Shah Nawaz Khan (January 1914 – 9 December 1983) was an Indian politician who served as an officer in the

Indian National Army The Indian National Army (INA, sometimes Second INA; ''Azad Hind Fauj'' ; 'Free Indian Army') was a Empire of Japan, Japanese-allied and -supported armed force constituted in Southeast Asia during World War II and led by Indian Nationalism#An ...

(INA) during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. He was profoundly influenced by

Subhas Chandra Bose Subhas Chandra Bose (23 January 1897 – 18 August 1945) was an Indian independence movement, Indian nationalist whose defiance of British raj, British authority in India made him a hero among many Indians, but his wartime alliances with ...

's speeches asking POWs to join the Indian National Army and to fight for a free India, Khan led the army into North-Eastern India, seizing

Kohima Kohima (; Tenyidie: Kewhira ()) is the capital of the North East Indian state of Nagaland. With a resident population of almost 100,000, it is the second largest city in the state. Kohima constitutes both a district and a municipality. The m ...

and

Imphal Imphal (; , ) is the capital city of the Indian state of Manipur. The metropolitan centre of the city contains the ruins of Kangla Palace (officially known as Kangla Fort), the royal seat of the former Kingdom of Manipur, surrounded by a ...

which were held briefly by the INA under the authority of the Japanese. In December 1944, Shah Nawaz Khan was appointed Commander of the 1st Division at

Mandalay Mandalay is the second-largest city in Myanmar, after Yangon. It is located on the east bank of the Irrawaddy River, 631 km (392 mi) north of Yangon. In 2014, the city had a population of 1,225,553. Mandalay was founded in 1857 by Ki ...

. After the war, he was tried, convicted for treason, and sentenced to death in a public court-martial carried out by the

British Indian Army The Indian Army was the force of British Raj, British India, until Indian Independence Act 1947, national independence in 1947. Formed in 1895 by uniting the three Presidency armies, it was responsible for the defence of both British India and ...

. The sentence was commuted by the Commander-in-chief of the Indian Army following unrest and protests in India. After the trial, Khan declared that he would henceforth follow the path of non-violence espoused by Mahatama Gandhi and joined the Congress party. Having successfully contested the first Lok Sabha in 1952 from

Meerut Meerut (, ISO 15919, ISO: ''Mēraṭh'') is a city in the western region of the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Located in the Meerut district, it is northeast of the national capital, New Delhi, and is ...

, Khan had an illustrious parliamentary career. He was elected four times to the

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, also known as the House of the People, is the lower house of Parliament of India which is Bicameralism, bicameral, where the upper house is Rajya Sabha. Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by a ...

from Meerut constituency in

1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the Uni ...

1957 Events January * January 1 – The Saarland joins West Germany. * January 3 – Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch. * January 5 – South African player Russell Endean becomes the first batsman to be Dismissal (cricke ...

1962 The year saw the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is often considered the closest the world came to a Nuclear warfare, nuclear confrontation during the Cold War. Events January * January 1 – Samoa, Western Samoa becomes independent from Ne ...

and

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

Early life and education

As he states in his autobiography, Khan was born into a Punjabi Janjua

Rajput Rājpūt (, from Sanskrit ''rājaputra'' meaning "son of a king"), also called Thākur (), is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating fro ...

family on 24 January 1914 in Matore, a village now in the

Rawalpindi District Rawalpindi District (Punjabi language, Punjabi and ) is a Districts of Pakistan, district located in the northernmost part of the Punjab (Pakistan), Punjab province of Pakistan. Parts of the district form part of the Islamabad Rawalpindi metropo ...

of Pakistan.Shah Nawaz Khan, ''The I. N. A. Heroes: Autobiographies of Maj. Gen. Shahnawaz, Col. Prem K. Sahgal ndCol. Gurbax Singh of the Azad Hind Fauj'', Hero Publications (1946), p. 3: "I was born in a Janjua-Rajput family in Rawalpindi district in January 1914. My father Late Lt. Tikka Khan served with distinction in 58th F. F. Rifles tor 30 years and was the head of perhaps "the most militarized" family in India." His father Lt. Tikka Khan served in the

for some 30 years, being associated with the 58th Vaughan's Rifles (Frontier Force) military unit, other relatives having also served in the armed forces, Shah Nawaz Khan writing that his family might have been "the most miltarized" in India. He was the cousin of Bollywood actor

Shah Rukh Khan Shah Rukh Khan (; born 2 November 1965), also known by the initialism SRK, is an Indian actor and film producer who works in Hindi cinema. Referred to in the media as the "Padishah, Baadshah of Bollywood" and "King Khan", he has Shah Rukh K ...

's father Mir Taj Mohammed Khan, although according to Shah Rukh Khan his paternal grandfather,

Mir ''Mir'' (, ; ) was a space station operated in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001, first by the Soviet Union and later by the Russia, Russian Federation. ''Mir'' was the first modular space station and was assembled in orbit from 1986 to ...

