REMEMBERING MAULANA AZAD
Born in 1888 as Mohiuddin, Maulana Azad was a man of many parts (1) precocious student, home-schooled and self-taught, he completed his religious curriculum at the age of 16. He believed in independent thinking based on reason and was critical of what he called “the shackles of conformity” and literal interpretations of Islamic texts. His writings and speeches in Urdu, unparalleled for their (2) eloquence and sophistication, earned him the (3) sobriquet Abul Kalam (father of speech), which became his adoptive name.
He found no contradiction between being an Islamic scholar and an (4) ardent Indian nationalist. He considered the fight for an independent, united India a part of his religious creed. Azad declared, I am a part of the indivisible unity that is Indian nationality. I am indispensable to this noble (5) edifice and without me this splendid structure is incomplete. He joined the Congress in 1920, when Gandhi launched the non-cooperation agitation in conjunction with the Khilafat movement and became its president in 1923. He vigorously challenged the separatist ideology of the Jinnah-led Muslim League, which he termed a “death knell” for Indian Muslims, earning him the derogatory (6) epithet “Congress’s Muslim show boy” from Jinnah. During the Quit India movement, he was imprisoned from 1942 to 1945 with other senior leaders of the party. He led the Congress delegation to the failed Shimla Conference, (7) convened to break the (8) impasse between the Congress and the Muslim League.
Despite the Congress’s acceptance of Partition in 1947, Azad’s opposition to it remained undiminished. He wrote 10 years after Partition in India Wins Freedom, “As a Muslim, I for one am not prepared for a moment to give up my right to treat the whole of India as my domain and share in the shaping of its political and economic life’’. No proponent of Akhand Bharat could have said it better. It is unfortunate that Maulana Azad’s legacy, a superb antidote to majoritarian (9) chauvinism so (10) rampant currently, is all but forgotten today.
1. PRECOCIOUS (adjective) असामयिक
Meaning: having developed certain abilities or inclinations at an earlier age than is usual or expected.
Synonyms: advanced, forward, mature, ahead, gifted, talented, clever, intelligent, quick, smart
Antonyms: belated, delinquent, latish, overdue, slow, tardy, anticipated, expected, delayed, detained, postponed.
2. ELOQUENCE (noun) वाक्पटुता
Meaning: fluent or persuasive speaking or writing.
Synonyms: oratory, rhetoric, grandiloquence, magniloquence; expressiveness, articulacy, fluency, facility, persuasiveness, enunciation, locution.
Antonyms: inarticulacy, haziness, silence, speechlessness.
3. SOBRIQUET (noun) उपाधि
Meaning: a person’s nickname.
Synonyms: alias, byname, cognomen, epithet, moniker, nickname.
4. ARDENT (adjective) उत्साही
Meaning: very enthusiastic or passionate.
Synonyms: avid, impassioned, fervent, fervid, zealous, eager, vehement, fierce, flaming, earnest, keen, committed, dedicated, assiduous.
Antonyms: incurious, insouciant, nonchalant, uninterested, aloof, detached, disinterested, impassive, stolid, lackadaisical, languid, languorous, spiritless, disinclined.
5. EDIFICE (noun) भवन
Meaning: a large, imposing building.
Synonyms: building, structure, construction, pile, complex, assembly; property, development, premises, establishment.
Antonyms: disfigurement, disarrangement, disorganization, destruction.
6. EPITHET (noun) लक्षण
Meaning: an act or expression showing scorn and usually intended to hurt another’s feelings.
Synonyms: affront, barb, brickbat, cut, dart, dig, indignity, insult, offense, outrage, put-down, jeer, mock, quip, sneer.
Antonyms: accolade, commendation, compliment, acclaim, applause, praise, adulation, flattery.
7. CONVENE (verb) आयोजित करना
Meaning: come or bring together for a meeting or activity; assemble.
Synonyms: summon, call, order, convoke, congregate, collect, muster, foregather.
Antonyms: break up, dissolve, depart, leave, take off, disjoin, dissociate, disunite
8. IMPASSE (noun) गतिरोध
Meaning: a situation in which no progress is possible, especially because of disagreement.
Synonyms: deadlock, dead end, stalemate, checkmate, stand-off; standstill, halt, stop, stoppage, full stop.
Antonyms: breakthrough, approach, agreement, progression, evolution, movement, advancement.
9. CHAUVINISM (noun) अंधराष्ट्रीयता
Meaning: exaggerated or aggressive patriotism.
Synonyms: jingoism, sectarianism, isolationism, flag-waving, racism, racialism, ethnocentrism, partiality, prejudice, bias, discrimination, intolerance, bigotry.
Antonyms: open-mindedness, unbiased, tolerance, clemency, impartiality, liberality, equity.
10. RAMPANT (adjective) अनियंत्रित
Meaning: flourishing or spreading unchecked.
Synonyms: uncontrolled, unrestrained, unchecked, unbridled, widespread, pandemic, epidemic, pervasive.
Antonyms: moderate, tempered, bridled, checked, constrained, controlled, curbed, governed, hampered, hindered, restrained, temperate.
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