Man behind Babri campaign dead
NEW DELHI: Syed Shahabuddin's transformation from a suave and erudite foreign office civil servant to a leading conservative Muslim voice might have initially seemed perplexing, but his conviction in opposing the Shah Bano judgement and advocacy of the case for Babri Masjid put rest to all doubts.
When he passed away in Noida on Saturday at the age of 82, Shahabuddin had been out of the limelight for several years but his last rites at Delhi's Nizammudin were attended by several notables, including vice president Hamid Ansari, while tributes poured in from ideological opponents like Subramanian Swamy . A powerful orator, Shahabuddin's speeches in Parliament were animated as much by passion as argument. He was MP thrice and apart from issues such as Babri Masjid, he brought up the violence and killings in Bosnia in the Lok Sabha at a time when the horror in the Balkans was just beginning to catch wider attention beyond Europe. A promising scholar, Shahabuddin topped the Bihar state list in 1950 as well as the MSc Physics class and MA law.He was second in the merit list for the Indian administrative Service and foreign service at a young age of 21. His police record for participating in a student agitation almost cost him entry to the civil service before then PM Jawaharlal Nehru intervened on his behalf, noting his actions were an expression of “youthful exuberance“.
The civil service, however, was not to be his final calling. He took to politics, and soon be came a crusader for minority rights. His support for the Muslim personal law and staunch opposition to the SC judgement that gave maintenance rights to a poor Muslim widow pitted him against well known journalist M J Akbar. “We want to keep our religious identity at all costs,“ Shahabuddin had said.
That is how it remained.Shahabuddin edited a magazine called “Muslim Indian“ and his insistence on this nomenclature was subject to heated debate. He felt “Muslim Indian“ was more appropriate than “Indian Muslim“.
When he passed away in Noida on Saturday at the age of 82, Shahabuddin had been out of the limelight for several years but his last rites at Delhi's Nizammudin were attended by several notables, including vice president Hamid Ansari, while tributes poured in from ideological opponents like Subramanian Swamy . A powerful orator, Shahabuddin's speeches in Parliament were animated as much by passion as argument. He was MP thrice and apart from issues such as Babri Masjid, he brought up the violence and killings in Bosnia in the Lok Sabha at a time when the horror in the Balkans was just beginning to catch wider attention beyond Europe. A promising scholar, Shahabuddin topped the Bihar state list in 1950 as well as the MSc Physics class and MA law.He was second in the merit list for the Indian administrative Service and foreign service at a young age of 21. His police record for participating in a student agitation almost cost him entry to the civil service before then PM Jawaharlal Nehru intervened on his behalf, noting his actions were an expression of “youthful exuberance“.
The civil service, however, was not to be his final calling. He took to politics, and soon be came a crusader for minority rights. His support for the Muslim personal law and staunch opposition to the SC judgement that gave maintenance rights to a poor Muslim widow pitted him against well known journalist M J Akbar. “We want to keep our religious identity at all costs,“ Shahabuddin had said.
That is how it remained.Shahabuddin edited a magazine called “Muslim Indian“ and his insistence on this nomenclature was subject to heated debate. He felt “Muslim Indian“ was more appropriate than “Indian Muslim“.