Jan Muhammad Khan, was an ethnic

Pashtun Pashtuns (, , ; ;), also known as Pakhtuns, or Pathans, are an Iranic ethnic group primarily residing in southern and eastern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan. They were historically also referred to as Afghans until 1964 after the ...

from

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

. However, Shah Rukh Khan's cousins, who still live in Peshawar, have refuted the notion that the family is Pashtun or that his grandfather moved from Afghanistan, as they speak

Hindko Hindko (, , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken by several million people of various ethnic backgrounds in northwestern Pakistan, primarily in the provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and northern Pun ...

, a dialect of Punjabi. Other relatives served in the

Pakistan Army The Pakistan Army (, ), commonly known as the Pak Army (), is the Land warfare, land service branch and the largest component of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The president of Pakistan is the Commander-in-chief, supreme commander of the army. The ...

, including his nephew Lieutenant-General (r) Zaheer-ul-Islam, who was the Director-General of the ISI between 2012 and 2014. He got his military education at the Prince of Wales Royal Indian Military College. He was commissioned into the

14th Punjab Regiment The 14th Punjab Regiment was a regiment of the British Indian Army from 1922 to 1947. It was transferred to the Pakistan Army on Partition of India, independence in 1947, and amalgamated with the 1st Punjab Regiment, 1st, 15th Punjab Regiment, 15 ...

Military career

The Second World War and the Indian National Army

Khan, who rose to the rank of captain in the Indian Army, was captured by the Japanese after the

fall of Singapore The fall of Singapore, also known as the Battle of Singapore, took place in the South–East Asian theatre of the Pacific War. The Empire of Japan captured the British stronghold of Singapore, with fighting lasting from 8 to 15 February 1942. S ...

in 1942. A prisoner of war in Singapore, he was profoundly influenced by Subhas Chandra Bose's speeches asking POWs to join the

and to fight for a free India.''The INA Trial and The Raj'' (2003), Harkirat Singh, Atlantic Publishers & Dist, , p
26
/ref> He later stated: Impressed by Bose's patriotic speeches, Nawaz joined the INA in 1943. He was included in the Cabinet of the

Provisional Government of Free India The Provisional Government of Free India or, more simply, Azad Hind, was a short-lived Japanese-controlled provisional government in India. It was established in Japanese occupation of Singapore, Japanese occupied Singapore during World War II ...

formed by Bose. Later, Bose decided to select a regiment consisting of the cream of the INA and send it to action to spearhead the advance into India. Khan led the army into North-Eastern India, seizing

and

which were held briefly by the INA under the authority of the Japanese. In December 1944, Shah Nawaz Khan was appointed Commander of the 1st Division at

Indian National Army trials

Khan was tried, along with General Prem Sahgal and Colonel Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon and Brigadier Habib ur Rehman of Panjeri (Bhimber) for "waging war against the King Emperor" in a public court martial at the

Red Fort The Red Fort, also known as Lal Qila () is a historic Mughal Empire, Mughal fort in Delhi, India, that served as the primary residence of the Mughal emperors. Emperor Shah Jahan commissioned the construction of the Red Fort on 12 May 1639, fo ...

in Delhi. They were defended by Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru,

Jawaharlal Nehru Jawaharlal Nehru (14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat, and statesman who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20th century. Nehru was a pr ...

, Asaf Ali, Bhulabhai Desai,

Kailash Nath Katju Kailash Nath Katju (17 June 1887 – 17 February 1968) was a prominent politician of India. He was the Governor of Odisha and West Bengal, the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, the Union Home Minister and the Union Defence Minister. He was ...

and others based on the defence that they should be treated as prisoners of war as they were not paid mercenaries but bona fide soldiers of a legal government, the Provisional Government of Free India, or the Azad Hind Government, "however misinformed or otherwise they had been in their notion of patriotic duty towards their country" and as such they recognized the free Indian state as their sovereign and not the British sovereign. During the trial, Khan cited the differential treatment meted out to Indian versus British soldiers in the Indian Army. In his testimony, Khan testified that no Indian officers were given the command of a division and only one was allowed to command a Brigade. Khan was given the death sentence by the court but that sentence was reduced to

cashiering Cashiering (or degradation ceremony), generally within military forces, is a ritual dismissal of an individual from some position of responsibility for a breach of discipline. Etymology From the Flemish (to dismiss from service; to discard ...

by the Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army.

Political career

Association with Mahatma Gandhi

After the trial, Khan declared that he would henceforth follow the path of

non-violence Nonviolence is the personal practice of not causing harm to others under any condition. It may come from the belief that hurting people, animals and/or the environment is unnecessary to achieve an outcome and it may refer to a general philosoph ...

espoused by Gandhi and he joined the Congress party. In 1946, Major General Shah Nawaz Khan accompanied

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethics, political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful Indian ...

and Abdul Ghaffar Khan to restore peace and provide succour to the Noakhali riot victims.

