Resisting Colonialism and Communal Politics: Maulana Azad and the Making of the Indian Nation

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (1888-1958), has largely remained less explored as a political leader in the history of India’s struggle for independence. Two reasons seem quite plausible for this; one, historians have ignored the claims and contributions of those, generally described as nationalist Muslims in view of India’s Partition as they focused more on the politics and claims of the Muslim League; the second would be lack of knowledge of Urdu, in which, Azad has left behind a considerable corpus of evidence. The combination of the two has resulted in near silence of historians on political life of Azad, honourable exceptions notwithstanding.