Asaduddin Owaisi Profile picture
Aug 5 10 tweets 3 min read
In light of #75yearsofIndependence, we're celebrating Muslims' role in freedom movement. So far, we've seen freedom fighters from Hyderabad, Mewat, Malegaon, Bhopal & Ranchi. Today, we turn to Bengal's "Titu Mir" who led a peasant rebellion against Zamindars & British 1/n Image
Titu Mir (Syed Mīr Nisār Alī) was from a peasant family in Haidarpur, Barasat. He had memorised the Holy Qur'an and was a hafiz. He knew Bengali, Persian & Urdu. Titu went on pilgrimage to Makkah, where he learnt about Islamic principles & practices. 2/n Image
Upon his return home, Titu Mir began working with peasants, especially against the alliance of exploitative Zamindars & the British. In June 1830, a talukdar imposed a tax on anyone with a beard (to target Titu Mir's followers). He sent a force of 300 men to collect the tax 3/n
An enraged Titu Mir declared that the tax was communal & exploited the poor peasants who should refuse to pay the tax. The peasants responded to the call and none turned up to pay the tax. The talukdar punished the peasants by burning down their homes & destroying a masjid 4/n
Local zamindars increased their taxation & exploitation of poor cultivators. Titu then issued a declaration rejecting British rule. He decreed that zamindars should not remit taxes to British. Titu's militia looted the property of a Muslim landholder for disobeying his order 5/n
Titu also asked the ryots not to pay rent or illegal taxes to the zamindars Such was the fear of Titu's movement that some zamindars & talukdars fled to Calcutta. His militia also began targeting European indigo planters in the region 6/n Image
After multiple successes, nearly 8000 Hindu & Muslim peasants joined Titu. His movement held significant territory. Under his 'rule' Titu carried out a "peasants' autonomous government" for nearly a year. The local zamindars were suppressed or expelled from their territories 7/n
Peasants collected taxes, administered justice & maintained internal law and order. Anticipating retaliation from East India Company's forces, Titu constructed the famous "banser kella" or a bamboo-fortress, which the peasants built with incredible speed 8/n Image
In Nov 1831, Titu's men defeated 300 British forces in an armed confrontation. The Brits then sent a stronger force which laid siege to his bamboo fortress. Titu's men put up a brave fight for 3 hours with arrows, spears, lances & muskets against superior British weaponry 9/n Image
An injured Titu continued to fight to the end. Eventually, the bamboo fortress fell. The British bayonetted Titu to painful death. 50 brave peasant-comrades were also killed. Titu's defiance, bravery & martyrdom is a lesson for us all. May Allah elevate his status in jannah n/n

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Asaduddin Owaisi

Asaduddin Owaisi Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @asadowaisi

Aug 9
Today is “August Kranti Diwas”, the day Gandhiji launched #QuitIndiaMovement in 1942. Yusuf Mehrally coined the slogan “Quit India” that inspired Indians against British. Mehrally went to jail 8 times. Wrote no mercy petitions & never collaborated with the British. #IndiaAt75 Image
British shot Indians who saluted tiranga, arrested at least one lakh Indians, carried out public floggings & levied collective fines

Mehrally & most senior Congress leaders were jailed. At the time, he was Bombay’s mayor. He was the first socialist to be elected to the post Image
Mehrally would only come out of imprison in 1946.

He reportedly came up with “Quit India” at a meeting of Gandhiji’s associates some time before the launch of the movement. He presented Gandhi with a bow bearing the inscription ‘Quit India’. Gandhi said in approval, ‘Amen’.” Image
Read 9 tweets
Aug 8
कस ली है कमर अब तो, कुछ करके दिखाएंगे,
आज़ाद ही हो लेंगे, या सर ही कटा देंगे।

दिलवाओ हमें फांसी, ऐलान से कहते हैं,
ख़ूं से ही हम शहीदों के, फ़ौज बना देंगे।

शहीद अशफ़ाक़ुल्लाह खान का शुमार भारत के मुमताज़ मुजहीदन-ए-आज़ादी में होता है। Image
उनका जन्म 22 अक्टूबर 1900 को शाहजहांपुर में हुआ था।अशफ़ाक़ुल्लाह शायर भी थे, ‘वारसी’ और ‘हसरत’ तख़ल्लुस के तौर पर इस्तेमाल करते थे।