Shahnawaz Committee

In 1956, the government constituted a committee to look into the circumstances around

's death with Khan as the head. The committee included Bose's elder brother Suresh Chandra Bose. The committee began its work in April 1956 and concluded four months later when two out of the three members (excluding Suresh Chandra Bose) concluded that Bose had died in the airplane crash at Taihoku (Japanese for Taipei) in

Formosa Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The island of Taiwan, formerly known to Westerners as Formosa, has an area of and makes up 99% of the land under ROC control. It lies about across the Taiwan Strait f ...

(now Taiwan), on 18 August 1945. They stated that his ashes were kept in Japan's Renkoji Temple and should be relocated to India.

Electoral politics

Having successfully contested the first Lok Sabha in 1952 from Meerut, Khan had an illustrious parliamentary career becoming: * The Parliamentary Secretary and Deputy Minister of Railway and Transport for 11 years (1952–1956) & (1957–1964 (second term)) * Minister of Food & Agriculture (1965) * Minister of Labour, Employment & Rehabilitation (1966) * Minister of Steel & Mines and Minister of Petroleum & Chemical Industries (1971–1973) * Minister of Agriculture & Irrigation (1974–1975) * Minister of Agriculture & Irrigation (1975–1977) * Chairman of National Seeds Corporation Ltd. * Chairman,

Food Corporation of India The Food Corporation of India (FCI) is a public sector company. It is under the ownership of Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, formed by the enactment of Food Corporation Act, 1964 by the Parliament of India. Its t ...

. He was elected four times to the

from Meerut constituency in 1951, 1957, 1962 and 1971. He lost in the 1967 and 1977 Lok Sabha election from Meerut. Though his entire family remained in Pakistan, he chose to live in India, along with one of his sons. During the 1965 war, his son Mahmud was a Pakistan Army Officer and the opposition demanded he be removed from the government. But

Lal Bahadur Shastri Lal Bahadur Shastri (; born Lal Bahadur Srivastava; 2 October 190411 January 1966) was an Indian politician and statesman who served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India from 1964 to 1966. He previously served as Minister ...

, as Prime Minister, refused to accede and reminded them of his selfless service to India as an Officer of the INA. Khan's political views were leftist, supporting land reforms and public distribution. But his support for permanent separate personal laws for religious communities led to his defeat in the 1967 elections against Jan Sangh. In 1969, the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

split, leading him to side with

Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and stateswoman who served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India from 1966 to 1977 and again from 1980 un ...

. The 1971 "Gareebi Hatao" campaign brought him again as MP from Meerut. In 1977, the

Janata Party The Janata Party (JP, ) is an unrecognised political party in India. Navneet Chaturvedi is the current president of the party since November 2021, replacing Jaiprakash Bandhu. The JP was established as an amalgam of Indian political partie ...

led to his defeat and ended his career in Parliament.

Last years and death

He remained as head of Congress Sewa Dal until his death in 1983. He was buried in a garden near to the

and

Jama Masjid A congregational mosque or Friday mosque (, ''masjid jāmi‘'', or simply: , ''jāmi‘''; ), or sometimes great mosque or grand mosque (, ''jāmi‘ kabir''; ), is a mosque for hosting the Friday noon prayers known as ''jumu'ah''.See: * * * * ...

with full state honours.

In popular culture

''Shah Nawaz Khan'' is a 1987 Indian short documentary film directed by J. S. Bandekar and produced by the

Films Division of India The Films Division of India (FDI), commonly referred as Films Division, was established in 1948 following the independence of India. It was the first state film production and distribution unit, under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting ...

. It covers his life and contributions to the

Indian independence movement The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events in South Asia with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British colonial rule. It lasted until 1947, when the Indian Independence Act 1947 was passed. The first nationalistic ...

. In the 2005 movie '' Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose: The Forgotten Hero'', Khan was portrayed by actor

Sonu Sood Sonu Sood (born 30 July 1973) is an Indian actor, film producer, Model (person), model, humanitarian, and Philanthropy, philanthropist who works predominantly in Hindi cinema, Hindi, Telugu cinema, Telugu and Tamil cinema, Tamil films. He is k ...

. In the 2017 film '' Raagdesh'' on the Red Fort Trials, he is portrayed by actor Kunal Kapoor. He also contributed in the development of ''Subhas Chandra'', a 1966 Indian biographical drama film on the life of Subhas Chandra Bose..

Book

*''My Memories of I.N.A. and Its Netaji'', Other Press, 2019, 320 p.

Footnotes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Khan, Shah Nawaz 1914 births 1983 deaths 20th-century Indian Muslims Indian National Army personnel who were court-martialed Indian revolutionaries Rashtriya Indian Military College alumni India MPs 1952–1957 India MPs 1957–1962 India MPs 1962–1967 India MPs 1971–1977 World War II prisoners of war held by Japan Indian Army personnel of World War II Indian prisoners of war British Indian Army officers People from Rawalpindi District Shah Rukh Khan Indian National Congress politicians from Uttar Pradesh Lok Sabha members from Uttar Pradesh