Abdul Ghaffar Khan

In News

• 20th January marks the death anniversary of Abdul Ghaffar Khan.

Abdul Ghaffar Khan 

• About:
  • He was also called the Frontier Gandhi.
  • Born on 6th February 1890 in Utmanzai, Frontier Tribal Areas of Punjab Province.
  • He was named Badshah Khan at twenty-six by the members of his tribe when his father died. 
  • Foremost 20th-century leader of the Pashtuns (Pakhtuns, or Pathans; a Muslim ethnic group of Pakistan and Afghanistan).
  • As a young boy, he left his high school final exams, aspiring to join ‘The Guides’, a corps composed of Sikhs and Pathans. 
• Roles:
  • He met Mahatma Gandhi and entered politics in 1919 during the agitation over the Rowlatt Act.
  • Joined the Khilafat movement.
  • He founded the Red Shirt movement (Khudai Khitmatgar/ Servant of God) among the Pashtuns. 
    • It espoused nonviolent nationalist agitation in support of Indian independence and sought to awaken the Pashtuns’ political consciousness.
• Values:
  • Honesty, modesty, courage & non-violence.
  • Started a monthly journal in Pushto.
• Award:
  • Received Bharat Ratna, the highest Indian honour in 1987.

Source:News 18