Shah Nawaz Khan

Shah Nawaz Khan Biography

Major General Shah Nawaz Khan was an Indian politician who served as a member of Indian National Army in the 1940s as a part of freedom struggle movement. A close associative of Netaji Subhash Chandra Boss in INA, he was one among the three soldiers who were tried and sentenced to death in a public court-martial carried out by the British Indian Army, accusing of treason during World War II, for "waging war against the King Emperor of Delhi”. The other two members of INA were Prem Sahgal and Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon and the news gained much attention from media and public. However they were defended by a group of Indian leaders and lawyers including Jawaharlal Nehru and Bhulabhai Desai, and their sentence was reduced to cashiering by the Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army.

Later he followed non-violence and also Indian National Congress and was active as a politician after India got freedom. He successfully contested the first Lok Sabha in 1952 from Meerut and claims an illustrious political journey. When contested for the first time he was induced to cabinet and given Deputy Minister of Railway and Transport, a portfolio which he carried for 11 years in two terms - 1952–1956 and 1957–1964. In his political career till his final defeat in 1977, he has served as the minister of Agriculture & Irrigation, Labour, Employment & Rehabilitation and Steel & Mines and Minister of Petroleum & Chemical Industries. He was elected four times to the Lok Sabha from Meerut constituency in 1951, 1957, 1962 and 1971, and failed in 1967 and 1977 elections from the same constituency. Though his political views were leftist, he closely served as a member of INA and remained as head of Congress Sewa Dal till his death.

Shah Nawaz Khan was born on 24 January 1914. He reached till the rank of Captain in the Indian Army before he was captured by Japanese after the fall of Singapore in 1942. It was during his term in Japan prison, when he got mesmerized by Subhash Chandra Bose and his speeches. He joined Indian National Army in 1943 to fight for a free India and was included in the Cabinet of the Arzi Hukumat-e- Azad Hind (INA) formed by Bose. Khan was appointed Commander of the 1st Division at Mandalay.

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Updated: March 06, 2016