Reply in reply to Address of Welcome presented to him by the Staff of the Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh,on 5th April, 1939

"No Nation can progress without Economic Stability"

Replying to the Address of Welcome presented by the Staff of the Aligarh Muslim University, the Quaid said that Aligarh, to quote the words of the address, “was the hope and the aspiration of the Muslims. He had almost retired from public life but when the call of Islam came he could not keep himself away. Muslims were not in the No Man’s Land: they were the No Man’s Land.” The Muslim was not in his own…there are two important instruments for bringing up a nation – the mother and the teacher. It was a most responsible task. I realise that you have done your best within your limits. A re-orientation of the mentality of the intelligentsia was urgently needed. We cannot even today rely on fully equipped men. I have knocked about a great deal, and I find that one important ingredient is missing. The intelligentsia has not grasped one principle – self-confidence and moral, cultural and political self-consciousness. No nation has ever achieved anything unless the intelligentsia is prepared to make sacrifices.”

Muslims a Nation

“I make no secret of the fact that Muslims and Hindus are two nations and the Muslims cannot maintain their status as such unless they acquire national self-consciousness and national self-determination. The Muslim mind suffers from defeatism. Fear, demoralisation and mendicancy haunt the minds of many of us. There is no hope for us so long as the defeatist mentality continues. But we are now awakening to our duties. We are going to live as a nation and play our part as a nation.”

Don’t Be Purchasable

“All sorts of questions are put to me. Why don’t you have a first-class daily? Why don’t you organise the Muslim League? Why have you done this or that? What is your economic programme? How can one do it all without men and money? I ask you if you know that Muslims have no shares in any industrial development or concern. No nation can progress without economic stability. Who will attend to it? So long as the intelligentsia is not prepared to come forward to build up the nation there can be no hope for us. You were kind enough to remark that I am one of those who cannot be purchased. I ask you to follow the example and train your youth in such a way that they would not allow themselves to be purchased by anybody.”