What is the name of the first Prime Minister of India? Even a small child gives the answer to this question. It is also recorded in the history books that Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was the first Prime Minister of India, but is it really true?
Because there is a page of history in which the name of the first Prime Minister of India has been mentioned as Barkatullah Khan! It may be surprising to hear this, but the truth cannot be denied that the Prime Minister was declared in India even before Pandit Nehru.
Now this question will surely come to your mind who was Barkatullah? How can we call him the first Prime Minister of India? If this is true then Pandit Nehru is known as the first Prime Minister of India. So let’s try to understand this misconception and curiosity by knowing this historical mystery.
Barkatullah Khan came into the limelight with revolutionary articles
Before your tension increases in the name of the first Prime Minister, understand that Barkatullah Khan, who is being talked about here, was a slave of the British at the time of his election as Prime Minister, while Pandit Nehru was called the first Prime Minister of independent India. That’s why people read and heard more about him. But Barkatullah Khan is also the person who should be talked about.
His contribution to the freedom struggle was also no less. Born on 7 July 1854 in Bhopal, MP, Barkatulla’s family was an important part of the princely state of Bhopal. Some people believe that he was born in 1857 or 1858.
He studied Arabic, Persian, and English at the Sulaimaniya School.
Influenced by the leader of international repute, Sheikh Jamaluddin Afghani, he decided to unite the Muslims of all countries. During this time the parents died. There was a sister’s responsibility on her head, so she too got married.
Now there was no one in Barkatullah Khan’s life except his own goal.
One day he left Bhopal without informing anyone and reached Bombay. Here, along with reading tuition to the children, he himself continued education in the English language. After completing his studies in Bombay, he moved to England.
Although he had gone to England to study, here the direction of his life changed. Barkatullah met here with Shyamji Krishna Varma, the patron of the migrant Indian revolutionaries.
This meeting of a few hours left a deep impression on Barkatullah’s mind. He became vocal about the independence of India.
He joined the pen to spread revolutionary ideas and activities for the independence of India. He soon came into the limelight through his revolutionary articles.
Khan was appointed a Professor of Persian at the Oriental College of Liverpool University, but his pen continued against the atrocities of the British rule in India.
This was the reason that the opposition to Khan started in England. The situation got so bad that Barkatullah had to leave the country.
NRIs did one
Barkatullah reached America in 1899. Where he, along with the overseas Indians, held a conference for the independence of India. His speeches and articles against the British rule continued here as well. To meet the expenses, he did the work of teaching Arabic in schools, but his heart and mind were engrossed in the concern of India.
The proof of his concern for India is a letter written to Hasrat Mohani. In a part of which he has written that- “It is a matter of great regret that, 20 million Indians, Hindus, and Muslims are dying of hunger, hunger is spreading all over the country, but the British government has made India a market for its goods and goods. Are engaged in carrying forward the policy of making.
Crores of rupees are looted from India only in the form of interest of capital invested in this country and this loot is increasing continuously. For this slavery of the country and its deteriorating condition in it, it is necessary that the Hindu-Muslims of the country unite and join with the Congress to increase Hindu-Muslim unity in the fight for the country’s independence.
He insisted that Muslims must join hands with Hindus and Sikhs to oppose British rule. However, even in Japan, the British officers did not let him live in peace and once again he reached America.
By the time he reached America again, the overseas Indians had started trying to form the Ghadar Party. Khan supported them and united the Indian diaspora living in Canada and Mexico.
Barkatulla dreamed of establishing a democratic and secular republic in India by overthrowing the British Raj.
Raja Mahendra became the chairman of the provisional government and Barkatullah Khan became the prime minister.
The Government of Afghanistan made an important agreement with the Provisional Government of India. In which it was promised that Afghan is with India in its freedom struggle. In return, this government of India will hand over Balochistan and Pakhtuni-speaking region to Afghanistan after independence. When the Provisional Government was preparing for an attack against the British rule in India.
Then the Tsarist regime of Russia was overthrown through the October Revolution of 1917.
In 1919 Barkatullah arrived in Moscow to talk about the objective of independence from the government. Where Lenin extended his support to him. He started getting direct support for India’s freedom struggle from Soviet Russia.
Sorry, we forgot them!
However, before Barkatullah could reach the flames of this movement within India, his age began to react. He arrived in California to address a gathering for the independence movement. As he stood up to speak, his health started deteriorating. The address was canceled. A few days later, on 27 September 1927, Barkatullah Khan breathed his last in America.
Battling the disease, he told his comrades that “I was active for the freedom of India throughout my life. It is a matter of happiness for me that my life has been used for the good of my country.
It is a pity that our efforts did not have any effect on our lives, but it is also a matter of happiness that now thousands of youth are coming forward for the freedom of the country, who are honest and courageous.
I can leave the future of my country in their hands with full confidence. In his last days, he had expressed his desire that the soil of his grave should be buried in India itself. But he was buried in Marwasbili Cemetery, America.
Far from bringing the soil of Barkatullah’s grave to India, the politicians forgot his name!