Mohammed Afzal-ul Amin, popularly known as M.A. Amin, was an Indian
statesman
A statesman or stateswoman is a politician or a leader in an organization who has had a long and respected career at the national or international level, or in a given field.
Statesman or statesmen may also refer to:
Newspapers United States
...
, politician and social worker from
Cuttack
Cuttack (, or officially Kataka in Odia language, Odia ), is the former capital, deputy capital and the 2nd largest city of the Indian state of Odisha. It is also the headquarters of the Cuttack district. The name of the city is an anglicised f ...
,
Odisha
Odisha (), formerly Orissa (List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2011), is a States and union territories of India, state located in East India, Eastern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by ar ...
. He served as the general secretary of
Utkal Pradesh Congress Committee during
Biren Mitra
Biren Mitra (26 November 1917 – 25 May 1978) was an Indian politician, a leader of the Indian National Congress and the List of Chief Ministers of Odisha, Chief Minister of Odisha from 2 October 1963 to 21 February 1965.
Personal Life
Mitra wa ...
's chief ministership. Afzal-ul was the Vice Chairman and later the Chairman of Cuttack Municipality and also the President of Odisha Mohammadan Association. He played a major role in preserving
Urdu
Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...
language in
Cuttack
Cuttack (, or officially Kataka in Odia language, Odia ), is the former capital, deputy capital and the 2nd largest city of the Indian state of Odisha. It is also the headquarters of the Cuttack district. The name of the city is an anglicised f ...
by establishing several lower primary and upper primary Urdu schools in the city and in amplifying the
Bhoodan movement
The Bhoodan movement (Land Gift movement), also known as the Bloodless Revolution, was a voluntary land reform movement in India. It was initiated by Gandhian Vinoba Bhave in 1951 at Pochampally village, Pochampally.
The Bhoodan movement attem ...
in Odisha. He is also credited for organising various nationalist meetings and for mobilizing the common masses in
Cuttack
Cuttack (, or officially Kataka in Odia language, Odia ), is the former capital, deputy capital and the 2nd largest city of the Indian state of Odisha. It is also the headquarters of the Cuttack district. The name of the city is an anglicised f ...
during the
Quit India movement of 1942.
Life and career

Mohammed Afzal-ul Amin alias M.A. Amin was born into a ''
Dewan
''Dewan'' (also known as ''diwan'', sometimes spelled ''devan'' or ''divan'') designated a powerful government official, minister, or ruler. A ''dewan'' was the head of a state institution of the same name (see Divan). Diwans belonged to the el ...
'' family, to the notable educationist of Cuttack,
Sayeed Mohammed
Sayeed Mohammed (25 August 1891 – 18 July 1922) was an Indian people, Indian Odia people, Odia educationist, freedom fighter and philanthropist. In 1913, he founded the Moslem Seminary (present day: Sayeed Seminary) at Cuttack, which is regar ...
and his wife
Begum Badar un nissa Akhtar
Begum Badar un Nissa Akhtar (1894 -1956; Midnapore) was an Indian social reformer and educator from Cuttack, Odisha. She is known for challenging the stringent and orthodox societal norms and for encouraging and enabling Muslim girls to receiv ...
. Amin was the grandson of the sub-judge of Calcutta High Court,
Amin Suhrawardy
Amin Suhrawardy was a Bengali judge, academic and a prominent sorcerer of his time. He served as the subordinate judge of Calcutta High court from 1887 to 1891. He was a professor of law at Calcutta University. Amin also had a parallel career i ...
. From his mother's side he was the great grandson of the famous poet and writer,
Ubaidullah Al Ubaidi Suhrawardy
Ubaidullah Al Ubaidi Suhrawardy (, ; 1832 – 9 February 1885) was a Bengali Islamic scholar, educationist and writer from Midnapore. He is regarded as the Father of modern Islamic education in Bengal and was awarded with the title of ''Bahr ul ...
and from his father's side he was the great grandson of the Sufi Pir
Khwaja Fazal Mohammed.
Syeda Zameerunnissa Begum, the 19th Century writer and social reformer was Amin's great grandmother. After finishing his schooling from
Ravenshaw Collegiate School
Ravenshaw Collegiate School is the oldest High School of Odisha which was established in 1851 by Thomas Edward Ravenshaw in the District of Cuttack in Odisha, India. It was one of three institutions founded by Ravenshaw, the other two being th ...
, Afzal-ul entered the field of politics where he emerged as a prominent Muslim leader in the town. Like his father, he too mobilized the Muslims of Odisha to join the
Indian freedom struggle
The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events in South Asia with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British colonial rule. It lasted until 1947, when the Indian Independence Act 1947 was passed.
The first nationalistic ...
. During the 1942
Quit India movement, Amin worked in close association with
Malati Choudhury and
Ramadevi Choudhury
Ramadevi Choudhury (3 December 1899 – 22 July 1985), also known as Rama Devi, was an Indian freedom fighter and a social reformer. She was called Maa (Mother) by the people of Odisha. The Ramadevi Women's University in Bhubaneswar has been n ...
, he organised various nationalist meetings at his place in
Cuttack
Cuttack (, or officially Kataka in Odia language, Odia ), is the former capital, deputy capital and the 2nd largest city of the Indian state of Odisha. It is also the headquarters of the Cuttack district. The name of the city is an anglicised f ...
to gather support for the movement after Surajmal Shah and Bibhunendra Mishra were arrested in August 1942.
Post independence, Amin met with the then
Prime Minister of India
The prime minister of India (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the head of government of the Republic of India. Executive authority is vested in the prime minister and his chosen Union Council of Ministers, Council of Ministers, despite the president of ...