जिस दौर में अंग्रेज हिन्दुओं और मुसलमानों को लड़ाने में लगे थे एक ऐसे जांबाज़ हस्ती ने जन्म लिया जिसकी ज़िन्दगी भाईचारे और बहादुरी का पैग़ाम थी। Image
जब अशफ़ाक़ुल्लाह क़ैद में थे उनसे मिलने एक मुसलमान अफसर आया। उसने कहा “तुम एक मुसलमान हो और राम प्रसाद बिस्मिल एक हिन्दू, उनके ख़िलाफ़ गवाही दे दो, हम तुम्हें रिहा कर देंगे”। अशफ़ाक़ुल्लाह ने कहा "अंग्रेज़ों की ग़ुलामी से बेहतर है कि मैं अपनी जान क़ुरबान कर दूँ" Image
Read 12 tweets
Aug 3
Continuing with our efforts to remember Indian Muslims' great contribution in the war of independence, today we remember Maulana Barkatullah Bhopali. Born and initially educated in Bhopal, the Maulana lit the fire of India's freedom across the world. 1/n
He was a staunch anti-colonialist, Vice-President of the Ghadar movement, a strident defender of Hindu-Muslim unity and the Prime Minister of the Government of India in exile, set up in Afghanistan. Its President was Raja Mahendra Pratap. 2/n
The trailblazer Maulana was an "NRI" but one whose life was committed to India. In his revolutionary lifetime, he would visit London (1895) United States (1903), Japan (1909), Germany (1914), Turkey, Afghanistan (1915), Soviet Union (1919), France, Rome (1924) & Belgium (1927)3/n
Read 10 tweets
Aug 2
This is the #Malegaon fort in #Maharashtra. It witnessed not one but two different instances of Indian Muslims’ resistance against British

In 1818, during third Anglo-Maratha war, Muslim soldiers of Maratha army defiantly held the fort; even as Chatrapati & Peshwa surrendered
30 soldiers died & many more were injured during siege of the fort. It took the British 36 guns, 8,000 shells & 35,500 pounds of gunpowder to finally take over the fort

Almost a 100 years later, in 1921, the bugle of revolution was again sounded in Malegaon
The people of Malegaon had responded to Khilafat & Non-Cooperation movement of 1920 with enthusiasm. They’d boycotted British institutions, set up their own courts & picketed liquor shops. The British provoked violence in order to clamp down against revolutionary activities.
Read 6 tweets
Aug 1
If the economy is doing so well, why has the government not fixed OROP pensions and given the arrears to our soldiers, despite Supreme Court orders to do it by June. The OROP pension was to be fixed in 2019 in any case. timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/revision…
If the economy is doing so well, why is our Air Force having only 30 squadrons of fighter jets instead of 42? Is that not why you are forcing our brave pilots to fly the Mig21 instead of phasing them out?
It the economy is doing so well, why has our Navy been forced to curtail its ambitions of being a 200-ship navy to barely having 130 ships? Why is the Navy not being given the third aircraft carrier it asks for if the economy is doing so well?
Read 4 tweets
Aug 1
“Tell the Maulana not to worry about his son. What is destined to happen by Allah’s will, will happen. But he must not break before the Raja and seek mercy”

Remembering a forgotten heroine of our freedom movement “Amma Bi” Asiya Khatoon Mewati.
The brave woman said these words as she faced the world alone, with her son being severely ill & while her husband Maulana Mohammad Ibrahim Khan Alwari was imprisoned for his participation in freedom movement. He’d participated in Salt Satyagrah with Gandhiji & was also injured
Amma Bi exemplified the bravery of Indian Muslim women as she resisted British rule. Born in 1918, she was from the historic Firozpur (Mewat, Haryana)

Her husband’s arrest did not deter her. She worked with his followers & companions and took the fight forward
Read 5 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

:(