Contributed by: Dr. Equbal Wajid
In 1983 some teachers of the School formed and association named INSAN TEACHERS WELFARE ASSOCIATION [ ITWA]. The master mind of this association was Shahab Saharwerdi. He was the teacher of Geography. Several initial meeting were held before the formation of the association. When the association was registered it was December 1983 and the school’s vacation was about to start. Shahab Saharwrdi gave a written formal statement to Dr. Syed Hasan informing him about the formation of the Association and the names of its office bearers. It was a good chance for Dr. Syed Hasan that he got the details about the association in written. Being a Psychologist he presupposed the future of the association and took it as a threat to his freedom.
A man like Dr. Syed Hasan could never leave any stone unturned which could come in his way of freedom. He took it as a great threat to the institution. When all the teachers were in vacation he send termination letters to nine of them mostly to the office bearers of ITWA and its active members. Shahab Saharwrdi [The President] Mohammad Shamsi [The Treasurer] Mohammad Abbas [ The General Secretary] and 6 others. The single line termination letter was sent to the Teachers by post when they were enjoying vacation at their home. The letter contended the following sentence:
“YOUR SEVICES ARE NO MORE REQUIRED TO THE INSAN SCHOOL”.
When the teachers got the termination letters at their home they came back to Kishanganj and tried their best to pressurize Dr. Syed Hasan by all means but Dr. Hasan, being an iron man never yield to them. It was a memorable evening when the teachers brought Mr. Jogeshwar Gop [a trade union leader] to force Syed Hasan to revoke his decision. Dr. Syed Hasan told clearly with his blazing eyes that he will never get them back. Mr. Gop was amazed to listen the bold answer.
“No …. No……No ….” Dr. Syed Hasan said loudly three times with his blazing eyes..
Mr. Jogeshwar Gop waved his hand in distress and pretended to stop Dr. Syed Hasan and said:
“Slowly …..Slowly ….Slowly….” and then he went away. He told the Teachers that he will use another technique to trap him. After that day I never saw Mr. Gop again.
When the MLA of Thakurganj, Mr. Mohammad Husain Azad was sworn in as a Minister of Bihar Assembly he came to Insan School. He was invited on a dinner. The Superintendent of Police and other VIPs of Kishanganj were along with him. The meal was being served. We were standing beside to listen the talk. Mr. Mohammad Husain Azad told Syed Bhai on the dining table during his meal that when he was coming to Insan school the group of the terminated teachers met with him and he assured them that he will simply put the matter before Syed Bhai. As Syed Bhai heard this he raised his both hands high and then hit hard up on the dining table that the glasses and plate quaked and leaped and said:
“MAIEN SCHOOL BAND KAR DOONGA MAGAR INLOGON KO WAPS NAHIEN LOONGA”
[ I will like to close the school rather than to take them back]
We all were surprised. I saw that the same moment Mohammad Hussein Azad yielded from his recommendation and said:
“ARE BAHI HAM AAP SE KUCH KAH RAHEY HAIEN?”
[Am I telling you anything to you?]
The Superintendent of Police gaze at Syed Bhai with the corner of his eyes.
The teachers went to the court. They were living in the campus without work. Day by day it became difficult for them to live in the campus. Dr. Syed Hasan [ Syed Bhai] turned the students against the Teachers. He used every possible way that he could do for the survival of the School. The students started abusing the teachers. The teachers don’t dare to stand in front of them. The life of the teachers who were the members of ITWA became miserable. Many times the Educational Guru [ Dr. Syed Hasan] called the students and motivated them to fight against he teachers. He said :
“TALEEMI EDARA MAAN KI TARAH HOTA HAI, MAAN JAISI BHI HAI… MAAN… MAAN …HAI, JAB MAAN KI IZZAT PER AANCH AA JAAI TO BETEY KO QURBANI DENNI PARTI HAI , INSAN SCHOOL AAP SE QUBANI MAANG RAHA HAI”.
[The educational institutions are like mothers, the mother is mother in every instance of life, when the prestige of the mother is at stake, the son has to sacrifice for her, this the time that Insan School requires you sacrifice”]
As a result the students stood against the teachers and started humiliating them. Now the teachers were not safe in the campus. Dr. Syed Hasan turned the battle form Teachers vs Management to Teachers vs Students. I heard that a teacher Shakir Bhai of Biharsharif went to dining hall, a student pulled out his plate form his front at the dining table. Abuses like “ Mather Chod” [Mother fucker] “Bahan Chod” [ Sister fucker] “ Bhonsri Wala” [ son of prostitute] were being commonly used for the teachers. I witnessed that a Primary Teacher was coming to college campus on foot and a group of students from School was chasing him and they were abusing, mocking, and laughing on him. I saw that except physical assault nothing was left for him.
Dr. Syed Hasan taught the students that you need not to abuse the teachers rather than what you need is to show hatred against them through your face expression whenever or wherever you look at them. This prescription became very useful. The teachers find hatred all around them in the campus. Now there was no way for them except to leave the campus. So they decided to leave the campus and fight form outside. This was their biggest mistake. Syed Hasan became glad of this and said that this is their wrong decision, and that the School will win.
