37 yrs on, freedom fighter’s kin waits for pension
Bareilly’s Shaffan Miyan says his ancestors Khan Bahadur Khan and Nawab Hafiz Rehmat Khan fought the British troops
LUCKNOW: Customers at Shaffan Miyan’s 3ft-by-5ft coal shop at Delapeer locality of Bareilly district are often greeted with his question: “Kya aap Khan Bahadur Khan ko jaante hain? (Do you know Khan Bahadur Khan?)”
And, if the reply is “no”, Shaffan never loses a chance to say: “He was a great freedom fighter, who pushed the British army back and, you know, we are his direct descendants.”
The question-answer sessions and stories about the bravery of Khan Bahadur Khan — the freedom fighter who constituted his own army, led the First War of Independence in Bareilly and was later hanged from a banyan tree in 1860 —is now part of Shaffan Miyan’s daily routine.
Shaffan Miyan, also referred to as Shaffan chacha or Shaffan Khan, does the same narration almost every day to all his customers, highlighting the contributions his ancestors made to set the country free from British rule. He also talks about Nawab Hafiz Rehmat Khan, whom the historians say was the grandfather of Khan Bahadur Khan and ruled Rohilkhand for 30 years and died in 1774 while fighting the British troops who were trying to capture the Rohilkhand region. But, the flip side of the story is that Shaffan, who claims to be the eighth descendant of Nawab Hafiz Rehmat Khan, has been struggling since 1984 to get himself enrolled for pension or any government help.
“37 saal ho gaye chakkar lagate lagate par abhi tak koi pension nahi mili (It’s been 37 years now that I have been trying for the pension, but I am yet to get it),” laments Shaffan, who is now in his early eighties and has a family of 11 members.
Nevertheless, Shaffan strongly believes that at a time when the Uttar Pradesh government is celebrating the centenary year of the Chauri Chaura incident and is commemorating the contribution of the freedom fighters, his 37-year-old plea would be heard and resolved. He says in 1957, on the 100th anniversary of the 1857 War of Independence, his father Hamid Ali Khan got a letter from the President of India’s office, assuring that the eligible family members would be recruited in the Railways.
“I was too young then. My father was elated over the generosity of the then government towards us. But his happiness was short-lived as nothing happened after that,” Shaffan said.
Dejected, he opened a tyre repair shop in 1961 to assist his father in meeting the family expenses. In 1976, his family again received a letter. This time, Shaffan said it was from the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi
who, in the letter, assured all possible help to the family and directed the Bareilly district magistrate to verify whether they were the true descendants or not to claim the pension.
“The enquiry was done, they asked me to produce the evidences, which we did, and it was proved that we are from the same lineage,” he recollected.
And once again, there was hope in the family. But it took eight more years before the family got another letter from the DM’s office on January 26, 1984, endorsing the Khan’s family claim as the true descendants for which they could collect the “tamrapatra” (inscribed copper plate) from the DM’s office.
But by then, Shaffan’s father Hamid Ali had died.
“My father, who struggled all his life to prove his lineage, couldn’t see the day when our claims were proved, and we finally got the tamrapatra. My mother collected the tamrapatra that came along with a letter, assuring us of a pension,” Shaffan further recollected.
The family continued to wait for another 22 years. In 2006, during the Samajwadi Party (SP) regime in UP, the family got a letter for the third time from the Bareilly DM’s office. The family
was asked to complete the formalities in order to start the long-awaited pension. By then, he had lost his mother, too.
In 2007, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) came to power, putting all the initiatives of the previous government, including the one that could decide Shaffan Khan’s fate, in cold storage.
It’s been 14 years since and the wait for his pension is still on. Shaffan was also felicitated recently during the UP government’s year-long celebrations to mark the centenary year of the Chauri Chaura incident.
Shaffan and his brother, who now run a coal shop, earn Rs 150 to 200 a day, which they say is, too little to meet the family expenses.
“I don’t need any anything now, neither have any expectation left. My only request is that if children get job, then the remaining days of our lives can be spent well,” said Liyakat Ali Khan, Shaffan’s younger brother.
WHAT DM SAYS
Bareilly district magistrate Nitish Kumar said the Uttar Pradesh government had set certain criteria on freedom fighters and it was only after fulfilling those that any government help or pension could be allowed to the
family members.
“Unfortunately, Khan Bahadur Khan, despite being a freedom fighter, didn’t fit the criterion, following which pension to his descendants could not be initiated,” said Kumar.
For his part, Khan also said he was told that Khan Bahadur Khan did not fit in UP government’s freedom fighters’ pension criteria.
“But I appeal to UP government to regularise the criteria and to include others as well in order to lend a helping hand to their descendants. I am (sure) our CM would help their families as well,” said Khan.
HISTORIANS’ PERSPECTIVE
According to a local historian, Khan Bahadur Khan, formed his own army in Bareilly and led the First War of Independence there.
“However, the British forces re-captured Bareilly. In 1860, Khan, along with 257 other revolutionaries, were hanged from a banyan tree, which still stands tall on the Bareilly divisional commissioner’s office compound. He was later buried inside the district jail with shackles intact,” said Professor Giriraj Nandan, an expert on the history of the Rohilkhand region.