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BOOKS: "The Other Side Of Mountain" | "Thus Spake their Lordships" | " Sons Of BABUR" | " At Home In India" ARTICLES: "Reinventing The Congress" |"The Idea Of India " | "Dr.Zakir Husain & Urdu"

Urdu: Mind this Language, Please
By Salman Khurshid

Late President of India, Dr. Zakir Husain is known as the Father of Basic Education. This is a tribute to his memory on his 106th birth anniversary that falls on 8th February. Salman Khurshid, former minister and senior advocate in the Supreme Court, is the grandson of Dr. Zakir Husain.

Dr. Zakir Husain, the third President of India was an eminent educationist and is acknowledged as the father of basic education for his outstanding contribution to education. Soon after graduation he became deeply involved in the cause of education for all and worked relentlessly for it. He belonged to the nationalist school of thought and under the influence of Gandhiji he came close to the Indian National Congress.

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Relevance Of Iqbal In Contemporary Muslim World
By Salman Khurshid

It is with some diffidence that I have attempted writing an introduction to a commentary by Dr. Justice Javid Iqbal on his illustrious father's landmark Madras Lectures, also known as Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam (1929). Two generations of profound thinkers on the Indian sub-continent across a span of seven decades, have attempted to come to grips with a rapidly and constantly changing milieu in which the world of Islam adamantly resists change for various reasons, some legitimate but others largely unwarranted.

The curious thing is that Allama Iqbal was committed to precipitating a renaissance in Islamic culture to meet the onslaught of contemporary western thought; and seventy five years later his worthy son Dr. Justice Javid Iqbal remains preoccupied with the need for a renaissance. In these years Islamic culture has survived the absence of the awaited renaissance, several devastating wars, domestic trouble and severe upheavals in several important Islamic countries.

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Muslims in Contemporary India
By Salman Khurshid

It is with a sense of diffidence and awe that I comment on the landmark Madras Lectures of Allama Iqbal, also known as Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam (1929)—a book widely discussed and debated in the Islamic world. This is indeed a difficult task as two generations of profound thinkers across a span of seven decades have attempted, to come to grips with a rapidly changing global milieu and the world of Islam adamantly resisting change for various reasons, some legitimate but others largely unwarranted.

With the death of Allama Iqbal in 1938 an era of Muslim renaissance came to an end. In his death Muslims lost a leader and an intellectual giant of Islamic world—a loss which could not be replaced many centuries to come.

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Place Of Urdu In The Dynamic Idea Of India
By Salman Khurshid

The Idea of India needs reconsideration in one respect i.e., the preservation and development of Indian languages. This should not be confined to the communal and narrow idea of monolingualism pushed by a lobby of reactionary northern Indian politicians during the latter part of the nineteenth century. The RSS also harped on that tune. Their terminology is no different from that of the British who in pursuit of their policy of divide and rule, gave weightage to some languages while deliberately neglecting some others.

For divisive purposes they categorized them into languages of literature, dialects and the languages of folk literature. Needless to say that emergence of Urdu and Hindi as conflicting linguistic identities and as the only languages of north India is the handiwork of British policy; this situation is now being supported by the RSS and their ilk.

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Dr. Zakir Husain, Third President of India

Late President of India, Dr. Zakir Husain is known as the Father of Basic Education. This is a tribute to his memory on his 106th birth anniversary that falls on 8th February. Salman Khurshid, former minister and senior advocate in the Supreme Court, is the grandson of Dr. Zakir Husain.

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