Mullah Tyab Ali Bhai Mian, popularly known as Badruddin Tyabji, is known for his passion for education and contributions made to national causes through the Indian National Congress as its first President from a minority community. Tyabji's own education and upbringing, which was a harmonic blend of East and West, made him acutely aware of the lack of it, especially among Muslims. Badruddin Tyabji, Pherozeshah Mehta and Kashinath Telang were popularly known as ‘The Triumvirate’ or ‘The Three Stars’ of Bombay's public life. In this article we will discuss in detail the political contributions made by Badruddin Tyabji.

Badruddin Tyabji

Badruddin Tyabji - Background

• Badruddin Tyabji (Tyab Ali) was born in Bombay on October 10, 1844.
• Mullah Tyab Ali Bhai Mian, a member of the Sulaimani Bohra community who wanted all of his kids to receive the highest education possible, was the youngest of seven sons.
• He came from a long line of Arab emigrants from Cambay.
• Tyabji joined the Middle Temple after passing the London matriculation, became a Barrister in April 1867 - the first Indian Barrister in Bombay - and advanced quickly through the profession.
• Badruddin was motivated by his elder brother, Camruddin, who was the first Indian solicitor admitted in England and Wales, and enrolled in Newbury High Park College in London in 1860.
• He also studied at the University of London and Middle Temple in 1863.
• When he returned to India in December 1867, he became the first Indian barrister in the Bombay High Court, and in 1873, he was elected to the Bombay Municipal Corporation.
• From 1875 until 1905, he was a member of the University of Bombay's senate.
• From 1882 to 1886, he was a member of the Bombay Legislative Council, and in 1885, he founded the Bombay Presidency Association alongside Pherozeshah Mehta and Kashinath Trimbak Telang.

Badruddin Tyabji - Political Participation

• He began working for the Indian National Congress in 1885, who was actually part of the group of founding members of the Congress party’s core team.
• Badruddin Tyabi was the Indian National Congress's first Muslim president.
• He was the third President of the Congress, after WC Bannerjee and Dadabhai Naoroji, serving from 1887 to 1888.
• He was appointed to the Bombay High Court in 1895, becoming the first Muslim judge and the third Indian to do so.
• Badruddin was the first Indian to hold the position of Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court.
• The Indian Parliamentary Committee was founded in England in 1893 by Badruddin, Naoriji, and Bonnerjee.

Badruddin Tyabji - Socio-political Contributions

• He believed that India's attention was too narrowly centered on politics.
• He believed that even the most modern form of governance would be pointless if the majority of the people were ignorant.
• Tyabji campaigned against ‘Purdah’ all his life, holding that it went far beyond the Quranic injunctions.
• His family was one among the first in the Muslim community to abandon purdah, and his daughters were the first to be educated outside the country.
• He supported the Age of Consent Bill (1891), despite Hindu and Muslim opposition.
• He developed the Islam Club and the Islam Gymkhana to enhance Muslim group social participation.
• He was an outspoken opponent of the zenana system and sponsored Resolution No. XIII at the 1888 Allahabad Congress to bring Muslims together.
• As the Chief Justice of Bombay High Court, he was known as a great Judge and for his fearlessness and impartiality.
• He granted bail to Tilak in a sensational case, which had been rejected three times by others, which was a groundbreaking decision, and admonished eminent British lawyers for disparaging the Indian National Congress and Indian character.

Conclusion

Badruddin Tyabji was the first Muslim to establish a secular political consciousness, and he was a national pioneer in making it the Indian ideal. As Pherozeshah Mehta stated, he was as enthusiastically welcomed by the Hindus and the Parsis as by the Muslims. Tyabji died in London in 1906 due to Heart attack.