Agha Ashraf Ali – the flamboyant Kashmiri story-teller: A tribute by Jamal Kidwai
My only brief
encounter with the ‘professional’/educationist side of Agha Sahab happened when
he came to address members of a committee of which I was a member, in Srinagar,
sometime in 2013, on the status of education in Kashmir. At that time he was
already in his late 80s but he enthralled all of us with his speech. I remember
the word had spread that he had agreed to address the team, and in a very short
time there were requests from many academics and activists seeking permission
to attend his talk.
In his signature
style, Agha Sahab gave a free-flowing talk, and did not mince his words when he
spoke on politics. He was fearless when he condemned Indian government and
army, but at the same time he accused separatist groups of factionalism and
narrow-minded identity politics, as well as castigating mainstream parties for
being sold out to Delhi, and so on. At the end of the
lecture he was mobbed. And in hushed tones people said ‘It’s only Agha Sahab
who can speak his mind freely in Kashmir. He is the only man left in Kashmir
who is respected by all’.
Agha Sahab would often
recall the October 2, 1941, when he was in his late teens, and sitting in the
audience when Zakir Hussain, who later went on to become the President of
India, addressed a gathering of All Jammu and Kashmir Students Conference. He
would fondly remember that speech, verbatim, and in his loud dramatic manner
declare that it was at that moment he found the purpose of his life. Young Agha
Sahab decided to follow Zakir Hussain to Delhi, where he and his other comrades
were involved in setting up a nationalist, progressive university for Indian
Muslims, the Jamia Millia Islamia.
When he arrived in Jamia, he met the other
founders and activists, which included , among others, Abid Hussain,
Shafiq ur Rahman Kidwai and Mohd Mujeeb. He was a student of history and was
particularly influenced by Mohd Mujeeb. He wanted to contribute and wanted to
be part of the movement. So he was given the responsibility of teaching
students of the primary school. Like Mohd Mujeeb, Zakir Hussain and others, he
became a volunteer-teacher. Agha Sahab would often say those were his
best days and it was people like Zakir Hussain and Mohd Mujeeb who shaped his
intellect and personality.
He was clearly endowed
with wit and style from the beginning. While young Agha Sahab was in Jamia, he
heard that Gandhiji was coming to Okhla Mod, some 2 kms west of Jamia, to
address a gathering. Agha Sahab went to attend the event. He immediately got
Gandhi ji’s attention and invited him to Jamia. It was in the middle of the
night that Gandhi ji and Agha Sahab walked to Jamia. They sat in the lawns that
are next to what is now the school building. Soon he was surrounded
by a large number of students and residents....
