Dr. Syed Mahmud was an Indian politician and senior leader in the Indian National Congress during the Indian independence movement and in post-independence India.
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Mahmud was born in the village of Saidpur, near Ghazipur in modern Uttar Pradesh, India.[1][2] He was educated at the Aligarh Muslim University. During his time at the University, Mahmud became involved in student political activities and attended the 1905 session of the Indian National Congress, the largest Indian nationalist organisation in what was then British-ruled India.[1][2] Along with fellow student and later political leader, Dr. Saifuddin Kitchlew, Mahmud was amongst the Muslim students who opposed the pro-British loyalties of the All India Muslim League and were drawn more to the nationalist Congress.[1][2] After being expelled from Aligarh for his political activities, Mahmud travelled to England to study at Lincoln's Inn to become a barrister. In 1909, he earned a Ph.D. from Germany and returned to practise law in India.[1][2] After practising law for a few years, he was soon drawn into the strengthening movement for India's independence.
Syed Mahmud was one of the young Muslim leaders who played a role in crafting the 1916 Lucknow Pact between the Congress and the Muslim League.[1][2] He participated in the Home Rule movement in 1916 and in the Non-cooperation movement and the Khilafat movement under the influence and leadership of Mahatma Gandhi. In 1923 he was elected to the post of deputy general secretary of the All India Congress Committee. In 1930, he was imprisoned in Allahabad along with Indian leader Jawaharlal Nehru during the Civil disobedience movement.[1][2] After the sweeping Congress victory in the 1937 central and provincial elections, Syed Mahmud was considered one of the leading prospective candidates to serve as Chief Minister of Bihar but instead eminent nationalists Anugrah Narayan Sinha and Shri Krishna Sinha were called from Central Legislative Assembly(Council of Estates) and groomed for Chiefministership.The succession of fellow Bihari Congressman Srikrishna Sinha to the post over Mahmud caused some controversy, but Mahmud joined Sinha's government as a cabinet minister and was accorded third place in the cabinet.[1][2]
By 1942, the Congress ministries across India had resigned over opposition to Indian involvement in the Second World War. Syed Mahmud was one of the members of the Congress Working Committee that endorsed the 1942 Quit India movement, calling for an immediate end to British rule. Between 1942 and 1946, the entire Congress Working Committee was imprisoned in Ahmednagar.[3] During imprisonment, Mahmud's health deteriorated due to an allergy to the inoculation against cholera that had been administered by the prison medical authorities.[3] After a fortnight of illness, Mahmud's health had begun to recover when he was released by the government in 1944. After his release, the British authorities announced that Mahmud had written a letter to the Viceroy of India apologizing for his participation in the movement.[3] Mahmud initially expressed surprise at his release, but after anger and a sense of betrayal spread amongst other freedom fighters over, Mahmud admitted to writing the letter.[3] After meeting with Gandhi, he apologized for doing so and letting down his colleagues and the movement.[3] Mahmud's standing with Indian nationalists improved over the succeeding years. He was one of the secular Muslim leaders who opposed the Muslim League's demand for the creation of a separate Muslim state of Pakistan, and worked with other Indian leaders against the resulting communal violence between Muslims and Hindus in Bihar and other parts of India.
After India's independence, Syed Mahmud was elected to the first Lok Sabha (lower house of the Indian Parliament) from the constituency of Champaran-East in Bihar.[4] He served as the Minister of External Affairs between 1954 and 1957 and represented India at the Bandung Conference.[1][2]