An official advisory of the airline has instructed the crew members to announce “Jai Hind” at the end of every announcement “with much fervour”.
"With immediate effect, all (crew) are required to announce ''Jai Hind'' at the end of every announcement after a slight pause and much fervour," the advisory issued by Amitabh Singh, Director of Operations read.
This is not the first time such instructions have been given. In May 2016 also, Air India had issued similar directions to its pilots.
The then Chairman and Managing Director of Air India, Ashwani Lohani had said in a communication to his staff, “The captain of a flight should often connect with passengers during the journey and, at the end of the first address, using the words 'Jai Hind' would make a tremendous impact."
Mr Lohani, a retired Indian Engineering Services officer, has since been called back by the government of India from his retirement to head the national airline again.
Origins of the phrase 'Jai Hind'
The phrase Jai Hind, which literally means ‘victory to India’ or ‘long live India’ was believed to have been made famous by Subhash Chandra Bose, an Indian nationalist, who wanted a greeting or rallying cry for the Indian National Army that he founded in the 1940s.
The slogan was in fact coined by Zain-ul Abideen Hasan, the son of a government official from Hyderabad, who had gone to Germany to study engineering, according to former civil servant Narendra Luther who wrote a book on the history of the phrase entitled “Legendotes of Hyderabad”.
Subhas Chandra Bose, 1940s. Source: Wikimedia Commons
Anvar Alikhan, Abid Hasan's grandnephew, has also written about the story behind the creation of the slogan.
“Netaji was very clear that his new Azad Hind Fauj would be a completely integrated army with men of every community and caste fighting shoulder-to-shoulder for an integrated India. After all, how could it be any other way?” writes Anvar Alikhan, adding “Netaji believed the first thing he had to do was to replace these religion-based greetings with a common salutation that would help bond everybody together. And this task he entrusted to his aide, Abid Hasan.”
Abid Hasan then came up with the idea of “Jai Hindustan Ki” which led to a shorter version “Jai Hind”.
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