An Indian-origin British spy during World War 2, Noor Inayat Khan is among the top 50 likely to be figured on a £50 note which is yet to be issued by the Bank of England.
The post-Brexit 50-pound note is the highest-denomination note in the United Kingdom which is set to be reissued in plastic from 2020. Activists and historians have started a petition for having the face of Noor Inayat Khan printed on the note.
The campaign, which was started by activist Zehra Zaidi and backed by historian and BBC presenter Dan Snow, as well as Tom Tugendhat who is chairman of the foreign affairs committee of Parliament and Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, has already gathered mass appeal with hundreds of supporters in its very first day.
“Noor Inayat Khan was an inspirational and complex woman who was a Brit, a soldier, a writer, a Muslim, an Indian independence supporter, a Sufi, a fighter against fascism and a heroine to all. She navigated complex identities and has so much resonance in the world we live in today.” Zaidi stated to The Telegraph.
Khan’s face on the new note could be the face of the first ethnic minority on any UK currency.
Khan was born in Moscow and her father, Inayat Khan, was a descendant of the Tipu Sultan family and lived in Europe as a musician and instructor of Sufism. Her mother, Pirani Ameena Begum, was an American whom her father met while traveling in the United States.
Tariq Ahmad, a minister in the Foreign Office, tweeted: “Honour to lend support to a great campaign…to recognize a brave British Muslim woman – Noor Inayat Khan as the face of £50 note – she served our nation with courage against Nazi tyranny.”
Khan’s story was set out in a book by journalist-author Shrabani Basu in 2008, Spy Princess: The Life of Noor Inayat Khan. A statue of hers was unveiled by Princess Anne at Gordon Square Gardens in November 2012.
The campaign for her to be on the new note seems to be gathering momentum, with even an Indian politician Shashi Tharoor sharing details.
Want to see an Indian woman, a war hero, on the new British £50 note? Sign this petition! https://t.co/L0JVlXQjH6.
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) October 21, 2018
Khan’s statue was unveiled by Princess Anne at Gordon Square Gardens in November 2012.
-Sowmya Sangam
