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{{Short description|Indian politician}}
{{other uses|Humayun Kabir (disambiguation)}}
{{Confuse|Humayun Kabir (West Bengal politician)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}
{{Use Indian English|date=August 2021}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Humayun Kabir
| image = HumayunKabirPic.jpg
| alt = 
| caption =
| office = [[Minister of Education (India)|Union Minister of Education]]
| prime_minister = [[Jawaharlal Nehru]]
| term_start = 1 September 1963
| term_end = 21 November 1963
| predecessor = [[K. L. Shrimali]]
| successor = [[M. C. Chagla]]
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1906|02|22}}
| birth_place = [[Faridpur District|Komarpur]], [[Bengal Presidency|Bengal]], [[British India]]
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1969|08|18|1906|02|22}}
| death_place = [[Kolkata]], [[West Bengal]], India
| alma_mater = [[Presidency University, Kolkata]]<br>[[University of Calcutta]]<br>[[Exeter College, Oxford]]
| other_names =
| occupation =
| years_active =
| known_for =
| notable_works =
}}

'''Humayun Kabir''' (1906-1969) was an Indian educationist and politician. He was also a poet, essayist and novelist in the [[Bengali language|Bengali]]-language. He was also a renowned political thinker. He was educated at [[Exeter College, Oxford|Exeter College]], [[Oxford]] and graduated in 1931. Kabir had been heavily involved with the [[Oxford Union]] during his student days, having been elected secretary in 1930 and librarian in 1931. He made his farewell speech on the motion: 'This House condemns the Indian policy of His Majesty's Government'. Kabir had also been involved with the student newspapers, the Isis and the Cherwell, and the [[Oxford Majlis]] journal, Bharat.
Upon his return to India, Kabir taught at a number of universities. He also became involved in [[trade union]] politics and was elected to the [[Bengal Legislative Assembly (1937—1947)|Bengal Legislative Assembly]] in 1937. He took up a number of government posts after 1947, including Minister for Education.

Kabir published a book of poems in Oxford in 1932, and continued to write poetry, short stories and novels after his return to India. He also wrote essays and was a well-respected [[orator]]. He died in [[Kolkata]] in 1969.<ref>{{cite web |title=Humayun Kabir {{!}} Making Britain |url=http://www.open.ac.uk/researchprojects/makingbritain/content/humayun-kabir |website=www.open.ac.uk}}</ref>

== Early life ==
Kabir was born on 22 February 1906 in [[Faridpur District|Komarpur]], in the [[Bengal Presidency]] of [[British India]]. His father, Khan Bahadur [[Khabeeruddin Ahmed]], was a Deputy Magistrate in Bengal. He came first, with star marks, in his matriculation examination in 1922 from Naogaon KD Govt High School. He was educated at [[Presidency College, Calcutta]], completing his Intermediate in Arts (I.A.) in English with first class third, and [[Calcutta University]], where he completed his B.A. (Honours) and M.A. in English with first class first. He won a scholarship to [[Exeter College, Oxford]] where he completed his degree in 'Modern Greats', i.e. [[Philosophy]], [[Political Science]], and [[Economics]] with a [[British undergraduate degree classification|first class]] in 1931.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Kabir,_Humayun|title=Kabir, Humayun |website=Banglapedia|language=en|access-date=2017-09-27}}</ref>

==Career==
In 1932, he was invited by [[Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan]] to join as a lecturer at the newly established [[Andhra University]]. Later, he was a [[Joint Education Adviser]], Education Secretary and then [[Chairman]] of the [[University Grants Commission (India)|University Grants Commission]] in [[Delhi]]. He was the [[Minister of State]] for [[Civil Aviation]], [[Education Minister]] of India twice, under the [[Prime Minister]]ships of [[Jawaharlal Nehru]] and [[Lal Bahadur Shastri]]. He was also Scientific Research and Cultural Affairs Minister. In 1965, Indira Gandhi offered him the [[Madras]] [[Governor]]'s post, which he declined. From 1956 to 1962, he was a member of the [[Rajya Sabha]] and from 1962 to 1969 he was a member of the [[Lok Sabha]], representing [[Basirhat (Lok Sabha constituency)|Basirhat constituency]] in [[West Bengal]].<ref name=":0" />

