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Post-independence: fixed typo

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{{short description|Indian revolutionary and politician}}
{{Use Indian English|date=September 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2018}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Saifuddin Kitchlew
| image =Saifuddin Kitchlew 1989 stamp of India.jpg
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1888|01|15}}
| birth_place = [[Amritsar]], [[Punjab Province (British India)|Punjab]], [[British India]]
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1963|10|09|1888|01|15}}
| death_place = [[Delhi]], India
| nationality = [[India]]n
| other_names =
| known_for =
| occupation = Independence activist, politician
}}
'''Saifuddin Kitchlew''' (15 January 1888 – 9 October 1963) was an Indian [[Indian independence movement|independence activist]], [[barrister]], politician and later a leader of the [[World Peace Council|peace movement]]. A member of [[Indian National Congress]], he first became [[Punjab Provincial Congress Committee]] (Punjab PCC) head and later the [[All India Congress Committee#General Secretary|General Secretary]] of the [[All India Congress Committee|AICC]] in 1924. He is most remembered for the protests in Punjab after the implementation of [[Rowlatt Act]] in March 1919, after which on 10 April, he and another leader [[Satyapal]], were secretly sent to [[Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh|Dharamsala]]. A public protest rally against their arrest and that of [[Mahatma Gandhi|Gandhi]], on 13 April 1919 at [[Jallianwala Bagh]], [[Amritsar]], led to the infamous [[Jallianwala Bagh massacre]].<ref name="ti">{{cite news|url=http://www.tribuneindia.com/2006/20060126/aplus.htm#1|title=From the Land of Paradise to the Holy City|date=26 January 2006|work=The Tribune}}</ref><ref name=Gilani2019>{{Cite web|url=https://dailytimes.com.pk/376839/jallianwala-bagh-massacre-of-1919-and-kashmir-connection/|title=Jallianwala Bagh Massacre of 1919 and Kashmir Connection|last=Nazir Gilani|first=Syed|date=14 April 2019|website=Daily Times|language=en-US|access-date=2 September 2019}}</ref><ref name=ma>{{cite book|last=Mahmud|first=Sayed Jafar |title=Pillars of modern India, 1757-1947|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w8XPyBqxwX8C&pg=PA40|year=1994|publisher=APH Publishing|isbn=81-7024-586-9|page=40}}</ref> He was also a founding member of [[Jamia Millia Islamia]]. He was awarded the [[Stalin Peace Prize]] (now known as [[Lenin Peace Prize]]) in 1952.<ref name="BSE2E">{{cite book|title=Great Soviet Encyclopedia.|publisher=Sovetskaya Enciklopediya|edition=2nd|pages=vol. 24, p. 366|year=1953|location=Moscow|language=ru|no-pp=true}}</ref>

==Early life==
Kitchlew was born to the [[Kashmiri Muslims|Kashmiri Muslim]] family of Azizuddin Kitchlew and Dan Bibi in [[Amritsar]], [[Punjab region|Punjab]]. His father owned a [[pashmina]] and [[saffron]] trading business and originally belonged to a [[Brahmin]] family of [[Baramulla]]. His ancestor, Prakash Ram Kitchlew, had converted to Islam and his grandfather, Ahmed Jo migrated from Kashmir in the mid-19th century after the Kashmir famine of 1871.<ref name="ti"/>

Kitchlew went to Islamia High School in Amritsar, later obtaining a [[Bachelor of Arts|B.A.]] from [[University of Cambridge|Cambridge University]], and a [[Ph.D.]] from a German university, before practising law in India.<ref name="ti"/><ref name=to/>

==Career==
On his return he established his legal practice in Amritsar, and soon came in contact with Gandhi. In 1919, he was elected the Municipal Commissioner of the city of Amritsar. He took part in the [[Satyagraha]] ([[Non-cooperation movement|Non-cooperation]]) movement and soon left his practice to join the [[Indian independence movement]], as well as the [[All India Khilafat Committee]].<ref name="ti"/><ref name=ma/>

