Maulana Mohammed Ali Johar foundation organized a Seminar on 10th May 2008 on “the role of the Urdu language in the War of Independence of 1857” at Johar Foundation, Ameenabad, Lucknow. Apart from various intellectuals and poets of the city, Communist Ghadar party of India and the All India Forward Block were invited to this Seminar.

Rizwan Faruqi inaugurated the Seminar. On this occasion, Dr. Masoodul Hassan Usmani said that Urdu’s rich history encompasses lot of histories of the Ghadar of 1857. Urdu was a language that was capable of uniting the people and after 1857, the British conspired to undermine this language. The history of 1857 was also obscured so that the Indian people will not be able to come together to challenge the British rule. Unless the role of Urdu Madaris and Ullema is honestly assessed, 1857 and the subsequent history will be incomplete. The role of Urdu also did not end in 1857, but has continued in different forms and will continue.

Prof Malikjada Manjoor Ahmed said that while the warriors of the War of Independence had to face a lot of difficulties, the writers and poets played the role of providing them with encouragement and enthusiasm. Chaudhuri Sharaffudin said that thousands were sent to the gallows and hundreds were sent to Kala Paani. Rahmat Lucknavi said that the poets imbued the people with a vision of freedom. In this context, Mirza Ghalib also played an important role.

Advocate Ram Kishor (All India Forward Block, State Secretary) said that in the 1857 struggle Hindus and Muslims fought together and it is worth keeping this tradition alive. Maulana Yahya Momani (Joint Editor, Al Furqahn) said that the whole edifice of 1857 stood on the foundation of Urdu. 1857 and Urdu are related to each other like flesh and bones.

Birju Nayak of Communist Ghadar Party of India extended revolutionary greetings from the Party to all the participants of the Seminar. He said that the Urdu language is the product of the Indian soil. During the period of colonial legacy, Eurocentric views were imposed on education, languages, culture, politics, economics and science. We need to advance the Indian thought material. Only by breaking with the colonial legacy will we be able to achieve true freedom. Secondly, referring to the main slogan of the 1857 Ghadar, “We are her masters, Hindostan is ours”, he said that this slogan shows the desire of the Indians to take the destiny in his hands. The 1857 struggle was brutally crushed. To this date Indians are struggling to put the slogan in practice. That is why we say Ghadar Jari Hai.

Dr. Pramod Kumar, professor of modern history said that the Kala Paani punishment was only started after 1857. However, an honest list of the all the people who were sent to Kala Paani has not been prepared.

Yaseem Haider, Rafat Saida Siddhiqui, Saif Babar, Mansoor Parwana, Maulana Istefaul Hasan Nadvi, Aftab Asar Tandvi, Kunvar Khurshid Muhani, Mausoof Khan, Jamshed Rehman, Advocate M. S. Haseeb, Mohammed Rashid Hasiri, Sayyad Ahmed Kirmani also presented their views. In the end, Mohammed Waseem Siddiqui and Jamshed Kirmani thanked the participants.