Abdul Ghaffar Khan was a political and
spiritual leader of India. He also made a great contribution to the freedom
struggle of India. He was respected for his non-violent approaches to the
British. He is known as the faithful follower of Mahatma Gandhi. Those who
loved him gave him various names. Some called him Badshah Khan (King of
Chiefs). But the most famous name given to him is 'the Frontier Gandhi '.
Ghaffer Khan entered politics when he met
Gandhi in 1919. At that time Gandhiji was involved in the agitations against
the Rowlatt Acts. In the following year he joined the Khilafat movement. The
purpose of this movement was to strengthen the spiritual ties of Indian Muslims
to the Turkish sultan. In 1921 he was elected president of a district Khilafat
committee in his native Frontier Province.
Ghaffar Khan attended a Congress Party
gathering in 1929. Immediately after it, he founded the Khudai Khitmatgar
('Servants of God'). It is called the Red Shirt Movement among the Pashtuns. It
was an organization that supported the freedom movement. In 1930s Ghaffer Khan
had become a member of Gandhi's inner circle of advisers. Ghaffer Khan had
always opposed the partition of India. He was very much hurt when the congress
accepted the Mountbattan plan for the partition of India. However, he chose to
live in Pakistan. His memories, My Life and Struggle, appeared in 1969.
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