==Political career==

===Jallianwala Bagh===
Kitchlew was first exposed to [[Indian nationalism]] after public outcry over the [[Rowlatt Acts]]. Kitchlew was arrested with Gandhi and Dr. [[Satyapal]] for leading protests in Punjab against the legislation. To protest the arrest of the trio, a public meeting had gathered at the [[Jallianwala Bagh]], when General [[Reginald Dyer]] and his troops fired upon the unarmed, civilian crowd. Hundreds were killed, and hundreds more injured. This act was the worst case of [[Jallianwala Bagh massacre|civilian massacre]] since the [[Indian Rebellion of 1857]] and riots broke out throughout the [[Punjab region|Punjab]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2007-08-05/special-report/27962650_1_rowlatt-act-narrow-lane-light-and-sound-show|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110811070001/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2007-08-05/special-report/27962650_1_rowlatt-act-narrow-lane-light-and-sound-show|url-status=dead|archive-date=11 August 2011|title=Killing field|date=5 August 2007|first1=Ronojoy|work=[[The Times of India]]|last1=Sen}}</ref>

===Political mainstream===
Kitchlew rose in the Congress Party, heading its Punjab unit before rising to the post of [[All India Congress Committee|AICC]] General Secretary, an important executive position in 1924. Kitchlew was also the chairman of the reception committee of the Congress session in [[Lahore]] in 1929-30, where on 26 January 1930, the Indian National Congress declared Indian independence and inaugurated an era of civil disobedience and revolution aimed to achieve full independence.

Kithclew was a founding leader of the [[Naujawan Bharat Sabha]] (Indian Youth Congress), which rallied hundreds of thousands of students and young Indians to nationalist causes. He was a member of the Foundation Committee of Jamia Millia Islamia, which met on 29 October 1920 and led to the foundation of [[Jamia Millia Islamia]] University.<ref name="qawmi">{{Cite book|title=Qawmi Taleemi Tehreek|trans-title=National Educational Movement |author=Shamsur Rahman Mohsini |location=Delhi |publisher=Maktaba Jamia |edition=2012|isbn=978-81-7587-788-7|page=19}}</ref><ref name="jm">{{cite web|url=http://www.jmi.ac.in/HistoryofJamia.htm|title=History of Jamia: Foundation|publisher=[[Jamia Millia Islamia]] website|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100416203919/http://www.jmi.ac.in/HistoryofJamia.htm|archive-date=16 April 2010}}</ref>

He started an [[Urdu]] daily ''Tanzim'' and was instrumental in the establishment of ''Swaraj Ashram'' in January 1921 at Amritsar to train young men for national work and to promote [[Hindu-Muslim unity]]. Throughout the 1930-1934 struggles, Kitchlew was repeatedly arrested, and in all spent fourteen years behind bars.

Kitchlew supported a [[composite nationalism|united Indian nationalism]] against British colonial rule and [[Opposition to the partition of India|opposed the partition of India]], holding that a divided India would weaken Muslims, both economically and politically.<ref name="Sharma2019">{{cite web |last1=Sharma |first1=Unnati |title=Dr Saifuddin Kitchlew, the freedom fighter who is hailed as the hero of Jallianwala Bagh |url=https://theprint.in/theprint-profile/saifuddin-kitchlew-freedom-fighter-hero-jallianwala-bagh/302658/ |publisher=[[ThePrint]] |access-date=29 July 2020 |language=en |date=9 October 2019}}</ref>

==Post-independence==
Kitchlew was opposed to the [[Muslim League (Pakistan)|Muslim League]]'s demand for Pakistan and later in the 1940s became President of the Punjab Congress Committee. In 1947 he strongly [[opposition to the partition of India|opposed the acceptance of the Partition of India]]. He spoke out against it at public meetings across the country, and at the All India Congress Committee session that ultimately voted for the resolution. He called it a blatant ''"surrender of nationalism for communalism"''. Some years after partition and Independence, he left the Congress. He moved closer to the [[Communist Party of India]]. He was the founder president of the All-India Peace Council and remained President of 4th Congress of All-India Peace Council, held at Madras in 1954, besides remaining Vice President of the [[World Peace Council]].<ref name=ma/>

