Azizul Huque

Infobox Person
name = Khan Bahadur Mohammad Azizul Huque


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birth_date = November 27 1892
birth_place = West Bengal
death_date = March 22 1947
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occupation = Lawyer
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Khan Bahadur Mohammad Azizul Huque (November 27 1892 – March 22 1947) was an Indian Muslim lawyer, public servant, scholar and activist.

Early life

Huque was born 27 November 1892 in Santipur, in the Nadia district of West Bengal to a Muslim family. Santipur was an area rich with Hindu culture, and home to many exponents of the Bengali language. In addition to his mother tongue, Bengali, he also learned Sanskrit, Urdu, Persian and English language.

Azizul Huque passed the Entrance Examination from Santipur in 1907. He earned both his FA in 1909, and his BA in 1911 from Presidency College, Calcutta. He earned his BL degree in 1914 from University Law College. In 1912, while a law student and honorary secretary of the Muslim Institute, he wrote and published a pamphlet on Muslim education. In 1917, he published a book on Muslim students, titled "History and Problems of Muslim Education in Bengal". [http://banglapedia.search.com.bd/HT/H_0200.htm Huque, Mohammad Azizul] — Banglapedia]

Law

After he received his BL, he was encouraged to join the government. He declined and became a lawyer in the Krishnanagar district court in 1915. Later that year, he married Keniz Khatun. He began a career of activism for the Muslim community, advocating against deprovinicialization of educational institutions and asking for madrassas to be integrated into a public education framework. In 1924 he was elected to the Bengal Legislative Council, receiving the title "Khan Bahadur" with his post.

Politics

In 1928, he became a fellow of the Calcutta University and a member of the Dacca University Court. The next year he was re-elected to the Bengal Legislative Council. In 1931, Azizul Huque published a booklet titled "A Plea for Separate Electorate in Bengal" focusing on on the ramifications of the Nehru report on Muslims. His opinion was "that adult franchise for a community with such a low level of education and political awareness restricted by property qualification and financial solvency would not lead to proportionate representation". At about this time he published another booklet titled "Cultural Contributions of Islam to Indian History".

Azizul Huque was selected to be a member of the Indian Franchise Commission in 1931. In that same year he also served on the Bengal Banking Enquiry Commission, the Bengal Retrenchment Committee, and the Bengal Board of Economic Enquiry, the Railway Advisory Committee, the Public Accounts Committee of the Bengal Legislature, and was Vice-President of the Bengal Board of Industries. In 1933, he was elected to the post of Chairman of Krishnanagar Municipality. He served as Vice-Chairman of the Nadia District Board for nine years (1926–34).

Farming

He studied the farming styles and agricultural situation of farmers in Bengal. [Anstey 1] He found that the only major cash crop of Bengal was jute. [Gill 163] The dependence of the Bengal farmers on the river system led to an inquiry and study of the rivers in Bengal including the Hooghly river, the Jamuna river and the Ganga. He helped pass Bengal Tenancy Act of 1928, the Bengal Money Lenders Act of 1933, the Bengal Agricultural Debtors Act of 1935–1936 and the Bengal Tenancy Act of 1938. His continued interest in alleviating the troubles facing the Bengal peasantry moved him to write the book "The Man behind the Plough" in 1939. [Anstey 2]

Later life

He was knighted in 1941. He was appointed High Commissioner for India in London in 1942. This was during World War 2, and he championed the Indian Independence Movement while in the United Kingdom.

During 1945 he began writing a book on the life of Muhammad which was completed but not published before his death. In 1946, he was awarded the title of knighthood of a higher order. After the formation of a caretaker government in 1946, Azizul Huque returned to Calcutta and became a lawyer in the Calcutta High Court. Following the riots in Calcutta of August 1946, Huque supported the protest call given by the Muslim League against the Viceroy's actions and renounced all titles bestowed on him by the British Government in 1946. He died of cerebral hemorrhage on 23 March 1947.

Notes

References

*Anstey, Vera. The Man behind the Plough. "International Affairs (Royal Institute of International Affairs 1931-1939)" Vol. 18, No. 6. (Nov. - Dec., 1939)
*Gill, Gerard J. Seasonality and Agriculture in the Developing World: A Problem of the Poor. Cambridge University Press, 1991. ISBN 0521382572