Siddique Hassan, a leader who radiated energy

It had been a few weeks since the Madhyamam newspaper started publication in 1987. Back then, I was a professor at Farook College. One day, Prof Siddique Hassan and O Abdurahman-now the Chief Editor of Madhyamam-came over to the college quarters where I stayed. They requested that I join the newspaper's editorial board. Since then, I invested all my holidays and breaks from college duties for Madhyamam.

It was through Prof Siddique Hassan that I interacted with different fields, one of them being 'CIGI'. Prof. Hassan played a role in the rise of Dr KM Abubacker, the former director of the Al Farook Educational Centre (a fraternal institution of Farook College), as the leader of CIGI.

Siddique Hassan Sahib's proactive intervention helped realise the dream of Dr Abubacker to start a career guidance institution. He took care to resolve both Dr Abubacker's concerns and the financial constraints at the early stages of an institution.

At the same time, he was determined to ensure a broad foundation for CIGI. As CIGI was aimed at the educational and occupational growth of marginalised communities, he was clear that it should not be identified with the organisation. His determination that CIGI must not belong to Jamat-e-Islami, of which he was 'Ameer', was shared by Dr Abubacker. This foresight has made CIGI the broad and independent platform that it is today.

I had the opportunity to be part of many other undertakings under the leadership of Prof. Siddique Hassan. Al-Haramain School and Meantime English magazine are some of them. Meantime had to stop due to financial constraints. Al-Haramain grew to be an excellent CBSE school.

His dedication was such that it would spread to those near him, although it was not easy to catch up to his level. Personally, I carry the guilt of not meeting his fullest expectations. A leader whose energy radiated to his colleagues and cadres - that was Prof. Siddique Hassan.