Abdul Habib Yusuf Marfani

Abdul Habib Yusuf Marfani

Abdul Habib Yusuf Marfani was a wealthy Gujarati businessman settled in Rangoon. Speeches of Netaji woke up the nationalist in himself. He started donating two to three lakh rupees at a time regularly till 9 July 1944, when Netaji called for funds at a public meeting where he was present. Marfani walked with a silver tray, which had jewelry, papers of properties, and currencies. The value was estimated to be Rupees One Crore at that time. After donating every penny of his fortune, he asked for a Khaki uniform of Azad Hind Fauj for himself. Netaji decorated him with Tamgha-e-Sevak-e-Hind, the highest civilian award of Azad Hind Sarkar, and said, “some say, “Habib has gone mad”. I agree. I want every one of you Indians to become mad. To achieve victory and freedom for our country, our Motherland, we need such men and women.”