A niece of Abid Hasan, who accompanied Subhas Chandra Bose on his voyage from Europe to Asia by submarine during World War II, said the sacrifice of those who fought for India’s freedom has been forgotten and the new generation takes their freedom for granted.
Ismat Mehdi, Hasan’s niece, was delivering a lecture at Netaji Research Bureau on Netaji’s 126th birth anniversary on Monday. A book titled Abid Hasan Safrani, Netaji’s Comrade-in-Arms, compiled by her and Shahbaz Safrani, was released on the occasion.
“The sacrifice of young and old, big and small, for India’s struggle are now forgotten. They (the young) need to be reminded how freedom fighters gave their all for India’s freedom. The new generations are thankless and take their freedom for granted,” Mehdi said in her address.
“This book has been the combined effort of our family members. It was long felt that Abid Hasan’s contribution to the national struggle was recognised in Calcutta and elsewhere, but was largely ignored in his hometown (Hyderabad).”
Hasan was Netaji’s only Indian companion on the 90-day submarine voyage from Europe to Asia in 1943. He struggled and fought alongside Netaji for India’s freedom from 1941 to 1945.
Hasan was a major in the Indian National Army (INA) and served the country as a diplomat after Independence. He had coined the INA's battle cry “Jai Hind”.
After she completed her address, Mehdi said in response to a question that Netaji’s vision of unity and inclusive approach has been ignored. “We must remember how he united all sections, from north to south, east to west, all religions, all colours, even women. This is the relevance of Netaji,” she said.
“Netaji had a Constitution in mind which included everyone in India. Now everyone is not included.”
The birthday celebration featured an audio-visual presentation on the theme “Equality and Unity: The Men and Women of Netaji’s Azad Hind Movement” by Sugata Bose, Netaji’s great-nephew and a history professor at Harvard University.
The programme included a Netaji Birthday Concert presented by KM Sufi Ensemble from A.R. Rahman’s KM Music Conservatory Chennai.
“In the book on Abid Hasan, you will find his notes written down from memory of a speech delivered by Netaji in Singapore in 1943. ‘When we march one by the side of the other, one getting killed and shedding the blood with Jai Hind as his last word, then those of us remain alive and see India free, will guarantee that no dissension shall ever again creep up among us. Jai Hind is the expression of our common brotherhood, common ideology, common belief and common aim’,” Bose said in his address.
“It is surely time to rekindle this spirit of equality and unity.”
Sumantra Bose, a professor of international and comparative politics at the London School of Economics and brother of Sugata, was present on the occasion.
Mehdi had received the Netaji Award conferred on Hasan by Netaji Research Bureau in 2021.