By Pervez Bari
Aligarh: “Anis Ahmad Ansari, IPS and Commandant, PAC, Aligarh, has said that education is the most important factor for community development. Education plays the same role for human beings as root plays for the plant. Praising the efforts of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, he said that Sir Syed had struggled a lot in his life for the uplift of Indians.
When Sir Syed began his educational mission, people opposed him and he worked in a very unfavorable environment. He advised the audience that time has come to revive the educational mission which Sir Syed had started. In the end, he congratulated Prof. Shakeel Samdani for organizing such a wonderful seminar”.
Relevance of Sir Syed in the Contemporary World
The above thoughts were expressed by chief guest Anis Ahmad Ansari while addressing the 11th National Seminar on the topic of “Relevance of Sir Syed in the Contemporary World” at Muktakash Manch, Aligarh Mahotsav, at Aligarh. In the end, he congratulated Prof. Shakeel Samdani for organizing such a wonderful seminar”. The seminar was organized by Sir Syed Awareness Forum, (SAF).
Special Guest Lt. Gen. (Rtd.) A. K. Misra, Director General, Mangalayatan University said that, Sir Syed’s life inspires us and gives us 3 parameters for success. These 3 parameters are dream big, work hard in achieving your dreams and having a disciplined life. If these three parameters are fulfilled then an individual as well as a country at large will achieve success. He also said that success can be achieved by hard work and Sir Syed is an example of this.
Guest of Honour Dr. Swasti Rao, while addressing the gathering, said that in making the Aligarh Movement successful women have contributed in equal proportion as men. She further said that in today’s society we are having degrees but we are not having any ideals, morals and ethics left in our life. But the University of Sir Syed is still giving ideals, morals and ethics along with degrees to its students. She also said that Urdu language is having the same importance as Hindi in India and languages have no religion. At last, Dr. Swasti congratulated Prof. Shakeel Samdani, Dean, Faculty of Law for organizing this 11th National Seminar.
President of SAF and Director of seminar Prof. Shakeel Samdani, Dean, Faculty of Law, AMU, said that this seminar on Sir Syed has been organized continuously for the last 11 years. The objectives of this seminar are to spread the message of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan throughout the world and to make people aware about the vision and mission of Sir Syed. He further said that Sir Syed was a man far ahead of his time. He was not only an educationist but also a historian, architect, philosopher, jurist, author and secularist who believed in the idea of a secular India. He said the Sir Syed wrote: “Causes of the Indian Revolt” in which he proved the British, the real cause behind the revolt and proved that Indians were not responsible for it. It was the wrong policies of the British which led to the revolt.
Dr. Rahat Abrar, Director, Urdu Academy, AMU, said that this day is a very historic day as on this day Sir Syed performed a drama to collect fund for the college. He further said that, Sir Syed chose Aligarh for the establishment of his college because of its geographical conditions. This also shows that Sir Syed was a man of scientific approach. Dr. Najmuddin Ansari, Dr. Obaid Iqbal Asim and Sarah Samdani also delivered their appealing and thought- provoking speeches on Sir Syed Ahmad Khan.
Renowned personalities of Aligarh felicitated
On this occasion, renowned personalities of Aligarh were felicitated with SAF Award 2020. Prof. (Dr.) Tamkeen Rabbani, Prof. (Dr.) Sheelu Shafiq Siddiqi, Dr. Najmuddin Ansari, Dr. Rahat Abrar, Mr. Najam Abbasi, Mr. Tariq Hasan, Mr. Zeeshan Ahmad (Assistant PRO, AMU), Ms. Akmal Ansari (Civil Judge Uttrakhand) were conferred with this award.
The program was started with the recitation of a few verses from the Holy Quran. Ayesha Samdani (MBBS student, AMU) successfully conducted the program. Mr. Khalil Chaudhary, Convener of the seminar, welcomed the guests and vote of thanks was proposed by Abdullah Samdani.
The program was made a grand success by the tireless efforts of Adv. Shoeb Ali (General Secretary), Dr. Haider Ali (Coordinator), Mrs. Anjum Tasneem, Shelja Singh, Razia Chauhan, Fouzia, Hunain Khalid, Chitranshu, Pawan Varshney, Kafeel Khan, Aishwariya, Saloni, Kashif Sultan, Sachin, Adeel Sherwani, Anas, Salman, Janmejaya, Umra Rehmani, Piyush Sharma, Himanshu Sharma, Mantavya Chauhan, Nikita Motwani, Faraz, Afreen Rizvi, Samra Hashim, Rass Masood (Court Member, Law), Faiz Azim, Saad Asad etc.
Other dignitaries in the event were Prof. Zafar M. Nomani, Prof. Wasim Ali, Prof. Hashmat Ali Khan, Prof. Tariq, Dr. Kalimullah, Dr. Raghib Gauhar, Dr. Rahmat Ullah, Dr. Tabassum, Dr. Zeba Azmat, Dr. Zafar Khan, Prof. Urooj Rabbani, Dr. Khalid Nasir, Mrs. Rabab Khan, Mr. Manzar Jamal Siddiqui, Dr. Tabassum Latafat, Adv. Salil Kumar, Adv. Khairuwala, Adv. Absar Kidwai, Azam Ansari, Adv. Wajahtullah Khan and delegates from various states were also present.