Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, popularly referred to as the Frontier Gandhi or Badshah Khan, died at the age of 97 on January 20, 27 years ago.
Known as one of Mahatma Gandhi’s most enduring disciples, the freedom fighter who eventually made Pakistan his home was one of the few leaders who remained popular among Indians even after Partition. However, in his four-day tour of Tamil Nadu in December 1969 as part of Gandhi’s centenary year celebrations, the leader ruffled quite a few feathers by posing uncomfortable questions on the treatment of Indian Muslims.
According to reports in The Hindu , it was at Coimbatore where Khan, talking of the communal riots that had broken out at Ahmadabad, said ‘in the name of secularism one or two Muslims are appointed and would be allowed to rise to high positions while the majority suffered’.
The allegations unsurprisingly provoked outrage. In a series of Letters to the Editor, readers expressed anguish articulating polarising opinions.
For instance, K.P Ramaratnam from Coimbatore wrote, “We sincerely trust and hope that a professed Gandhian like Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan would rather try and heal the wounds of communalism by treating and speaking to all in India as Indians rather than dividing them like Hindus and Muslims.”
On the defensive, V Ramamurthy from Madras wrote, “There are many Muslim High Court Judges, ministers, legislators, scientists, businessman and army men who are doing their duty for the cause of India’s progress… I have own doubts whether a non-Muslim personally would receive such treatment in Pakistan as Mr. Ghaffar Khan had received in India.”
However, there were also voices which struck a more reflective note. Capturing the irony of the polarising responses, P.K Shabbir Ahmed from Madras, asked “Is it fair to be delighted when he [Khan] calls upon Muslims in India to develop a greater sense of nationhood on the one hand and on the other resent his lamentation that victims of Ahmadabad riots were too afraid to speak the truth?”
He went on to say, “As one who sacrificed his best part of his life struggling for India’s freedom, for the upliftment of the downtrodden and for communal amity … Neither Indians nor Pakistanis are prepared to give him the freedom to look upon himself as a citizen of undivided India…”
With fundamentalism is on the rise, the uncomfortable questions that Khan posed during his Tamil Nadu tour remain remarkably relevant even today. There seems to be no better way to commemorate his legacy than by recalling his unflinching observations.
