Ebrahim Sulaiman Sait was born on 3 November 1922 into a family of Mysore Cutchi Memons settled in Bangalore, as the son of Mohammed Sulaiman Sait and Zainab Bai. His mother was from Thalasseri (Tellichery) in Kerala. He completed his primary education in the Brennen High School and Madrassa Yusufiya in Tellicherry as he had stayed back with his uncle Tahir Mahmood Moosa. He could not complete his studies at St. Alocious High School in Mangalore owing to his father's sudden death in 1937. He then shifted to St. Joseph High School and St. Joseph College in Bangalore. After graduating in economics and history, he started teaching in 1943 at Robertse-npet Government College in Kolar and Marai Melappe Governm-ent College in Mysore. He resigned from his teaching post when the establishment prevented government servants from indulging in politics.

 

He was active in social, educational and cultural fields right from his school and college days. He was a founder member of the Anjuman-e-Islahul Lisan, Talasserry, an organization founded for the propagation of Urdu. He was also an active member of the Muslim Students Federation and was elected Assistant Secret-ary of the St. Joseph's College Union and of Urdu Literary Society. He won the prestigious All Karnataka Elocution Comp-etition in Oratory in English in 1942 as well as Urdu Oratory Competitions conducted by Cutchi Memon Union, Bengaluru.

 

He married Maryam Bai alias Yasmeen, daughter of Mohamed Abdul Latheef Sait of Mattancheri, Kochi on August 8, 1949. The family migrated to Cochin in 1952. They had five children Khaild, Azra, Razia, Tasneem and Siraj. 

 

Sulaiman Sait had the privilege to share the stage with All India Muslim League's all time great leaders like Qaed-e-Azam Muhammed Ali Jinnah, Haji Abdul Sathar Sait, Liaqat Ali Khan and Fazlul-Haq, in the 1941 conference held at Madras. He was just 19 years old then. He announced his entry into politics through a speech he gave in the Malabar district conference of Muslim Students Federation. One of the greatest Muslim League leaders in Kerala, late K. M. Seethi Sahib, was his mentor and his political guru. Qaed-e-Millat Ismail Sahib was another great mentor and source of inspiration for him. So was Haji Abdul Sathar Sait. In 1943 he presided over the Malabar Muslim Students Federation Conference when his speech in English was translated to Malayalam by Seethi Saheb! 

 

At 22, in 1944 he became the President of the Beedi Labour Union of Mysore, in which position he continued upto 1948, and General Secretary of  Mysore City Muslim League from 1945 to 1952. He was Chief Adviser to the Muslim Students Federation, Mysore during 1946-50. In 1953 he was elected President, Ernakulam District Muslim League. He participated in the Liberation Movement (Vimochana Samaram) against the Communist Government in Kerala and courted arrest in 1959 along with Mammen Chacko, Shankan and Bafakyh Thangal.

 

In 1960 he was elected General Secretary of Kerala State Muslim League and later its Vice President. After the demise of K.M. Seethi Saheb in 1961 he was elected as the General Secretary of Indian Union Muslim League. On the demise of Bafakeyh Tangal in 1973 he was elected President of the Party there hold office continuously for 20 years, when he resigned on account of a difference of a serious conflict. Following the tragic incidents connected with the demolition of Babri Masjid, Ebrahim Sulaiman Sait ran into a serious conflict with the Indian Union Muslim League. He strongly felt that IUML should dissociate itself from Congress, whose leaders were passive witnesses to the demolition and the atrocities that followed. He was victimised and removed from the party membership. On 23rd April 1994, he formed the Indian National League and took its stewadoreship at the All India Muslim Convention held in Delhi. Since then, for nearly a decade, he painstakingly led the party forward, despite his old age and shortage of monetary, resources and manpower. 

 

Other comunity leadership positions held by him were:

* President, Madrasuthul Mujahideen Oriental School, Kochi

* General Secretary, Kerala Muslim Education Association (1959)

* President, Cutchi Memon Association, Kochi, (1959-63) 

* President, Iqbal Library, Kochi, 1962-72

 

His first entry into the Indian Parliament was as a Rajya Sabha Member representing the Indian Union Muslim League in 1960 for a six year term ending 1966..He was elected to Loksabha continually for 30 years from 1967 to 1996. During the long 35 years he served on various Parliamentary Committees:as under:

1. National Integration Council Estimates Committee

2. Standing Committee on External Affairs

3. Consultative Committee on Home Affairs

4. Consultative Committee on Transport and Shipping

5. Consultative Committee on Tourism and Aviation

6. Select Committee on Plantation and Labour

7. Select Committee on Criminal Procedure Code

8. Central Haj Advisary Committee

9. Central Waqf Council

10. Bombay Haj Committee

11. Aligarh Muslim University Court

 

He was Member, Kerala State Waqf Board for 20 years and its Chair for 10 years.

 

Cutchi Memons of Kochi will ever gratefully remember him for his hard work for the resusciation of the Cutchi Memon Jamath.

 

Ebrahim Sulaiman Sait was one of the most noted and acclai-med parliamentarians the democratic India had ever seen. He had been in Parliament for long 35 years representing different constituencies in Kerala: Manjeri, Ponnani and Kozhikode. He was closely known to all prime ministers of India right from Pandit Jawarharlal Nehru. But he was never willing to exploit his fame and influence for personal gains. Nor was he nepotistic. Despite giving good education to his children, he never bothered about finding them good posts. When our political leaders synonymised politics with nepotism, he stood at the opposite pole. He used to refuse gifts when it was meant to win favour.. According to his confidant late C.A. Majeed, he was the only member of Parliament who would either cycle his way to the Parliament or walk long distances firmly refusing to accept any offer of transportation by an automobile.

 

He was too honest to be a politician," analysts often said about him. He was innocent like a child, and that innocence caused him to be cheated by even those whom he trusted most.He was an angry young man even in his 80s whenever it came to the issue of injustice towards the minority. He enjoyed unending energy inside. But he didn't know how to "play" politics: for him, politics was not a game, but a very wise and serious thing to engage in.

 

He never tried to hide his emotions whether in parliament or in a riot zone. His emotions were always for noble causes. His empathy was for the suffering of his beloved community