Hyderabad: A Hyderabadi by name Abid Hasan Sefrani had gave the slogan “Jai Hind”. He was born in an aristocratic family of Hyderabad on 11th April, 1911. His full name was Zainul Abedeen Hasan. He was educated at Grammar School, Hyderabad. Later, he went to Germany to pursue Engineering education. It was the period of Second World War. During his studies in Germany, he met Subash Chandra Bose and decided to join Indian National Army (INA). He also became the personal secretary and interpreter of Subash Chandra Bose.
In 1943, he boarded German U Board 180 and started his journey for West Asia. He added the suffix ‘Sefrani’ to his name which was an indication of ‘Saffron’ which marks the sacred colour for the Hindus. It was considered the symbol of communal harmony.
Before joining INA, Mr. Hasan was a Congressman and he used to participate in Congress meetings which were held in connection with Non-Cooperation Movement. He was also imprisoned for this.
When he apprised Bose about his concern for freedom of India, he liked him.
In those days, Indian Army under the British used to have three regiments namely, Hindu, Muslim and Sikh but Subash Candra Bose wanted to form a combined army consisting of all the Indians.
According to Leonard Gordon, the author of “Against the Raj”, Bose like the slogan “Jai Hind”.
In 1943, Bose decided to make “Jana Gana Mana” of Ravindranath Tagore slogan of Azad Hind Army, he wished Abid Hasan to translate it into Hindi. Mr. Abid translated it with the help of Mumtaz Hasan and JR Bose. For this anthem, Ram Singh Thakoor composed music. This became the famous anthem for the army during its march.
After independence of India, Jawaharlal Nehru recognized Abid Hasan’s talents and commissioned his services for Indian Foreign Service. He served as an Ambassador of India and died at the age of 73 in 1984 but history has forgotten him.
By Capt. Pandu Ranga Reddy
–Siasat News