Kitchlew moved to [[Delhi]] after his house burnt down during the [[partition of India]] riots of 1947, spending the rest of his life working for closer political and diplomatic relations with the [[Soviet Union|USSR]]. He received the [[Stalin Peace Prize]] in 1952. In 1951, a Government Act made him, [[Jawaharlal Nehru]], and [[Abul Kalam Azad|Maulana Abul Kalam Azad]], life trustees of the Jallianwala Bagh National Memorial Trust.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.indianexpress.com/news/new-law-likely-to-keep-cong-place-on-jallianwala-bagh-trust/8934/|title=New law likely to keep Cong place on Jallianwala Bagh trust|date=21 July 2006|work=The Indian Express}}</ref>

He died on 9 October 1963, survived by a son, [[Toufique Kitchlew]], who lives in a Lampur village on the outskirts of Delhi, and five daughters. While four of his daughters married men from Pakistan, one daughter, Zahida Kitchlew, was married to the South Indian music director [[M. B. Sreenivasan]] who worked mainly in [[Malayalam]] and [[Tamil language|Tamil]] film industries. <ref name="ti"/><ref name=to>{{cite news|url=http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/ousted-by-amritsar-for-his-religion-freedom-fighters-son-counts-days-in-capital-to-return-home/498080/|title=Ousted by Amritsar for his religion, freedom fighter's son counts days in Capital — to return 'home'|date=5 August 2009|work=The Indian Express|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121005150820/http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/ousted-by-amritsar-for-his-religion-freedom-fighters-son-counts-days-in-capital-to-return-home/498080/|archive-date=5 October 2012}}</ref>

==Legacy==
A colony in [[Ludhiana]], Punjab, popularly called Kitchlu Nagar, is named after him. ''[[India Post]]'' released a special commemorative stamp featuring him in 1989. The [[Jamia Millia Islamia|Jamia Milia Islamia]] created a Saifuddin Kitchlew Chair at the MMAJ Academy of Third world Studies in 2009.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jmi.ac.in/press/press2009/pr_2009feb20.htm|title=JMI PRESS RELEASE|date=19 February 2009|publisher=Jamia Milia Islamia website|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719224903/http://www.jmi.ac.in/press/press2009/pr_2009feb20.htm|archive-date=19 July 2011}}</ref> Kitchlu Chowk in Amritsar, at the intersection of Mall Road and Court Road, is named after him; there is a small bust on a pillar at the intersection.

==See also==

* [[Indian Independence Movement]], [[Indian Nationalism]], [[Indian National Congress]]
* [[Composite nationalism]]
* [[Amritsar Massacre]], [[Salt Satyagraha]], [[Partition of India]]
* Dr [[Syed Mahmud]], [[Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari]], [[Maulana Azad]], [[Abbas Tyabji]], [[Hakim Ajmal Khan]], [[Asaf Ali]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* ''Freedom fighter: The story of Dr. Saifuddin Kitchlew'', by F. Z. Kichlew. New Horizon, 1979. {{ISBN|0-86116-126-2}}.
* ''Saifuddin Kitchlew: hero of Jallianwala Bagh'' (National Biography), by [[Toufique Kitchlew]]. National Book Trust, India, 1987.
* ''Selected works and speeches of Dr. Saifuddin Kitchlew'', Ed. [[Toufique Kitchlew]]. 1999.
* ''Luminous Life Of Saifuddin Kitchlew'', by Shyam Dua. Tiny Tots Publication, 2004. {{ISBN|81-7573-818-9}}.

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kitchlew, Saifuddin}}
[[Category:1888 births]]
[[Category:1963 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian lawyers]]
[[Category:Indian barristers]]
[[Category:Indian independence activists from Punjab, India]]
[[Category:Indian Muslims]]
[[Category:Indian National Congress politicians from Punjab, India]]
[[Category:Jamia Millia Islamia]]
[[Category:Kashmiri people]]
[[Category:Politicians from Amritsar]]
[[Category:Stalin Peace Prize recipients]]
[[Category:Founders of Indian schools and colleges]]

Saifuddin Kitchlew - Revision history

Serzohe: fixes

->Kvwiki1234: /* Post-independence */ fixed typo