At the CWC meeting, the whitewashing of Maulana Mazharul Haq’s name and the absence of Urdu language signboards cause outrage across Bihar’s Muslim community
NEW DELHI – The extended meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) in Patna on Wednesday was intended to be a historic return of the party to its roots. Instead, it has left behind a bitter memory for the country’s Muslims, who now accuse the Congress of erasing their identity and sacrifices at the very heart of the freedom movement.
The meeting was held at Sadaqat Ashram, an institution that carries the soul of India’s fight for independence. Established in 1921 during the Non-Cooperation Movement, it was founded through the efforts of Maulana Mazharul Haq, one of the tallest Muslim leaders of his time.
The over 20-acre land on which Sadaqat Ashram stands was not bought by Congress, nor by Gandhi, nor by Nehru. It was donated by Khairan Mian, a close friend of Maulana Mazharul Haq, who wanted India’s freedom struggle to have a base in Bihar.
And yet, during Wednesday’s meeting of the CWC, the Congress appeared to forget all of that history.
The controversy began with the main gate of Sadaqat Ashram, which was found freshly whitewashed in a manner that concealed its name. Visitors had to look closely to even notice that the ashram had an identity.
“It felt like someone wanted to erase its memory,” said Patna-based historian Asfar Faridi, who has written extensively on Bihar’s freedom struggle. “For Muslims, the pain is double. Because this ashram is not just about Gandhi or Rajendra Prasad. It is about Maulana Mazharul Haq, who gave everything he had for India’s freedom. To hide his name is to hide our story.”
Inside the venue, the signs of neglect were even more glaring. Not a single banner, poster, or signboard was written in Urdu, despite the fact that Urdu has been the second official language of Bihar since 1980. This recognition, ironically, was granted under a Congress government.
“When a party that once gave Urdu its due place now completely ignores it at such a historic event, it is not an accident,” said Prof Arshad Karim, a retired academic from Patna University. “It is part of a wider political culture in India where Muslims are written out of history.”
The absence of Urdu was not the only slight. Portraits of leaders adorned the walls of the ashram’s hall. Gandhi, Nehru, Rajendra Prasad, Ambedkar, Vivekananda, Birsa Munda, Annie Besant, Indira Gandhi, and Rajiv Gandhi, all had their photographs framed and displayed with quotes.
But Maulana Mazharul Haq, the man without whom the ashram would not exist, was missing. So was Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, the last Muslim to preside over a Congress national session before independence in 1940 at Ramgarh, Bihar.
For many Muslims, this was not a mistake. It was a message. “When the party uses our land, but not our faces, it tells us clearly that we are good only for donations, not recognition,” said Abdul Rahman, a community leader from Phulwari Sharif. “This is not just about history. It is about dignity. And our dignity is being stolen.”
To understand why the omission hurts so deeply, one must remember who Maulana Mazharul Haq was.
Born in 1866, he was one of the first Muslim leaders to embrace the Congress and Mahatma Gandhi’s call for non-cooperation. He gave away his wealth, lands, and his palatial residence in Patna for the cause of freedom. His close friendship with Gandhi, Rajendra Prasad, and other leaders made Bihar a strong base of the national movement.
It was on this very land that Gandhi established the Bihar Vidyapeeth on 6 February 1921, to provide education for students who had left British-run schools.
Dr Rajendra Prasad, who would go on to become the first President of India, often stayed at Sadaqat Ashram. After independence, he returned to this site as president, paying tribute to its founders. But today, the Congress itself seems reluctant to acknowledge that its foundation in Bihar was laid by a Muslim.
“Mazharul Haq gave us Sadaqat Ashram,” said Mohammad Salman, a Patna-based youth leader. “If he had not donated the land, there would be no Congress office here. Yet his photograph is not worth hanging on the wall. This is an insult not just to him, but to all Muslims of India.”
The erasure of Muslim leaders at Sadaqat Ashram is particularly painful when one recalls the words of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad.
In 1940, at the Ramgarh Congress session, Azad had warned: ‘No mistake has been considered so wrong as the belief that Muslims of India are a political minority.’
He insisted that unity, discipline, and faith in Gandhi’s leadership were essential for success. But he also reminded the Congress that India’s Muslims were not outsiders; they were central to the nation’s destiny.
Eighty-five years later, Muslims feel that Azad’s warning has been forgotten.
“Today, Congress treats Muslims only as voters, not as partners,” said Dr Farhat Jahan, a political commentator in Patna. “At election time, they come to ask for votes. But when it is time to honour history, we are invisible.”
Muslim observers say that what happened at Sadaqat Ashram is not an isolated incident. It reflects a pattern of neglect that has worsened in recent years.
Urdu, once the language of culture and administration in Bihar, is rarely used by state institutions. Even official boards often neglect to display it. Muslim leaders who played a key role in India’s independence, such as Maulana Hasrat Mohani, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, and Maulana Mazharul Haq, are rarely remembered in mainstream political events.
“In schoolbooks, children are taught about Gandhi and Nehru, but not about Muslim leaders who stood by them,” said Shabnam Ara, a school teacher in Patna. “The erasure begins in childhood. By the time they grow up, people think only Hindus fought for freedom. This is not just neglect; it is brainwashing.”
The Congress has always projected itself as a secular party, but incidents like this risk alienating its Muslim support base. In Bihar, where Muslims form around 17 per cent of the population, their discontent could have political consequences.
“We are not fools,” said Mohammad Tariq, a shopkeeper in Patna City. “If Congress wants our votes, they must respect our past. Otherwise, why should we support those who erase our names from history?”
Analysts believe that the party’s silence will only fuel anger. By failing to even issue a clarification about the missing portraits and Urdu signs, Congress appears indifferent to Muslim concerns.
“Congress is trying to play safe,” explained political analyst Nand Kishore Yadav. “They fear that if they highlight Muslim leaders, they will be accused of minority appeasement by the BJP. But in doing so, they are betraying their own history.”
For many Muslims in Patna, the issue is not just about one meeting or one ashram. It is about whether their role in India will be recognised at all.
“Our grandfathers fought for this country shoulder to shoulder with Hindus,” said Mohammad Shafiq, a retired freedom fighter’s son. “We gave our land, our lives, our language. Today, we see that our names are being erased. If Congress forgets us, then who will remember?”
As the Congress Working Committee meeting concluded at Sadaqat Ashram, its leaders may have celebrated a return to history. But for Muslims, it was a day when history itself was humiliated.
The whitewashed gate, the absence of Urdu, the missing portraits of Maulana Mazharul Haq and Maulana Azad, together, they tell a story of deliberate neglect.
And as one young Muslim student put it outside the ashram: “If they can hide Maulana Mazharul Haq at Sadaqat Ashram, they can hide all of us in India.”
