 October 1920 and led to the foundation of Jamia Millia Islamia University.[9][10]

He started an

Hindu-Muslim unity
. Throughout the 1930-1934 struggles, Kitchlew was repeatedly arrested, and in all spent fourteen years behind bars.

Kitchlew supported a

opposed the partition of India, holding that a divided India would weaken Muslims, both economically and politically.[5]

Post-independence

Kitchlew was opposed to the

opposed the acceptance of the Partition of India. He spoke out against it at public meetings across the country, and at the All India Congress Committee session that ultimately voted for the resolution. He called it a blatant "surrender of nationalism for communalism". Some years after partition and Independence, he left the Congress. He moved closer to the Communist Party of India. He was the founder president of the All-India Peace Council and remained President of 4th Congress of All-India Peace Council, held at Madras in 1954, besides remaining Vice President of the World Peace Council.[3]

Kitchlew moved to

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, life trustees of the Jallianwala Bagh National Memorial Trust.[11]

He died on 9 October 1963, survived by a son, Toufique Kitchlew, who lives in a Lampur village on the outskirts of Delhi, and five daughters. While four of his daughters married men from Pakistan, one daughter, Zahida Kitchlew, was married to the South Indian music director M. B. Sreenivasan who worked mainly in Malayalam and Tamil film industries.[1][7]

Legacy

A colony in Ludhiana, Punjab, popularly called Kitchlu Nagar, is named after him. India Post released a special commemorative stamp featuring him in 1989. The Jamia Milia Islamia created a Saifuddin Kitchlew Chair at the MMAJ Academy of Third world Studies in 2009.[12] Kitchlu Chowk in Amritsar, at the intersection of Mall Road and Court Road, is named after him; there is a small bust on a pillar at the intersection.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "From the Land of Paradise to the Holy City". The Tribune. 26 January 2006.
  2. ^ Nazir Gilani, Syed (14 April 2019). "Jallianwala Bagh Massacre of 1919 and Kashmir Connection". Daily Times. Retrieved 2 September 2019.
  3. ^
    ISBN 81-7024-586-9
    .
  4. ^ Great Soviet Encyclopedia (in Russian) (2nd ed.). Moscow: Sovetskaya Enciklopediya. 1953. vol. 24, p. 366.
  5. ^
    The Print. Archived
    from the original on 27 November 2019. Retrieved 30 July 2022.
  6. ^ Sen Gupta, Abhijit (14 April 2022). "Remembering Kitchlew and Satyapal on Jallianwala Bagh massacre anniversary". The Siasat Daily. Archived from the original on 14 April 2022. Retrieved 30 July 2022.
  7. ^ a b "Ousted by Amritsar for his religion, freedom fighter's son counts days in Capital — to return 'home'". The Indian Express. 5 August 2009. Archived from the original on 5 October 2012.
  8. ^ Sen, Ronojoy (5 August 2007). "Killing field". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 11 August 2011.
  9. ISBN 978-81-7587-788-7
    .
  10. ^ "History of Jamia: Foundation". Jamia Millia Islamia website. Archived from the original on 16 April 2010.
  11. ^ "New law likely to keep Cong place on Jallianwala Bagh trust". The Indian Express. 21 July 2006.
  12. ^ "JMI PRESS RELEASE". Jamia Milia Islamia website. 19 February 2009. Archived from the original on 19 July 2011.

Bibliography

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Saifuddin_Kitchlew&oldid=1218006447"