Muqimuddin Farooqui (25 March 1920 – 3 September 1997) was an Indian politician. He was a key leader of the students movement during the Indian independence struggle. As a leader of the Communist Party of India he headed the Delhi unit of the party 1944-1971, and from 1971 onwards he was a national-level leader of the party.

Student movement

Muqimuddin Farooqui was born on 15 March 1920 in Ambehta, Saharanpur district into a modest Muslim family.[1][2][3] He hailed from a lineage of pirs who used to serve as tutors for the Mughal emperors.[4] His ancestor Hasan Askari, an advisor to Bahadur Shah Zafar, was hanged by the British for his involvement in the Indian Rebellion of 1857.[5]

He moved to Delhi in 1930 to attend school there.[1] His elder brother took part in the Indian independence movement, and was twice jailed by the British colonial authorities.[5] In 1936, whilst a student at St. Stephen's College, Farooqui too became involved in the independence movement.[1][2][5] Farooqui attended the first meeting of the All India Students Federation (AISF), along with Jawaharlal Nehru and Muhammad Ali Jinnah.[2] During his student days he came in contact with Bahal Singh, under whose influence Farooqui became a Marxist.[4] He joined the Communist Party of India in 1940.[4] In 1940 he organized a strike at St. Stephen's College in protest against the arrest of Nehru.[1] Following the strike he was expelled from the College by Delhi University Vice-Chancellor Maurice Gwyer.[1][5][4] He would be later be issued a Tamra Patra award for his role in the independence movement.[1] His Delhi University Master's Degree was restored to him in 1989 at a special convocation chaired by Shankar Dayal Sharma.[2][3]

Farooqui was elected general secretary of AISF in 1941.[1] In 1941 he was arrested for the first time, for a speech he had given in Calcutta.[5] He was arrested again during the Quit India movement:[5] In 1946 he was arrested for having called for a boycott of the Victory Parade (held to celebrate Allied victory in World War II).[5]

Communist Party leader

The first CPI Delhi party conference held in 1944 elected Farooqui as the secretary of the Delhi party unit.[6] He served in this position until 1971, when he switched to work at the national CPI Party Centre.[6] He was elected to the CPI National Council in 1958.[3] He joined the CPI National Executive in 1974, and the CPI National Secretariat in 1982.[6]

He became a member of the interim Metropolitan Council of Delhi in 1966. In 1990 he was included in the National Integration Council of the Government of India.[5]

Family and friendships

Married to Vimla Kapoor (who took the name Vimla Farooqui), a fellow activist in AISF and who later became a leader of the National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW).[3][7] The couple had one son.[3] Farooqui was noted for humble life-style, living in a one-room apartment near Jama Masjid from 1952 onwards and travelling to work by public transport until 1988.[4] He would always dress in simple garb (white homespun pyjama, kurta).[3] In early 1997 Prime Minister H. D. Dewe Gowda offered him to become Governor of an Indian state of his choosing, but M. Farooqui declined the offer.[4]

As an AISF leader he befriended I. K. Gujral, who led the AISF Punjab unit, and the two would form a life-long friendship.[2] Farooqui was noted for fostering strong relations with a wide array of political leaders; such as V.P. Singh, G.K. Moopanar, Farooq Abdullah, Madan Lal Khurana and Murli Manohar Joshi.[4] He was the political mentor of future Afghan President Mohammad Najibullah, during the latter's stay for medical studies in India.[4]

Death

On 3 September 1997 he suffered a heart attack whilst delivering a speech at a seminar of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation in Delhi.[1][2] He died shortly thereafter at the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Rediff On The Net. CPI leader Farooqui dead
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Business Standard. Farooqui Remained A Critic Of Congress Till The Last
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 The Independent. Obituary: Muqimuddin Farooqi
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Business Standard. Last Of The Gandhians
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Freedom Fighters Remember. Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India. 1997. pp. 87–88. ISBN 9788123005751.
  6. 1 2 3 Mainstream Weekly. Birth and Growth of Communist Party in Delhi
  7. ↑ Ajīta Kaura, Arpana Caur. Directory of Indian Women Today, 1976. India International Publications, 1976. p. 587
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