In News
- 20th January marks the death anniversary of Abdul Ghaffar Khan.
Abdul Ghaffar Khan
- About:
- He was also called the Frontier Gandhi.
- Born on 6th February 1890 in Utmanzai, Frontier Tribal Areas of Punjab Province.
- He was named Badshah Khan at twenty-six by the members of his tribe when his father died.
- Foremost 20th-century leader of the Pashtuns (Pakhtuns, or Pathans; a Muslim ethnic group of Pakistan and Afghanistan).
- As a young boy, he left his high school final exams, aspiring to join ‘The Guides’, a corps composed of Sikhs and Pathans.
- Roles:
- He met Mahatma Gandhi and entered politics in 1919 during the agitation over the Rowlatt Act.
- Joined the Khilafat movement.
- He founded the Red Shirt movement (Khudai Khitmatgar/ Servant of God) among the Pashtuns.
- It espoused nonviolent nationalist agitation in support of Indian independence and sought to awaken the Pashtuns’ political consciousness.
- Values:
- Honesty, modesty, courage & non-violence.
- Started a monthly journal in Pushto.
- Award:
- Received Bharat Ratna, the highest Indian honour in 1987.
Source:News 18
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