The oratory of Syed Badrudduja - former Mayor of Calcutta, Comrade of Indian Muslims
VognoDuut893
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By Syed Ashraf Ali
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November 18 is a day of remembrance for the entire Muslim community of
India. It was on this day in 1974 that Syed Badrudduja, the tireless
fighter, the most faithful and dedicated comrade of the Muslims in India, at
last sought refuge in eternal rest.
Popularly known as the "Edmund Burke of India", the fame of Syed
Badrudduja as an orator spread throughout the length and breadth of the
entire subcontinent. Amazing and extraordinary indeed were his speeches. In
1938, before an intimate and select gathering at Shantiniketan, Syed
Badrudduja addressed a meeting assembled to honour the new cabinet of Bengal
under Sher-e-Bangla A.K. Fazlul Huq. Rabindranath Tagore was presiding over
the meeting. Syed Badrudduja spoke in Bengali. The greatest literary genius
of Bengali language and literature, Rabindranath Tagore, was listening with
rapt attention and admiration to this speech of the unknown, nondescript
young man. At the end of the speech, the great maestro said emotionally,
"What new words have you uttered today! I have never heard anything so
beautiful and so eloquent." In reply Badrudduja very humbly said, "Maestro,
you are the embodiment of Bengali language and literature. What can a humble
person like me tell which is new to you?" To this the great Tagore said, "My
dear son. I can scribble a few lines but I cannot speak like you. This is
the gift of God!"
In April of the same year, Badrudduja spoke at the open session of the
All India Muslim League in Calcutta. His was the penultimate speech of the
meeting just before the speech of Mohammad Ali Jinnah, President of the All
India Muslim League. The inimitable choice of words, fiery oration and
sincere idealism of the young man of forty startled the audience.
Mohammad Ali Jinnah himself was so moved that he embraced Badrudduja
lovingly with great appreciation and the whole audience of nearly a quarter
million rose to its feet to greet a leader in the making.
Once during his younger days Badrudduja addressed a religious
conference presided over by no less a person than the legendary Nobel
laureate Sir C.V.Raman. As Raman had an appointment elsewhere, he asked
Badrudduja to be brief. Badrudduja replied politely, "Yes, Sir, I shall be
brief, reasonably brief." He frequently asked the chair in the course of his
speech, "Sir, shall I stop?" "No, go on my young friend", said Sir C.V.Raman
every time. When after a long time Badrudduja concluded his speech, Sir
Raman remarked, "I was to leave earlier for an appointment but this bright
young speaker kept me spellbound." The deliberations were so captivating
that even a Nobel Laureate with urgent preoccupations was kept glued to
them.
The historic presidential speech delivered at the All India Muslim
Convention held in Aligarh in 1953, however, marked Badrudduja out as the
finest orator in the subcontinent. His speech continued for nearly four
hours at a stretch, but the vast ocean of a million listeners remained calm
and tranquil, the Sehr Bayan literally kept them spellbound.
He spoke both in English and in Urdu. Words and expressions gushed
forth from the effervescent fountain. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, the finest
orator in Urdu, himself was moved when excerpts were read out to him. He
gracefully acknowledged Badrudduja as his equal in the domain of Urdu
oratory, an honour which no other orator has yet been blessed with. The gist
of the speech, in English, was circulated throughout the length and breadth
of India and even in the Middle East. The government of India, however, did
not relish this unmasking of India's secularism; and the revelation of the
bitter truths in such a reckless way was so galling for Indian democracy.
In consequence of the speech, Syed Badrudduja was put behind bars
under the Preventive Detention Act on February 1, 1954. After about three
months, a One-man Commission comprising a judge of the Calcutta High Court
was formed to try the "Rebel Child of Indian Politics" on the grave charges
of conniving with a foreign government and passing on secrets of strategic
importance to them. When the judge wanted to know if Badrudduja had anything
to say in self-defence, it was again the amazing power of eloquence which
helped the "rebel" to nail to the counter and quash the canard effectively.
