HAMID DALWAI: THE RADICAL MODERNIST

Hamid Umar Dalwai was a Muslim Modernist, social reformer, thinker, activist and Marathi language writer in
Maharashtra. In India mingling of religion with politics is always been the part of politics. India had witnessed the
politicization of religion since the British Government. After the Independence various political parties are vying or
Muslim votes by offering various promises. The Muslim leadership’s thought process which prevailed during his
time virtually sought a parallel state for Muslim within India. Hamid Dalwai was one among the few religiously
secular people. He had an independent personality of his own. From time to time, he earnestly appealed to political
parties in India not to make humble appeals to Muslims. According to him, it indirectly fostered emphasis on
communal separatism in Muslims. He believed that religion and politics have been confused amongst Indian
Muslims. He wanted to attack it and expected to separate the two. He used his life, speech and writing for that
purpose. He strove towards a uniform civil code rather than religion specific laws. To banish religion from the public
sphere of politics as Kemal Ataturk had done in Turkey same kind of secular ideology Hamid Dalwai wanted to
implement in India. Hamid Dalwai along with seven women had marched down to the Mantralaya in Mumbai,
demanded today, the issue of triple talaq has gained traction, and with the practice declared illegal by the Supreme
Court in 2019.Dalwai is one of the key figures that spearheaded this struggle. He was a radical Modernist who
appeal to Muslim society that an old-fashioned Muslim society could not compete in the modern world, Muslim
remained backward because they oppose the modernism. He demanded that triple talaq be abolished, uniform civil
code (UCC) be implemented and polygamy be banned". Dalwai’s main interest was with changing the attitudes of
Indian Muslims towards democracy and modernism and the need for reform among Muslims. The analysis and
interpretation of Islam and the politics of Muslim community by Hamid Dalwai was revolutionary. In this sense, he
was the first Modernist, revolutionary social thinker in the Muslim society of Maharashtra.