By Lateef Mohd. Khan,
Telangana people lost a great intellectual, whereas Muslims lost a secular and democratic friend, Urdu lost its proud son and civil liberties movement lost an untiring activist.
Prof.Jayashankar was the ideologue of Telangana; his loss is a great setback the achievement of this goal till his last breath. He prepared many activistsfor Telangana movement. He dedicated his life for the people of Telangana. The main aim of his life was the formation of Telangana state and fought for not only for Telangana but also for the civil liberties, and they are ready to lead his mission. He always supported people’s movement.
Prof.Jayashankar [Courtesy: gr8telangana.com]
His journey from a high school teacher to the vice-chancellor of Kakatiya University was very much simple and he led his life with modesty, with love and affection. His mother-tongue was Urdu and he was proud for it. He used to say that language does not need religion but religion needs language. In his last days he was very much concerned about the increasing trend of communal forces in Telangana movement. He tried his level best to protect the movement form it.
Even though he was very ill, he always responded promptly whenever we wanted to speak and never mentioned about his illness. He was always ready to meet and discuss on Telangana issue. His demise has created a vacuum at the time when the movement is at turning point and his presence at this time is very much essential. Civil Liberties pay its tributes to this great intellectual, thinker right and justice loving personality and oath that his mission will be fulfilled.
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Lateef Mohammad Khan is the General Secretary of Civil Liberties Monitoring Committee, India (CLMCI). http://www.civillibertiesindia.org