He spoke uninterrupted for nearly three hours. He not only defended his
character and integrity but also declared his patriotism in no uncertain
terms. He also challenged the government to prove the unfounded and
unsubstantiated allegations against him. The judge remained calm and quite,
listening in rapt attention to the magic flute of the great orator. Nobody
knew how time flew. When Badrudduja stopped it was almost the small hours of
night (the commission decided to try Badrudduja not during normal office
hours but late at night). The bemused judge had a simple poser, "Mr.
Badrudduja, do you have anything else to say?" When Badrudduja shook his
head, the judge smiled and said, "You are free, you can go back home if you
like. The formalities will follow."
While chairing a seminar on "Whither Two Bengals" organized by the
Netaji Research Bureau in Calcutta, on the occasion of the 81st birth
anniversary of late Sarat Chandra Bose on September 13, 1970, Badrudduja
delivered a scintillating speech in Bengali. The acclaimed journalist
Vivekananda Mukherjee, hardly an admirer of Badrudduja's politics, was so
moved by the magnetism of the delivery that he was led into paying an
unequivocal tribute to Badrudduja by admitting publicly : "I have never
heard such a speech in Bengali since the demise of Bipin Chandra Pal. I
never imagined that a Bengali speech could be so fascinating, so
scintillating."
Syed Badrudduja was one of the seven members of the Lok Sabha who
spoke on the obituary reference to Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru on May 29,1964.
It was one of the finest speeches of his career and it kept the entire
gathering comprising foreign dignitaries and eminent personalities of Indian
society literally spellbound through the sheer force of his lyrical appeal.
International celebrities like Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Alec Douglas Hume,
Dean Rusk, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, Krishna Menon and Acharya Rajagopalachari
were captivated by the sheer eloquence of Badrudduja's eulogy.
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, whose political views were totally
different from those of Syed Badrudduja, was an ardent admirer of the great
orator's inimitable eloquence. When Badrudduja shuffled off his mortal coil
and set sail towards the Great Unknown in November 1974, his son (this
writer) was called to Ganobhaban. The Prime Minister not only eulogized
Badrudduja as a "great leader" but also took an unprecedented generous step
to personally grant foreign exchange for Syed Ashraf Ali to enable him to
arrange a befitting Chehlum in Calcutta.
Shahid Ziaur Rahman also eulogized Badrudduja's fiery eloquence on a
number of occasions. He not only selected his eldest daughter, Syeda Sakina
Islam as a member of the Jatiyo Sangsad but also helped another daughter,
Syeda Razia Faiz, to win a bye-election and become a member of the same
parliament. It was due to Shahid Ziaur Rahman's profound admiration for
Badrudduja's unparalleled eloquence that the two sisters became members of
the same Sangsad.
As an orator Syed Badrudduja indeed had few parallels in the world of
eloquence. His exquisite and fiery oration was matchless and inimitable. The
peerless iridescence of his eloquence always kept the audience spellbound.
His choice of words was amazing and immaculate. He could breathe fire like
an avenging deity, when the situation so demanded, and warble, when the mood
seized him, like a refreshing, sparkling mountain stream. In Bengali,
celebrities like Sher-e-Bangla A.K.Fazlul Huq, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose,
Shyama Prasad Mukherjee and Bidhan Chandra Roy hailed him as the Bipin
Chandra Pal of Modern Age.
Syed Badrudduja held the coveted post of Mayor of Calcutta during the
British regime, membership of the Legislative Council of Calcutta
Corporation for seven years, membership of the Bengal Legislative Assembly
for more than twenty years, and membership of the Lok Sabha for nearly
fifteen years. But even if he had done nothing else, his scintillating and
amazing eloquence alone would have surely enshrined him in the deepest
recesses of popular memory for generations to come.
Syed Ashraf Ali is former director general, Islamic Foundation
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