The Rifa-e-Aam Club ( Urdu: رفاہِ عام کلب, Hindi: रिफ़ा-ए-आम क्लब) is a historic building in Lucknow, India. It is best known as the place where the Progressive Writers Movement was created. [1] [2]
The building was constructed around 1860 by the Nawab of Awadh, who intended it to be a centre of the royalty's literary life in the region. [1] [3] According to a local historian, the name derived from "rifa" or "happiness" and "aam" or "common", and suggested that the club offered happiness to the common man. [4] [5] The club was open to everybody, in contrast to European clubs which did not allow Indians to apply. [5] In subsequent years it became what The Economist described as "an important nationalist hangout". [6] It was one of the centres of Indian nationalism and other intellectual activity, frequented by individuals such as Munshi Premchand and Mohammad Amir Ahmad Khan. [2] In the 1900s it hosted meetings of the All-India Muslim League. [1] The club hosted a meeting of the Indian National Congress and the Muslim League which led to the Lucknow Pact of 1916, which was also signed on the premises. [3] [2] Mahatma Gandhi visited the building to give a speech on Hindu-Muslim unity on 15 October 1920 [2] [7] [8] and on 26 April 1922 Jawaharlal Nehru and Vallabhbhai Patel made speeches at the club encouraging local people to intensify the Swadeshi movement. [9] The Progressive Writers Movement was created on 10 April 1936. [1]
The building has not been well maintained in the decades since; one wing has become a hospital, another has been abandoned, and the courtyard is a rubbish dump. [6] [1] [3] The poor state of the building has led to local activism trying to get it recognized and protected as a heritage landmark by the government. [2] [1] [6] [5]
The Rifa-e-Aam Club ( Urdu: رفاہِ عام کلب, Hindi: रिफ़ा-ए-आम क्लब) is a historic building in Lucknow, India. It is best known as the place where the Progressive Writers Movement was created. [1] [2]
The building was constructed around 1860 by the Nawab of Awadh, who intended it to be a centre of the royalty's literary life in the region. [1] [3] According to a local historian, the name derived from "rifa" or "happiness" and "aam" or "common", and suggested that the club offered happiness to the common man. [4] [5] The club was open to everybody, in contrast to European clubs which did not allow Indians to apply. [5] In subsequent years it became what The Economist described as "an important nationalist hangout". [6] It was one of the centres of Indian nationalism and other intellectual activity, frequented by individuals such as Munshi Premchand and Mohammad Amir Ahmad Khan. [2] In the 1900s it hosted meetings of the All-India Muslim League. [1] The club hosted a meeting of the Indian National Congress and the Muslim League which led to the Lucknow Pact of 1916, which was also signed on the premises. [3] [2] Mahatma Gandhi visited the building to give a speech on Hindu-Muslim unity on 15 October 1920 [2] [7] [8] and on 26 April 1922 Jawaharlal Nehru and Vallabhbhai Patel made speeches at the club encouraging local people to intensify the Swadeshi movement. [9] The Progressive Writers Movement was created on 10 April 1936. [1]
The building has not been well maintained in the decades since; one wing has become a hospital, another has been abandoned, and the courtyard is a rubbish dump. [6] [1] [3] The poor state of the building has led to local activism trying to get it recognized and protected as a heritage landmark by the government. [2] [1] [6] [5]