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Mehdi Nawaz Jung - a noble philanthropist from Hyderabad
Nawab Mehdi Nawaz Jung born on 23 May 1894, was a nobleman from Hyderabad. He was born in Darulshifa, Hyderabad Deccan in a middle-class family of a very religious father, Moulvi Syed Abbas Ali.
Nawab Mehdi Nawaz Jung was Secretary to the Executive Council during the erstwhile Nizam rule from Hyderabad. He also served as the Governor of Gujarat from 1960-1965. Let us see some more facets of his amazing life !
His very interesting house known as Deodi Mehdi Nawaz Jung or Kohistan is located at Banjara Hills in Hyderabad. He was instrumental in the development of Bnajara Hills area of Hyderabad. He built the ''deori'' appropriately named Kohistan, on Road number 4 at Banjara Hills amidst the rocks and boulders and a German architect Karl von Molte-Heinz designed it. ''The natural rocks on the hill on which the house is built was an enchanted world of grottos and caves, an underground dwelling, which is half nature, half culture. In the basement, the spaces are carved out of the rock; at times they are obtained from natural cleavages. The openings, roughly cut in the rock are framed by columns with Ionic capitals, elaborated with great precision, projecting from the rock surface, painted white in contrast to the natural texture of the stone. The deori celebrates nature, rather than impose culture on it. Poet Hafiz Jallandhari immortalized this mansion in his 1932 poem Nazara-yi Kohistan as did Rabindranath Tagore a year later in his poem Kohistan''.When Rabindranath Tagore visited Hyderabad in 1933, he had stayed at the ‘Kohistan’ as a guest of Mehdi Nawaz Jung.
‘From the distance thou didst appear
barricaded in rocky aloofness,
Timidly I crossed the rugged path
to find here all of a sudden.
An open invitation in the sky,
and friends embrace in the air,
In an unknown land the voice that seemed ever known,
Revealed to me a shelter of loving intimacy.’
...........Rabindranath Tagore
He married the eldest daughter of Nawab Akeel Jung Bahadur, a minister of the Nizam. After his graduation, Mehdi was selected for the Revenue Department and served in Bellary, Gulbarga and Nalgonda districts. In 1926, when Maharaja Sir Kishen Pershad became President of the Nizam’s Executive Council (Prime Minister) he was appointed as secretary to the Council and remained so for 11 years. At the end of that, he earned the title of ‘Jung’ and so became known as Nawab Mehdi Nawaz Jung Bahadur. Mehdi Nawaz Jung was also the first commissioner of Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad. He contested a general election in 1952 from the Hyderabad constituency and won the election with a very big majority. From the year 1952 to January 1960, Shri Mehdi Nawaz Jung was a Minister in the former Hyderabad State and then in Andhra Pradesh Government, holding various portfolios such as Public Works Department, Roads & Buildings Department, Irrigation & Power, etc. He was the first President of Indian Council of Social Welfare.
After he retired from formal postings, he took up social work and philanthropy with great zeal. He was instrumental in establishing the Niloufer hospital for Women and Children in Hyderabad in 1953 for which he collected donations worth Rs. 35 lakh. He was thus instrumental in setting up Niloufer Hospital and in 1955, he collected donations of Rs.18 lakh and established the Cancer Hospital in the city the Mehdi Nawaz Jung Institute of Oncology - the first government cancer hospital in India. He was also a surgeon. He has many feathers in his noble cap, he was the Secretary, Executive Council. Hyderabad State 1926, First Municipal Commissioner, Minister in the governments of Hyderabad and Andhra Pradesh 1952 to 1959. He was a member of the 1956 committee for Standards for Education & Practice of Hakims, Vaids and Homeopaths. He also served as the Governor of Gujarat from 1960-1965 as already mentioned.
He also founded the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Oriental Research Institute at Hyderabad. On the integration of Hyderabad with India in 1948, he joined politics and in 1950, he was elected to the Legislative Assembly. From 1950 to 1960 he remained a minister. He was appointed Governor of Gujarat in 1960. On the completion of his term he was awarded the Padma Vibushan, a high civilian honour awarded by the Government of India. He died on 28 June 1967 after a long fruitful life spent for the welfare of the public.
Maulana Abul Kalam Oriental Research Institute, Hyderabad.
Posted by
Soma Ghosh
References :
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mehdi_Nawaz_Jung
- https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/man-who-gave-hyderabad-its-banjara-hills-nawab-mehdi-nawaz-jung-34143
- https://dome.mit.edu/handle/1721.3/43630
