AMU inaugurates gallery on role of alumni in freedom movement
Aligarh: Prof Tariq Mansoor, Vice Chancellor, Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) yesterday inaugurated a permanent gallery at the Maulana Azad (MA) Library featuring rare photographs and writings of prominent AMU alumni who played seminal role in propelling the freedom struggle of India.
The gallery showcases awe-inspiring contribution of more than four dozen freedom fighters including Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar; Hasrat Mohani; Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan; Bharat Ratna, Dr Zakir Husain; Raja Mahendra Pratap; Abdul Majeed Khwaja and Qazi Adeel Abbasi among others.
“To draw attention to the Freedom Movement’s crucial but not widely known role of AMU alumni, we took a decision to create a separate gallery at the M A Library that would house the writings and images of freedom fighters from the university”, said the Vice Chancellor, Prof Mansoor.
He added that the Freedom Fighters Gallery has been motivated by the speech delivered by the honourable Prime Minister at the AMU Centenary Celebration in December 2020 in which the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi advised AMU to highlight and do research regarding Freedom Fighters.
AMU Librarian, Prof Nishat Fatima stressed, “Focus has been placed particularly on women freedom fighters such as Begum Nishautunnisa Mohani and Begum Khurshid Khwaja who fought with true spirit and undaunted courage and faced hardships to earn us freedom”.
“When men fighting for independence were imprisoned, the Indian women including prominent AMU alumni came forward and took charge of the struggle. The list of these great women whose names have gone down in history for their dedication and undying devotion to the service of India is a long one”, she pointed out.
Prof Nishat said: “It not only displays contribution of political figures, but also showcases books and other writing works of literary greats such as Saadat Hasan Manto, Hayatullah Ansari, Ali Sardar Jafri, Josh Malihabadi, Ismat Chughtai and Khwaja Ahmad Abbas who helped shaping the Indian conscience during the freedom struggle. More than one hundred books in English, Hindi and Urdu by AMU freedom fighters are put on display at the gallery”