204th Birth Anniversary Of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan:
He was born on October 17, 1817.
- Sir syed Ahmed khan was a teacher, politician,social reformer etc.
- He was also the founder of Aligarh muslim university.
- Sir syed Ahmed khan has often been criticised as the father of Two nation theory which led to the formation of two seperate nations i.e. India and Pakistan.
- It is erroneously believed by some historians that the Hindu-Muslim divide in India was the by-product of the two-nation theory which supposedly had its origin in Sir Syed’s ideology.
- Nationalism” as a consciously-held idea was a 20th century phenomenon even in Europe, from where it was imported to India.
- Eminent historian Anil Seal has rightly pointed out that during Sir Syed’s times, “there were no two nations, there was not even one nation, there was no nation at all.”
- Till 1898, when Sir Syed breathed his last, there was nothing like an Indian “nation”, nor did the founding fathers of the Indian National Congress make such a claim.
- Sir Octavian Hume, the founder of the Congress, talked of “a congeries of communities”, not a nation.
- Sir Syed’s concept of nation was inextricably woven with secular ideals.
- Sir Syed believed in a multiculturalism under which all cultural communities must be entitled to equal status under state.
