Kharge, Mamata Honor Maulana Azad's Legacy on His Death Anniversary

Kharge posted on his X handle to remember the late Education Minister, stating, "Independent India's first Education Minister, eminent scholar, Freedom Fighter and Bharat Ratna recipient, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad played a defining role in both our National Movement and the shaping of modern India. On his death anniversary, we remember him with deep respect and pay tribute to his enduring and inspirational legacy."

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Bannerjee also remembered the former Education Minister as "one of the architects of modern India", describing his life as a testament to the "power of knowledge, communal harmony, and unwavering patriotism."

"Remembering the great freedom fighter, and one of the architects of modern India, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, on his death anniversary. His life was a testament to the power of knowledge, communal harmony, and unwavering patriotism.", she wrote in a X post.

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad is one of those rare personalities through whom the distinctions of the 20th century can be recognized and possibilities of the 21st century determined. He stood for a learning society through liberal, modern and universal education combining the humanism of Indian arts and the rationalism of western sciences, a society where the strong are just and the weak secure, where the youth is disciplined and the women lead a life of dignity - a non-violent, non-exploiting social and economic order. He was free India's first Education Minister and guided the destinies of the Nation for eleven years, according to an official release from the Ministry of Human Resource Development.

He was the first to raise the issue of the National System of Education which is today the bed-rock of the National Policy on Education (1986) updated in 1992. The concept implies that, upto a given level, all students, irrespective of caste, creed, location or sex have access to education of a comparable quality. All educational programmes, he said, must be carried out in strict conformity with secular values and constitutional framework.

Born in Mecca on November 11, 1888, his father Maulana Khairuddin was a noted scholar, his mother Alia was an Arab, niece of Shaikh Mohammad Zahir Vatri of Madina. His father gave him the name of Feroze Bakht but he became Abul Kalam and the name stayed. At 10 he was well-versed in Quran. At 17 Abul Kalam was a trained theologian recognized in the Islamic world. His studies at Al Azhar University Cairo further deepened his knowledge. At Calcutta where his family had settled he started a magazine called 'Lisan-ul-Sidq'. His early influences were Maulana Shibli Naomani and Altaf Hussain Haali, the two great Urdu critics.

- ANI