Jairam Ramesh recalls Nehru-Azad partnership, says India's unity rests beyond religion

Ramesh recalls Azad's warning on Pakistan, his friendship with Nehru and role in shaping modern India

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh has highlighted India's pluralistic identity, stating that religion cannot form the sole basis of a nation, as he recalled Maulana Abul Kalam Azad's prediction that Pakistan's unity could not be sustained on religious grounds alone, a view vindicated by the events of 1971.

He also described Jawaharlal Nehru and Maulana Azad as symbols of India's composite heritage, noting that although neither was deeply ritualistic, both were spiritual and believed in respecting and celebrating the country's diversity of religions, languages, castes and regions as the foundation of national unity.

"Maulana consistently maintained that a nation cannot be built on the basis of religion. In 1952 or 1953, he predicted that Pakistan, split between West and East Pakistan, could not remain united on religious lines alone -- a statement proven right in 1971 when headlines declared 'Maulana Azad Proved Right'," Ramesh said.

In 1971, after India won the war against Pakistan, an independent Bangladesh came into being from what was earlier East Pakistan.

Religion cannot form the sole basis of a nation, Ramesh said.

"November 11th was the birth anniversary of Maulana Azad, and November 14th, the birth anniversary of Pandit Nehru; everyone has noted that these two days hold immense significance in our history. The builders of modern India -- first Maulana Azad and later Jawaharlal Nehru - were born on these dates.

"I would request Imran Pratapgarhi: while we celebrate November 14th with great fanfare, every year, on November 11th, we should also observe Maulana Azad's birth anniversary in a deeply serious manner, educating the new generation about his writings, thoughts, and contributions to our history," Ramesh said.

Born within a year of each other, Azad and Nehru (1888, 1889) were near-contemporaries, but would not meet till 1920.

"Pandit Ji's first meeting with Maulana Azad took place in 1920. And in 1923, at the age of 35, Maulana Azad became the Congress President. At 35 years of age, if anyone could be considered a young leader in those days, it was Maulana Azad," Ramesh wrote.

He became the party chief in September 1923 in Delhi and the event marked the beginning of his friendship with Nehru, though he previously knew Motilal Nehru, Ramesh said.

The friendship between Nehru and Azad grew stronger, and both continued to go to prison, he recalled.

"Between 1920 and 1947 -- a period of 27 years -- Pandit Nehru spent 9 years in jail, meaning he spent one out of every three years behind bars. But very few people know that Maulana Azad spent 10 years in prison. Although two and a half of those ten years were spent under house arrest in Ranchi, house arrest under the British was still imprisonment," Ramesh said.

Then in 1940, an historic session of Congress took place in Ramgarh on March 19 and 20, when Azad was elected party president for the second time, staying in the post for six years, he said.

Ramesh said that in his view, across the 140-year history of the Congress, if there is one most influential presidential address, it was the 1940 Ramgarh address, worth reading even today.

"I get emotional when I read that speech, which was delivered in Urdu. Most people do not read or speak Urdu fluently, so our historical knowledge of what Maulana said in Ramgarh comes from its English translation. And you might be surprised to learn who translated that famous speech -- it was translated by Jawaharlal Nehru himself," Ramesh said.

Nehru's Urdu was by no means inferior, the Congress leader said.

"I uncovered an old letter written on March 27, 1940, from Kolkata -- just 11 days after the Ramgarh session -- where Maulana Sahib wrote to Pandit Ji saying: 'You have done something wonderful in how you translated it. I knew your English was very good, but I was amazed by how you captured the full understanding of what I expressed in Urdu and presented it in English; what you wrote in English was precisely my thought'," Ramesh wrote, citing the letter.

That address was so powerful, Ramesh said, that when Sonia Gandhi was invited to Oxford University's Centre for Islamic Studies on November 29, 2002, by its director Farhan Nizami, she quoted several parts of it in her address.

"Later, during the Quit India movement, Pandit Ji and Maulana were imprisoned together in Ahmednagar Fort along with nine other Congress leaders including Sardar Patel, Narendra Deva, Govind Ballabh Pant, and Pattabhi Sitaramayya. For the first time, Maulana and Pandit Ji shared the same prison. In Ahmednagar, Pandit Ji wrote his famous book The Discovery of India, while Maulana Sahib wrote his most famous book, Ghubar-e-Khatir.

"In the preface of The Discovery of India, Pandit Ji expressed gratitude to all 11 companions, specifically singling out Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and noting how delighting and at times astonishing it was to witness Maulana's extraordinary intellect," Ramesh said

In 1947, when Independent India's first cabinet was formed, Azad was chosen to be its Education Minister, and would remain so for the next 11 years.

While every other ministry experienced reshuffles -- with multiple ministers serving in Home, Finance, and Railways between 1947 and 1958 -- the Education Ministry was the sole ministry where the incumbent did not change, Ramesh said.

"The reason was the deep personal, non-political bond between Pandit Ji and Maulana Sahib. Maulana was one of the rare individuals who could candidly tell Nehru, 'Jawaharlal, I do not agree with this,' and if he said so, Pandit Ji would defer the decision," Ramesh said.

When Azad died in February 1958, Nehru delivered a long speech in the Lok Sabha, hailing Azad as not an emotional man, but a rationalist who viewed things scientifically.

"He noted that despite his title 'Maulana,' Azad was not a traditionalist but a modernist. Nehru concluded by saying that while Maulana was a scholar and a good Muslim, he was spiritual rather than religious," Ramesh wrote.