Saifuddin Kitchlew
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Saifuddin Kitchlew (January 15, 1888 - October 9, 1963) was an Indian freedom fighter and a Muslim Indian nationalist leader.
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[edit] Early life
Saifuddin Kitchlew was born to Azizuddin Kitchlew and Dan Bibi on January 15, 1888, in Amritsar, Punjab. Kitchlew went to school in India, but obtained a B.A. from Cambridge University, and a Ph.D. from a German university, and began practising law in India. In 1919, he was elected the Municipal Commissioner of the city of Amritsar.
[edit] Jallianwala Bagh
Dr. Kitchlew was first exposed to Indian nationalism when the whole country was outraged by the Rowlatt Acts. Kitchlew was arrested with Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Satyapal for leading protests in Punjab against the legislation. To protest the arrest of the trio, a public meeting had gathered at the Jallianwala Bagh, when Gen. Reginald Dyer and his troops fired mercilessly upon the unarmed, civilian crowd. Hundreds of people were killed, and hundreds more injured. This act, the worst case of civilian massacre since the Indian rebellion of 1857 outraged the nation, and riots broke out all throughout the Punjab.
[edit] Leader
Kitchlew rose in the Indian National Congress, first heading its Punjab unit, and then 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 January 26, 1930, the Indian National Congress declared Indian independence and inaugurated an era of civil disobedience and revolution aimed to achieve full independence.
Kithclew was also 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 also among the principal founders of Jamia Millia Islamia.
Throughout the 1930-1934 struggles, Kitchlew was repeatedly arrested.
[edit] Post Independence
Dr. Kitchlew was opposed to the Muslim League's demand for Pakistan and later in the 1940s became President of the Punjab Congress Committee. In 1947 he strongly opposed the acceptance of the Partition of India by the Congress Party. He spoke out against it at public meetings all over 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 began to come closer to the Communist Party of India.
Dr. Kitchlew moved to Delhi and spent the rest of his years working for closer political and diplomatic relations with the USSR, and received the Lenin Award for International Peace. He died on October 9, 1963.
[edit] See also
- Indian Independence Movement, Indian Nationalism, Indian National Congress
- Amritsar Massacre, Salt Satyagraha, Partition of India
[edit] Muslim Indian Nationalists
Dr Syed Mahmud, Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari, Maulana Azad, Abbas Tyabji, Hakim Ajmal Khan, Asaf Ali
