Role of Muslim leaders in freedom struggle unrecognised: Owaisi

HYDERABAD: All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi said the role of Muslims in India’s struggle for independence was not something that received deserved attention. 

Owaisi, who has been tweeting on heroes of freedom movement from Muslim community for the past few days, was speaking at a public meeting at Tolichowki on Friday night. 

Owaisi said the first person to be taken to Kala Pani prison in the Andaman and Nicobar islands during the independence struggle was Maulvi Alauddin, the Imam of Hyderabad’s Mecca Masjid. “Maulvi Alauddin and Turrebaz Khan carried a rally from Mecca Masjid to the British Residency, which was at Koti. The British forces opened fire and injured Maulvi and took him to Kala Pani along with Turrebaz Khan, who managed to escape. While Maulvi died in prison after spending 30 years, Khan was later caught in Toopran and was shot dead.

Even the first journalist who was martyred for India’s independence was Mohammad Maulvi Bakar, said the AIMIM chief, who further recalled several other names during his speech. It was industrialist Sabah Sadiq who helped Mahatma Gandhi in the non-cooperation movement by shutting down businesses, the Hyderabad MP added. 

“Sheikh ul Hind Mahmud ul Hasan was arrested from Mecca masjid and was held in Malta prison for three years. While the Queen of Jhansi is remembered for her fight, it was Khuda Baksh, the in-charge of her army, who was martyred while serving her. A woman who was always with the Queen of Jhansi, Manjar, was a Muslim. She was martyred during the Battle of Kota. There was also Bhatniya Ansari, who used to cook food for Mahatma Gandhi and when he was asked to poison his food, he refused to do so and moreover. However, you all know that it was Godse who killed Gandhi in the end,” he said. 

“Be it the Battle of Buxar in 1764, the Rohilla wars and other numerous ones apart from the brave sacrifice of Tipu Sultan and Siraj-ud-Daulah, the history speaks volumes about their struggle. However, we only consider the last stages of struggle from the 1920s. We should respect the sacrifice of Muslim leaders and remember their sacrifice in the fight against the British,” said the AIMIM chief.