Maulana Yakub Hasan Sait or simply Yakub Hasan Sait (1875–1940) was an Indian businessman, freedom-fighter and politician who served as the Minister for Public Works in the

Madras presidency The Madras Presidency, or the Presidency of Fort St. George, also known as Madras Province, was an administrative subdivision (presidency) of British India. At its greatest extent, the presidency included most of southern India, including the ...

from 1937 to 1939. Yakub Hasan Sait was born in

Nagpur Nagpur (pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, aːɡpuːɾ is the third largest city and the winter capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the 13th largest city in India by population and according to an Oxford's Economics report, Nag ...

and educated in

Aligarh University Aligarh Muslim University (abbreviated as AMU) is a public central university in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India, which was originally established by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan as the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College in 1875. Muhammadan Anglo-Orienta ...

. At a very young age, he moved to

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

for business purposes and settled in

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

in the year 1901. He served as a member of the Madras Corporation and as a member of the

Madras Legislative Council Tamil Nadu Legislative Council was the upper house of the former bicameral legislature of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It began its existence as Madras Legislative Council, the first provincial legislature for Madras Presidency. It was init ...

. From 1937 to 1939, he served as the Minister of Public Works in the

Rajaji Chakravarti Rajagopalachari (10 December 1878 – 25 December 1972), popularly known as Rajaji or C.R., also known as Mootharignar Rajaji (Rajaji'', the Scholar Emeritus''), was an Indian statesman, writer, lawyer, and independence activis ...

government. Yakub Hasan Sait was a member of the

Muslim League Muslim League may refer to: Political parties Subcontinent ; British India *All-India Muslim League, Mohammed Ali Jinah, led the demand for the partition of India resulting in the creation of Pakistan. **Punjab Muslim League, a branch of the organ ...

and later, the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...

. He was the only Muslim minister in Rajaji's 1937 cabinet.

Early life

Yakub Hasan Sait was born in

Central Provinces and Berar The Central Provinces and Berar was a province of British India and later the Dominion of India which existed from 1903 to 1950. It was formed by the merger of the Central Provinces with the province of Berar, which was territory leased by the B ...

in 1875. He had his schooling and early education in Nagpur and he had his higher education from

. Soon after completion of his degree in 1893, Sait moved to Bangalore and started his career as a businessman. Sait moved to Madras in 1901 and gradually settled in the city. For a particular period of time, he worked as an international business agent under Nawab C. Abdul Hakim. Due to his immense knowledge of the

Quran The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Classical Arabic, Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation in Islam, revelation from God in Islam, ...

and other Muslim religious scriptures, Sait was often called "Maulana".

Early politics and formation of the All-India Muslim League

Soon after his arrival in Madras, Sait entered public life and was elected member of the Madras Corporation. Sait was one of founders of the All India Muslim League. He was an active party worker and visited England as a delegate of the League. He was also the only Muslim politician from the Madras Presidency involved in the drafting of the Lucknow Pact.

In the Indian Independence Movement

In 1916, Sait was elected to the

by the South Indian Chamber of Commerce. He joined the Indian National Congress and participated in the Khilafat agitations in 1919 and was imprisoned for six months. He was arrested and imprisoned once again in 1921 for his participation in the Non-Cooperation Movement. On his return from jail in 1923, he resigned from the Congress and founded the Madras Province Muslim League. This move was prompted by Sait's preference for Dominion Status when the Congress declaration of independence as its primary goal. As a result, no Muslim leader from the Presidency participated in the Civil Disobedience Movement. Sait stood for the elections and was elected to the Assembly. In 1927, Sait allied with the United Nationalist party of

N. G. Ranga Gogineni Ranga Nayukulu (7 November 1900 – 9 June 1995), also known as N. G. Ranga, was an Indian freedom fighter, classical liberal, parliamentarian and farmers' leader. He was the founding president of the Swatantra Party, and an exponen ...

. A little before the 1937 elections, Sait, left the Madras Provincial Muslim League and joined the Indian National Congress. Soon, he became one of the top leaders of the provincial Congress. He condemned

Mohammad Iqbal Sir Muhammad Iqbal ( ur, ; 9 November 187721 April 1938), was a South Asian Muslim writer, philosopher, Quote: "In Persian, ... he published six volumes of mainly long poems between 1915 and 1936, ... more or less complete works on philoso ...

's two-nation theory and supported a united India. However, he still supported most of the other policies of the Muslim League.

In Rajaji's cabinet

Sait won the 1937 elections to the Madras assembly. He was made a minister in the Madras cabinet and was given in charge of the Public Works Department. Sait resigned along with other ministers when Britain declared war on Germany.

Death

In March 1940, a few months after resigning as Minister, Sait suffered chest pains and had to be hospitalized. He died soon afterwards.

Controversy

In the 1930s, most Tamil Muslim politicians were concentrated in the Madras Provincial Muslim League. These Muslim Leaguers were against the atheist policies of the Self-Respect Movement. At the same time, there was also not much support for the Indian National Congress amongst the Muslims in the Presidency. During his campaigning for the Indian National Congress, Sait was accused of disrespecting Islam at a meeting in Coimbatore by not standing while verses from the Quran were read. Throughout the remainder of the campaign, he was shown black flags at rallies.

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sait, Yakub Hasan 1875 births 1940 deaths Tamil Nadu politicians Indian Muslims