SHOYABULLAH
KHAN
Date
of Birth: 17th October, 1920 and Date of Death: 22nd
August, 1948
Shoyabullah
Khan, who was a scathic critic of the separatist ideology falsely whipped up in
the Nizam state, with his powerful writings, was born on 17th October, 1920 in Mahaboobabad of Warangal district
of Andhra Pradesh. Since he looked like
Gandhi, his father Habibullah Khan used to call him ‘Shoyabullah Gandhi’. Shoyab was influenced by non-violence
ideology of Mahatma Gandhi from childhood.
He entered into journalism after graduating himself from the Osmania
University. He worked for the Urdu
weekly ‘Tez’, which encouraged and
propagated the nationalist ideology. He
wrote several articles criticising the inhuman atrocities of the henchmen of
the Nawab of Nizam. This led to imposition
of ban on the ‘Tez’ weekly by the
Nizam Government. Later, he joined the ‘Rayyath’ Urdu magazine, which was run by
M. Narasingha Rao. He continued his pen
in the launching of criticism on the cruelty of Razakars and inhuman acts of
the Nizam government in that magazine also, which led to forcible the closure
of the magazine. After the closure of
the ‘Rayyath’, Shoyabullah
established his own magazine ‘Imroz’
on 15th November, 1947, by selling the ornaments of his mother and
wife. He fought against communalism and
tyranny of the Nizam Government and its henchmen without compromise. When India got independence in 1947, he wrote
editorials demanding the merger of the Hyderabad state with the Indian Union. He supported the People’s Movement for the
merger and wrote several articles explaining the necessity for the merger of
the Nizam Sate with the Indian Union. He
exposed the selfish motives of Nizam in opposing the merger. He was threatened by the Nizam’s henchmen for
his writings. But, he did not care for
their warnings and threats and continued his nationalist mission. As a result, while coming back from his ‘Imroz’ office with his colleague and
brother-in-law Mohammed Khan, he was assaulted brutally by his opponents, who
chopped off his hands and shot at him on 21st August, 1948
midnight. Shoyabullah Khan succumbed to
the injuries in the early hours of 22nd
August, 1948 in Hyderabad. Prior to
his death, while getting treatment in the hospital, he said to his relatives
and friends, ‘Death is inevitable.
Nobody can escape from death. One
must feel proud if the death occurs in course of the journey for a cause. You must feel proud of me, because I am dying
for the Nation’.
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