,
Jawaharlal Nehru
Jawaharlal Nehru (14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat, and statesman who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20th century. Nehru was a pr ...
during his Odisha visit,
India's President,
Zakir Husain
Zakir Husain Khan (8 February 1897 – 3 May 1969) was an Indian educationist and politician who served as the vice president of India from 1962 to 1967 and president of India from 13 May 1967 until his death on 3 May 1969.
Born in H ...
both in Cuttack as well as in
Delhi
Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...
, where Husain had invited Amin for high tea at his Delhi residence. Amin hosted India's first education minister,
Abul Kalam Azad
Abul Kalam Ghulam Muhiyuddin (11 November 188822 February 1958), better known as Maulana Azad and sometimes referred as Abul Kalam Azad, was an Indian politician, writer and activist of the Indian independence movement. A senior leader of t ...
at Jalal mansion in Cuttack.
Afzal-ul served as the chairman of Odisha board of Wakfs (State Muslim endowment board). He was also one of the most prominent Muslim councilors in the
Cuttack
Cuttack (, or officially Kataka in Odia language, Odia ), is the former capital, deputy capital and the 2nd largest city of the Indian state of Odisha. It is also the headquarters of the Cuttack district. The name of the city is an anglicised f ...
municipality then. He was elected as the councilor continuously for 28 long years i.e. from 1952 to 1980, winning all the
elections
An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office.
Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operated ...
continuously. He had also been elected as the Vice Chairman of
Cuttack
Cuttack (, or officially Kataka in Odia language, Odia ), is the former capital, deputy capital and the 2nd largest city of the Indian state of Odisha. It is also the headquarters of the Cuttack district. The name of the city is an anglicised f ...
Municipality. Afzal-ul was a member of the Indian National Congress (Organisation). In 1961 he was appointed as the general secretary of Utkal Pradesh Congress Committee by
Biren Mitra
Biren Mitra (26 November 1917 – 25 May 1978) was an Indian politician, a leader of the Indian National Congress and the List of Chief Ministers of Odisha, Chief Minister of Odisha from 2 October 1963 to 21 February 1965.
Personal Life
Mitra wa ...
. In 1971 he ran for the Cuttack State legislative assembly elections as an MLA candidate from the Indian National Congress (O) party. He was later appointed as the President of Odisha Mohammadan Association. Amin had also served as the secretary and chairperson of various reputed colleges in Cuttack including Indira Gandhi Women's College and Imarti Devi College.

Amin amplified and made significant contributions to the
Bhudan movement in Odisha. During this time, four among the most prominent Chief ministers of Odisha,
Biren Mitra
Biren Mitra (26 November 1917 – 25 May 1978) was an Indian politician, a leader of the Indian National Congress and the List of Chief Ministers of Odisha, Chief Minister of Odisha from 2 October 1963 to 21 February 1965.
Personal Life
Mitra wa ...
,
Nandini Satpathy
Nandini Satpathy (9 June 1931 – 4 August 2006) was an Indian politician and author. She was the Chief Minister of Odisha from June 1972 to December 1976.
Early life
Nandini Satpathy was born on 9 June 1931 as Nandini Panigrahi to Kalin ...
,
J.B. Patnaik &
Biju Patnaik
Bijayananda Patnaik (5 March 1916 – 17 April 1997) was an Indian politician and aviator. He served as the 3rd Chief Minister of the State of Odisha from 1961 to 1963 and from 1990 to 1995. He was also the 14th Steel and mines and 1st Coal Uni ...
visited him at his residence. He served as the chairman in many emergency committees formed to help the people in the flood affected areas, during the floods in central Odisha.
Afzal-ul played a major role in preserving Urdu language in Cuttack. As the chairman of Cuttack Municipality's sub-committee on education he established five Urdu lower primary and five upper primary schools in Cuttack some of which include, Maulana Azad U.P school in Qadam Rasool.
Marriage and family
Afzal-ul Amin married his second cousin, Syeda Roshanara Akhtar, the younger daughter of
Ibrahim Suhrawardy, a notable author and linguist from
Balasore
Balasore, also known as Baleswar, is a city in the state of Odisha, about from the state capital Bhubaneswar and from Kolkata, in eastern India. It is the administrative headquarters of Balasore district and the largest city as well as heal ...
of the
Qadriyyah house and the granddaughter of
Umdatunnissa, Nawab Begum of Kharui.
Afzal-ul has two daughters; Tabassum Amin Sultana, who married the notable politician and writer,
Hussain Rabi Gandhi
Hussain Rabi Gandhi (also spelled Hussain Rabigandhi or Husen Rabi Gandhi; 23 April 1948 – 28 January 2023) was an Indian Odia writer of the late-twentieth century, a politician, a public intellectual and a cultural activist hailing from the ...
and
Farhat Amin
Farhat Amin (born 26 February 1967) is an Indian journalist, cartoonist and social activist. She's Odisha's state convenor of Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan, a national rights based organisation which fights for the rights of Muslim women. Farh ...
Sultana, a journalist and a social activist, who married the tribal rights activist,
Saleem Farook
Saleem Farook was an Indian tribal rights activist and social worker from Karnataka. In 1989 he started the Thuamul Rampur tribal movement in Kalahandi which fought against the issue of land alienation of the tribals in that region. On 9 June 19 ...
.
References
{{Reflist
1915 births
1983 deaths
20th-century Indian Muslims
Amin family
Odisha politicians
20th-century deaths
20th-century Indian politicians