Abbas Tyabji | |
|---|---|
 Abbas Tyabji and Mahatma Gandhi in 1934 | |
| Born | (1854-02-01)1 February 1854 |
| Died | 9 June 1936(1936-06-09) (aged 82) |
| Other names | Grand Old Man of Gujarat |
| Political party | Indian National Congress |
| Relatives | Salim Ali (nephew)[1] |
| Family | Tyabji family |
Abbas Tyabji (1 February 1854 – 9 June 1936) was anIndian freedom fighter fromGujarat, and an associate ofMahatma Gandhi. He also served as theChief Justice ofBaroda State. His grandson is historianIrfan Habib.[2]
Abbas Tyabji was born to aSulaimani BohraArab family ofCambay inGujarat. He was the son of Shamsuddin Tyabji and grandson of Mullah Tyab Ali, a merchant. His father's elder brother wasBadruddin Tyabji, first Indian to become a Barrister later on a judge of theBombay High Court and an early, loyalist president of theIndian National Congress.
Abbas Tyabji was born inBaroda State, where his father was in the service of theGaekwadMaharaja. He was educated in England, where he lived for eleven years. His nephew, the ornithologistSalim Ali, says in his autobiography,
[Abbas Tyabji], though a moderate nationalist at heart, would stand no adverse criticism of the British as a people, or of the Raj, and even a mildly disparaging remark about the King-Emperor or the royal family was anathema to him. . . If he had any strong sentiments aboutSwadeshi, he certainly didn't show it by precept or example. . . This being so, he naturally disagreed vehemently with Gandhiji and his methods of political mass agitation. . . In other respects, his moderate but simmering nationalism and his absolute integrity and fairness as a judge were widely recognized and lauded, even by leftist Congressmen and anti-British extremists.[3]
As an England-educated barrister, Tyabji landed a job as judge in the court ofBaroda State as a matter of course. With a generous salary added to his sizable family inheritance, and the respectability of a high-government appointment, the family was ensconced in the higher echelons of elite, westernized society, as compradors of theBritish Raj. For the entirety of his career, Tyabji remained a staunch loyalist of the Raj. He raised his children in a westernized manner, sending his children to England for higher education, and in time, he rose in the judiciary to become Chief Justice of the High Court ofBaroda State and retired.
He was an early proponent of women's rights, supporting women's education and social reform. He broke with the prevailing custom of the times by disregardingpurdah restrictions and sending his daughters to school.[4][5] His daughter, Sohaila, was the mother of the eminent historianIrfan Habib.[2]
Abbas Tyabji attended, along withMahatma Gandhi, the Social Conference held atGodhra in 1917.[5] At the time, he was seen as a model of Britishness, leading a Western lifestyle and wearing impeccably tailored English suits.[6] All of that changed after theJallianwala Bagh massacre in 1919, when he was appointed by theIndian National Congress as chairman of an independent fact-finding committee. He cross-examined hundreds of eyewitnesses and victims of the atrocities committed byReginald Dyer, reacting with "nausea and revulsion." That experience drove him to become a loyal follower of Gandhi, giving strong support to the cause of the Indian National Congress.[3][5]
Leaving his Western style aristocratic life behind, he adopted many of the symbols of the Gandhi movement, burning his English clothes and spinning and wearing khadi.[6] He traveled around the country in third-class railway carriages, staying in simpledharamsalas andashrams, sleeping on the ground and walking miles preachingnon-violent disobedience against the British Indian government. He continued this new lifestyle well past the age of seventy, including several years in British jails.[3][5] In 1928, he supportedSardar Vallabhbhai Patel in theBardoli Satyagraha, which included a boycott of British cloth and goods. Tyabji's daughter, Sohaila, remembered loading a bullock cart with the family's foreign garments, onto which were loaded all her mother's "best Irish linen, bedspreads, table covers... ", her father's "angarkha, chowghas and English suits" and Sohaila's own "favourite caps of silk and velvet", all given to be burnt.[2]
In early 1930, the Indian National Congress declaredPurna Swaraj, or independence from the British Raj. As their first act of civil disobedience, orsatyagraha, Mahatma Gandhi chose a nationwide non-violent protest against the British salt tax. Congress officials were convinced that Gandhi would quickly be arrested, and chose Tyabji as Gandhi's immediate successor to lead the Salt Satyagraha in case of Gandhi's arrest. On 4 May 1930, after the Salt March to Dandi, Gandhi was arrested and Tyabji placed in charge of the next phase of the Salt Satyagraha, a raid on the Dharasana Salt Works in Gujarat.[5][7]
On 7 May 1930 Tyabji launched theDharasana Satyagraha, addressing a meeting of the satyagrahis, and beginning the march with Gandhi's wifeKasturba at his side. An eyewitness remarked "It was a most solemn spectacle to see this Grand Old Man with his flowing snow-white beard marching at the head of the column and keeping pace in spite of his three score and sixteen years."[8] On 12 May, before reaching Dharasana, Tyabji and 58 satyagrahis were arrested by the British. At that point,Sarojini Naidu was appointed to lead the Dharasana Satyagraha, which ended with the beating of hundreds of satyagrahis, an event that attracted worldwide attention to India's independence movement.[7]
Mahatma Gandhi appointed Tyabji, at age seventy-six, to replace him as leader of theSalt Satyagraha in May 1930 after Gandhi's arrest.[7] Tyabji was arrested soon afterward and imprisoned by the British Indian Government. Gandhi and others respectfully called Tyabji the "Grand Old Man of Gujarat".[2][9]
Abbas Tyabji died inMussoorie, (now inUttarakhand) on 9 June 1936.[5] After his death, Gandhi wrote an article in theHarijan newspaper titled "G. O. M. of Gujarat" (Grand Old Man of Gujarat), including the following praise for Tyabji:
At his age and for one who had never known hardships of life it was no joke to suffer imprisonments. But his faith conquered every obstacle… He was a rare servant of humanity. He was a servant of India because he was a servant of humanity. He believed in God asDaridranarayana. He believed that God was to be found in the humblest cottages and among the depressed of the earth. Abbas Mian is not dead, though his body rests in the grave. His life is an inspiration for us all.[10]
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