Abid Hasan Safrani: Netaji's Comrade-in-Arms
Contents: Preface. 1. Abid Hasan Safrani: An Outstanding Indian Patriot of Hyderabad. 2. Pluralistic Hyderabad Deccan. 3. Roots of the Freedom Struggle in Hyderabad. 4. The Pioneering Women of Hyderabad. 5. Gandhi, Bose and Abid Hasan. 6. With Subhasbabu in Germany. 7. From Germany to Japan: An Underwater Saga. 8. Meeting the Indian Diaspora of Singapore. 9. The INA Takes Shape. 10. Imphal: Success, Defeat and Retrea. 11. Goodbye, Netaji!. 12. India Wins Freedom. 13. Serving India as a Diplomat. 14. The Sunset Years. 15. The Family Man. 16. In the War Room with the Fuhrer. 17. Lilian Frydan. 18. Kimono. 19. Has-San. 20. ‘Netaji and the Indian Communal Question’/Abid Hasan Safrani. 21. ‘The Task after Winning Freedom’. 22. ‘The Men from Imphal’/Abid Hasan Safrani. 23. ‘Modern Aspects of Indian Spiritual Conceptions’/Abid Hasan Safrani. 24. ‘On a Slow Boat with Safrani’/Geeta Doctor. 25. ‘Reporting the Revolt in Iraq’/Prem Bhatia. 26. …All Thanks to Zainu Manna/Sajid Mahmood. 27. Qaumi Geet: Shubh Sukh Chain. 28. Epilogue.
In the words of historian Sugata Bose: ‘Netaji’s comrade-in-arms Abid Hasan Safrani was a quiet revolutionary who kept himself out of the limelight even while being present at every vital scene and moment of the final phase of our freedom struggle across Europe and Asia.’ A member of Netaji’s Azad Hind Fauj, Safrani is famous as the man who coined the slogan ‘Jai Hind’, which became the national salutation for Indian soldiers, statesmen and civilians alike.
Safrani grew up in old aristocratic Hyderabad of the 1920s in a richly syncretic, secular culture and a vibrant social and intellectual environment that influenced him deeply, leading him later to plunge into politics under Subhas Bose’s leadership. He went on to become one of Netaji’s closest associates, and was the only one to accompany him on his historic submarine voyage from Kiel in Germany to Japanese territory in Sumatra, Malaysia, during World War II. A polyglot and connoisseur of art and history, Safrani also served independent India as a diplomat of distinction in China, West Asia, Africa and Europe.
Compiled by his niece Ismat Mehdi, who accompanied him on his foreign postings to Bern and Baghdad, and his nephew Shehbaz Safrani, who was with him in Baghdad and Damascus, Abid Hasan’s accounts of his time and journeys with Netaji—collected from his notebooks—bring alive key historical events and fill in crucial gaps in the narration of India’s freedom struggle. Anecdotal memories of Safrani recounted by family and friends also reveal a self-effacing, fiercely loyal, brave and generous man with an endearing persona. The story of an unsung national hero, this book preserves and disseminates some of the finest and forgotten lessons of our freedom struggle, to better understand the evolution of independent India.
