By Saquib Salim, New Age Islam
20 Feb 2023
“As I was one who had opposed the Muslim League candidate and won the election, everyone called me a great Nationalist Muslim. I said that I was an Indian and there was no question of being a Nationalist, an Indian was an Indian and belonged to the Nation….. Every Indian belongs to India and is therefore a Nationalist.”
Khwaja Abdul Hamied, said this after defeating a Muslim League Candidate during the 1937 elections from the home constituency of Mohammad Ali Jinnah in Bombay.
Hamied, a PhD in Industrial Chemistry from Germany, is well known for establishing The Chemical, Industrial & Pharmaceutical Laboratory (CIPLA), one of the first modern pharmaceuticals in India, in 1935. But, what is less known about this scientist and entrepreneur is that he was one of the prominent freedom fighters and voice against the two nation theory propounded by Jinnah. When, in 1945, press reporters in England asked his opinion about Jinnah he said, “We cannot afford to let loose these (Jinnah and Muslim League) dangerous political lunatics”.
Hamied had received the early lessons of nationalism at home. His uncle Abdul Majeed Khwaja was a close associate of C.R Das, M.A Ansari, Mahatma Gandhi and T.A.K Sherwani during the freedom struggle and had served jail for fighting the British Colonial rule in India.
He was pursuing MSc (Chemistry) at Allahabad University when Khilafat Movement and anti-Rowlett agitation started. One of the brightest students of the University could not keep himself away from the nationalist struggle. He led the boycott of University Convocation where Governor Sir Harcourt Butler was coming. Hamied was briefly arrested for blocking the way of the Governor’s carriage. It was 1920. The spirit of Non-Cooperation was high among the nationalists.
<https://www.youtube.com/embed/ivXznh3AUt8
URL: https://newageislam.com/multimedia/khwaja-hamied-cipla-indian-freedom-struggle/d/129159
New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism
New Age Islam encourages people to rethink What is Islam? 