Nawab Mohsin-ul-Mulk

NAWAB MOHSIN-UL-MULK

Date of Birth: 9^th December, 1837 and Date of Death: 7^th October, 1907

            Nawab Mohsin-ul-Mulk whose original name was Syed Mehadi Ali was born on 9^th December, 1837 in Etawah, Uttar Pradesh.  His father was Mir Zamin Ali.  He joined Government service at the age of 17 and was promoted to several higher posts.  He appeared for the Provincial Civil Services Examination in 1867, secured the top rank and became Deputy Collector.  While working as an officer in the East India Company, he had tried to create political consciousness among the Muslims.  He resigned from the job in the in 1874 and joined in the service of the Hyderabad state as he was invited by the Nizam.  The Nizam honoured him with the titles of ‘Nawab Mohsin-ul-Mulk’ and ‘Munir Nawab Jung’.  He withdrew from the service of Nizam in 1893 and settled down at Aligarh.  Later on, he dedicated himself to the development of the ‘Mohammadan Anglo-Oriental College’ which was run by Sri Syed Ahmed Khan.  When Sir Syed passed away in 1899, he took over the entire responsibility of the College.  He convinced the people who opposed the ideology of Sir Syed and collected funds for the development of the college by meeting the elites.  He opposed the British orders meant to degrade the status of Urdu language and organised several protest programmes establishing ‘Urdu Defence Committee’ in 1900.  This irked the British officials who threatened to stop funding the Mohammadan Anglo-Oriental College.  As a result, he withdrew himself from the direct activities and strived for the protection of Urdu language by establishing the ‘Anjuman Taraqqi-i-Urdu’.  He recognised the need of a separate political organisation for Muslims and garnered support for the same from fellow Muslim leaders.  As a result, the All India Muslim League was founded in 1906 at East Bengal-Assam Provincial Educational Conference in Dhaka in1906.  He also fought for the separate constituencies for Muslims, his efforts gave fruitful results in Minto-Morley reforms and thus, Muslims could get separate electorates for them.  He did not even care for his health while he was busily engaged in his mission.  Though he succeeded in his mission, his health deteriorated much.  After prolonged illness Nawab Mohsin-ul-Mulk passed away on 7^th October, 1907 in Simla.