Kabir was the editor of [[Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad]]'s biography ''India Wins Freedom''. Azad dictated his biography to him in [[Urdu]], which Kabir translated into English. He was one of the co-drafter of the UNESCO 1950 statement titled ''[[The Race Question]]''.<ref name=":0" />

On 9 April 1967, Kabir organised a meeting of Chief Ministers of non-Congress states and other important leaders in Delhi. [[Bharatiya Kranti Dal]] was formed in this meeting with [[Mahamaya Prasad Sinha]] as its first chairman.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Brass |first=Paul R. |title=An Indian Political Life: Charan Singh and Congress Politics, 1967 to 1987 - Vol.3 (The Politics of Northern India) |publisher=Sage India |year=2014 |isbn=978-9351500322 |pages=37 |language=en}}</ref>

==Personal life==
Humayun Kabir married Shantilata Dutta, who belonged from a Bengali Brahmo family of Eastern Bengal (now Bangladesh). They had a daughter and a son. His daughter [[Leila Kabir]] (d. 15 May 2015) was the wife of Indian politician [[George Fernandes]]. His younger brother [[Jehangir Kabir]] was a politician in West Bengal, [[India]].<ref name=":0" /> His nephew [[Altamas Kabir]] was the 39th [[Chief Justice of India]] (CJI) and his niece Shukla Kabir Sinha is a judge of the [[Calcutta High Court]].

== Bibliography ==
* ''Imanuel Kant'' (1936)
* ''Sharat Sahityer Multattva'' (''The main theory of the literature of [[Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay]]'') (1942)
* ''Banglar Kavya'' (''The poetry of Bengal'') (1945)
* ''Marxbad'' (''Marxism'') (1951)
* ''Mirza Abu Talib Khan'' (1961)
* ''Poetry, Monads and Society'' (1941)
* ''Muslim Politics in Bengal'' (1943)
* ''Rabindranath Tagore'' (1945)
* ''Men and Rivers''
*The Unity of Indian Culture
* ''Svapnasadh''
* ''Sathi''
* ''Ashtadashi''
* ''Nadi O Nari''

== Death ==
Humayun Kabir also stayed some part of his life in [[Gopalpur-On-Sea]] near [[Berhampur City]] in Odisha. George Fernandes was staying at his father-in-law Humayun Kabir's house on the same Gopalpur-On-Sea beach house near Berhampur City just before the announcement of emergency. A warrant was issued in Fernandes' name and subsequently he went underground and hid himself in this house to escape arrest and prosecution. However, Humayun Kabir died on 18 August 1969 in [[Kolkata]], West Bengal, India.<ref name=":0" />

== References ==
{{reflist}}

{{Energy Ministries and Departments of India}}
{{First to Tenth Lok Sabha, West Bengal}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kabir, Humayun}}
[[Category:1906 births]]
[[Category:1969 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian Muslims]]
[[Category:Indian National Congress politicians from West Bengal]]
[[Category:Ministers of education of India]]
[[Category:India MPs 1962–1967]]
[[Category:India MPs 1967–1970]]
[[Category:Lok Sabha members from West Bengal]]
[[Category:Bengali writers]]
[[Category:Bengali-language writers]]
[[Category:Indian civil servants]]
[[Category:University of Calcutta alumni]]
[[Category:Presidency University, Kolkata alumni]]
[[Category:Alumni of Exeter College, Oxford]]
[[Category:Bangla Congress politicians]]
[[Category:20th-century Bengali people]]
[[Category:People from Faridpur District]]
[[Category:Politicians from Dhaka Division]]
[[Category:Bharatiya Kranti Dal politicians]]

Humayun Kabir Indian National Congress politician - Revision history

EverettePowe35 at 10:03, 1 May 2026