Republic Day 2025: Begum Aizaz Rasul charted a new course for Muslim women

Cutting done her intersecting identities of religion, region, sex and class, Qudsia spoke retired connected the contented of a abstracted electorate. Leaders similar Muhammad Ali Jinnah and others successful the Muslim league believed that it was indispensable to safeguard the interests of Muslims successful Hindu-majority India. In contrast, leaders similar Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and others sought a unified India with a unified electorate to sphere the recently acquired integration of Independent India. Begum Rasool stood successful solidarity with Sardar Patel and chap Constituent Assembly members similar Tajamul Hussain and Hazrat Mohani who passionately opposed the preservation for minorities and warned against its ramifications.

It’s absorbing to larn that the “Quaid-e-Azam” of present-day Pakistan, Jinnah, had himself been a beneficiary of the British largesse of reservation. On January 25, 1910, Jinnah became the “Muslim subordinate from Bombay” connected the 60-man Imperial Legislative Council of India successful Delhi arsenic a subordinate of the Indian National Congress (which helium aboriginal left).

The preservation for Muslims which were introduced successful the Imperial Council successful 1909, extended to authorities legislatures and continued till 1947. The Constituent Assembly retained reservations for minorities, adopting a solution to the effect connected August 27, 1947. However successful May of 1949, the Advisory Committee connected Certain Political Safeguards for Minorities headed by Patel revoked the earlier solution and decided to abolish the reservation. The bloody aftermath of the Partition was the turning constituent successful doing distant with preservation for minorities. In his report, Patel wrote, “At that meeting, I pointed retired that if the members of a peculiar assemblage genuinely felt that their interests were amended served by the abolition of reserved seats, their views indispensable people beryllium fixed owed value and the substance allowed to beryllium reopened.”

[also_read rubric = “ALSO READ” article_title= “Begum Aizaz Rasul: The lone Muslim pistillate to reason number reservations successful the Constituent Assembly” id = “5057096” liveblog = “no”

While astir Muslim members vociferously agreed with Patel, determination were those similar Mohammad Ismail Khan who changed their 1947 presumption and moved an amendment challenging the resolution. Then determination was Zahirul Hasnain Lari, who espoused the strategy of proportional practice arsenic a means to safeguard the interests and rights of the minorities by citing the examples of countries similar Belgium, Switzerland and adjacent Ireland, a program which was deemed unworkable by others. Syed Muhammed Saadulah from Assam sought preservation for a constricted period: “I wrote to each the Muslim members of my enactment successful the Assam legislature and they gave maine the unanimous mandate of claiming preservation for the Muslims.” He besides had a bony to prime with the president of the sub-committee connected minorities, H C Mookerjee, saying, “He should person taken the logical people of consulting the Muslim members only, but without waiting to bash that, connected the solitary enactment of Begum Aizaz Rasul, helium has thought acceptable to urge to this House that preservation of seats for the Muslims should go.”

Begum Rasul had unambiguously opposed Muslim reservation: “It is precise indispensable that the Muslims surviving successful this state should propulsion themselves wholly upon the goodwill of the bulk community, should springiness up separatist tendencies and propulsion their afloat value successful gathering up a genuinely secular state.”

Her words reverberated done the halls of the Assembly which was sculpting the aboriginal of the newly-minted nation: “To my mind, preservation is simply a self-destructive limb which separates minorities from majorities for each time. It gives nary accidental to the minorities to triumph the spot of the majority.”

Hailing from an affluent household successful Malerkotla, successful agreed Punjab, Begum Aijaz was nary specified symbolic leader. She successfully contested from a non-reserved spot successful 1937 for the United Provinces Legislative Council elections and besides became Leader of Opposition successful the UP Assembly successful 1950. In 1947, she became the lone Muslim pistillate subordinate of the Constituent Assembly. In 1952, she was nominated arsenic a subordinate of the Rajya Sabha. Despite her privileged upbringing, she was vociferous successful her absorption to the zamindari strategy and advocated its abolition. In her aboriginal years, Begum Rasul was besides the president of the Indian Women’s Hockey Federation, a station she held for astir 2 decades. In 2000, a twelvemonth earlier her death, she was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the Government of India successful designation of her contributions to societal work.

“There was overmuch propaganda against me, specially a ‘fatwa’ by the ulemas that it was un-Islamic to ballot for a non-purdah Muslim woman,” Begum Aizaz Rasul wrote successful her autobiography, From Purdah to Parliament, which chronicles her travel arsenic a Muslim pistillate person successful India.

Though she gave up the purdah erstwhile she won her archetypal predetermination successful 1937, she became the dependable of the soundless Muslim women, the number wrong the minority. Her dependable was that of defiance and dissent, arsenic she urged her Muslim sisters to measurement retired of the shadiness of the veil.

The writer is nationalist spokesperson of the BJP.