When the teachers left the school the storm was cooled down. Just after a month, Syed Shahab Saharwardi who was the leader of the movement left Kishanganj and never returned. Had he been a man of caliber he could have come back to Kishanganj and fight for the teachers. One by one the Teachers who were involved with ITWA left Kishanganj and the storm passed down. The school won, the teachers were defeated but in this battle a big secret was unveiled that all the property of Insan School and Insan College is the personal property of Dr. Syed Hasan who has the right to appoint, use, pick, chose, throw and terminate anybody he want. The lawyer of Insan school said in defense in the Court of the Judicial Magistrate ,Kishanganj that the Indian Constitutions has given right to every citizen to run his own business and appoint and terminate employees according to his need.
Even at that time many people were of the mind that only to save the institution Syed Bhai has played the trick. A man like Syed Bhai will never turn the institution in his personal property. But as the days passed it became more obvious. The hundreds of acres of land which was purchased by sacrifice of all is now the personal property of the man who declared himself to be the free servant of the Nation. As soon as the secret unveiled form Kishanganj to Patna and Patna to Delhi the image of Dr. Syed Hasan changed slowly and his respect level among the mass turn down. Had he not been grabbed the hundreds of acres land as his own property his could have regarded as the Second Sir Syed Ahmed Khan of the modern India.
To build up a private owned intuition is not a sin. Anybody can do it, but to declare oneself as a servant to the Nation, to account every step as a sacrifice and then grab the whole school’s land in his own possession is off course a fraud and the whole Nation, specially the Indian Muslim Ummah as a whole, the Muslims of Kishanganj as well as the Muslims of Bihar are the victims of this big fraud of the century which occurred between 1964 to 1994.
Dr. Syed Hasan has declared in the very start that the Institution belongs to the Muslim Ummah, but he legally never acted on this line. What the teachers and the Social personalities wanted that he should make a Society, get it registered and then proceed the Government to declare it as a Minority Institution. Once Late Mr.Abdul Ghani Sahab who had been a social worker in Siwan, Bihar and had been the founder of scores of Minority Colleges in Siwan told me to convey his message to Dr. Syed Hasan that he should try to make Insan School and Insan College a Minority Institution. This will be a great contribution to the Muslim Society, but Dr. Hasan never looked on such advices.
When Syed Shahabudin won the Lok Sabha seat from Kishanganj it was a hope for the Teachers that he may find a way to lead the Institution towards Minority Character. The teachers handed Mr. Syed Shahabuddin MP, the bylaws of the sponsored body of the Insan School and Insan College, TALEEMI MISSION CORE [TMC] which was supposed to be the mother body of the institutions. Mr. Syed Sahabuddin MP find out that there was no legal nexus between Insan School/College and Taleemi Mossion Core [TMC]. He wrote to Dr. Syed Hasan that he could establish the legal nexus between these institutions through an affidavit in the court that Insan School and Insan college are the institutions which is run by Taleemi Mission Core [TMC] and that of those Institutions are the property of Taleemi Mission Core.[TMC].
Dr. Syed Hasan never did it. After several years Syed Shahabuddin MP seized his interest as he was unable to do anything more. In 2007 when I met Syed Shahabuddin in a Programme in Jubail he told me about Insan School:
“HAAN…… IDARA KHATAM HO GAYA HAI… AB ZAMEEN BEACH RAHE HAEN AUR KHA RAHEN HAEN”
[Yes, now the institution is destroyed and he is sells the land and eats it.]
In 1986 when Mr.Akhlaqur Rahman Qidwai the then Governor of Bihar came to visit Insan School/ Insan College, he asked Dr. Syed Hasan to declare these institutions as Minority Character institutions but Dr. Syed Hasan refused to do so.
Once in 80s, I met with the notable Islamic Philosopher of modern times Maullana Waheeduddin Khan of Al Risala, at his residence at Nizamuddin East New Delhi. I told him that Dr. Syed Hasan don’t want any help from the Government and intends to run his institution on self-help. Maullana Wheeduddin Khan answered with a smile::
“AAP KE BAAL ABHI KALE HAIEN, SAFEAID HO GAIEN GE, YAAD RAKHIYE GA,US IDARE KA DO HASHR HOGA, YA TO UN KE BAAD KE LOG USE GOVERNMENT KO DENE KE LIYE TAIYEAR HOJAENGE, NAHI TO YEH EK LOCAL SCHOOL HO KAR RAH JAYE GA JAHAN BEWAQOOFOON KE BACHCHE PAHREN GE”
[Your hair is black now, it will turn as white that time, remember my words, if it happened to contrary you could say that Waheeduddin was a man who was a liar. There will be either of the two results for this institution. Firstly, the people after Dr. Syed Hasan will become ready to hand it over to the Government elsewise it will remain as a local School where the children of the foolish will study.]
Waheeduddin Khan further said:
“MAIEN NE US KE BAREY MIEN SUNA HAI , WHO BAHUT HUSHYAAR AADMI HAI….MERA MASHWARA HAI KE AAP US JAGAH KO CHOR DIEN, AUR KOI DOORSI JAGAH DEKHEN APNE LYE”
[I have heard about him, he is a clever man, I suggest you to leave the institution , go and look for another place]
It is a biting wit that when I came back to Kishanganj I told Dr. Syed Hasan the same thing what Maullana Waheeduddin Khan had told me about him.
“ ACHCHA ACHCHA….. ACHCHA .. JI..JI…JIHAN ….JIHAN…JI …JI”
[ OK…OK…..OK….yes ….yes…yes ….ok … yes ]
This was Dr.Syed Hasan’s response. [to be continued]
Disclaimer: The content of the article is the personal views / experience of the author (contributor). Kishanganj Blog (Md Mudassir Alam) is not responsible for any type of personal remarks or any objectionable statement made by the author.
