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Friday, December 22, 2017

Shoyabullah Khan



SHOYABULLAH KHAN
Date of Birth: 17th October, 1920 and Date of Death: 22nd August, 1948
            Shoyabullah Khan, who was a scathic critic of the separatist ideology falsely whipped up in the Nizam state, with his powerful writings, was born on 17th October, 1920 in Mahaboobabad of Warangal district of Andhra Pradesh.  Since he looked like Gandhi, his father Habibullah Khan used to call him ‘Shoyabullah Gandhi’.  Shoyab was influenced by non-violence ideology of Mahatma Gandhi from childhood.  He entered into journalism after graduating himself from the Osmania University.  He worked for the Urdu weekly ‘Tez’, which encouraged and propagated the nationalist ideology.  He wrote several articles criticising the inhuman atrocities of the henchmen of the Nawab of Nizam.  This led to imposition of ban on the ‘Tez’ weekly by the Nizam Government.  Later, he joined the ‘Rayyath’ Urdu magazine, which was run by M. Narasingha Rao.  He continued his pen in the launching of criticism on the cruelty of Razakars and inhuman acts of the Nizam government in that magazine also, which led to forcible the closure of the magazine.  After the closure of the ‘Rayyath’, Shoyabullah established his own magazine ‘Imroz’ on 15th November, 1947, by selling the ornaments of his mother and wife.  He fought against communalism and tyranny of the Nizam Government and its henchmen without compromise.  When India got independence in 1947, he wrote editorials demanding the merger of the Hyderabad state with the Indian Union.  He supported the People’s Movement for the merger and wrote several articles explaining the necessity for the merger of the Nizam Sate with the Indian Union.  He exposed the selfish motives of Nizam in opposing the merger.  He was threatened by the Nizam’s henchmen for his writings.  But, he did not care for their warnings and threats and continued his nationalist mission.  As a result, while coming back from his ‘Imroz’ office with his colleague and brother-in-law Mohammed Khan, he was assaulted brutally by his opponents, who chopped off his hands and shot at him on 21st August, 1948 midnight.  Shoyabullah Khan succumbed to the injuries in the early hours of 22nd August, 1948 in Hyderabad.  Prior to his death, while getting treatment in the hospital, he said to his relatives and friends, ‘Death is inevitable.  Nobody can escape from death.  One must feel proud if the death occurs in course of the journey for a cause.  You must feel proud of me, because I am dying for the Nation’.

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