The government of India began its year-long celebrations for the ‘Telangana Liberation Day’ on September 17, marking how on the same day in 1948, “the state of Hyderabad got its independence from Nizam’s rule”, as said in a press release. Home Minister Amit Shah visited Hyderabad even as the state government put forward its own variation of the celebrations.
From 1911 to 1948, Nizam Mir Usman Ali, the last Nizam of Hyderabad, ruled the state composed of Telangana and parts of present-day Karnataka and Maharashtra. While these states mark the Liberation Day officially, Telangana has never done so. This year, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao has said the state government will hold its own ‘Telangana National Integration Day’ celebrations.
తెలంగాణ జాతీయ సమైక్యతా దినోత్సవం సందర్భంగా ముఖ్యమంత్రి శ్రీ కె. చంద్రశేఖర్ రావు గన్పార్క్లోని అమరవీరుల స్మారక స్థూపం వద్ద నివాళులు అర్పించారు.#HyderabadIntegrationDay pic.twitter.com/uptasm0Vfq
— Telangana CMO (@TelanganaCMO) September 17, 2022
The two celebrations have resulted in debates and allegations among parties over the nature of these commemorations, particularly with state elections due in Telangana in 2023. A major discussion here is how the princely kingdom of Hyderabad became a part of India, and what exactly is being celebrated now by political parties.
How did Hyderabad state become a part of India?
At the time of India’s independence, British India was a mix of independent kingdoms and provinces that were given the options of joining India, Pakistan, or remaining independent. One among those who took a long time to make a decision was the Nizam of Hyderabad. Believed to be one of the richest people in the world at the time, the Nizam was not ready to let go of his kingdom.
Meanwhile, the majority population of Hyderabad state was far from enjoying the same kind of wealth as the Nizam did. The feudal nature of the state at the time caused the peasant population to suffer high taxes, indignities of forced labour, and various other kinds of exploitation at the hands of powerful landlords.
There was also a demand by the Andhra Jan Sangham for Telugu to be given primacy over Urdu. By the mid-1930s, apart from a reduction in land revenue rates and the abolition of forced labour, introducing Telugu in local courts became another important issue. Soon after the organisation became the Andhra Mahasabha (AMS), and Communists became associated with it. Together, the two groups built a peasant movement against the Nizam that found local support.
Who were the razakars and the Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen?
In response to an uprising in July 1946 against forceful land acquisition on the part of a hereditary tax collector named Visnur Ramachandra Reddy, by October 1946, the Nizam banned the AMS. A close aide of the Nizam, Qasim Razvi, leader of the Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen, became closely involved in securing the Nizam’s position.
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The Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen was a political outfit that sought a greater role for Muslims in the early 20th century, but after Razvi took over the organisation, it became extremist in its ideology. It was under him that a militia of the ‘razakars’ was formed to suppress the peasant and communist movement, launching a brutal attack.
Around this time, the Standstill Agreement was also signed between the Nizam and the Indian government in November 1947, declaring a status quo. This meant that until November 1948, the Nizam could let things be as they were and not finalise a decision as negotiations with the Indian union continued.
How did the situation escalate to military action?
In the first half of 1948, tensions grew as the razakar leaders and the government in Hyderabad began to speak of war with India and began border raids with Madras and Bombay Presidencies, writes Venkataraghavan Subha Srinivasan in the book The Origins of India’s States. As a response, India stationed troops around Hyderabad and began to ready itself for military intervention.
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By June 1948 Sardar Patel, tasked with integrating the states into the union, was growing impatient as the negotiations with the Nizam were unable to draw fruitful results, according to Bipan Chandra et. al in India After Independence. From Dehra Dun, he wrote to Nehru: “I feel very strongly that a stage has come when we should tell them quite frankly that nothing short of unqualified acceptance of accession and of the introduction of undiluted responsible government would be acceptable to us.”
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With the Nizam importing more arms and the violence of the Razakars approaching dangerous proportions, India officially launched ‘Operation Polo’ on September 9 and deployed its troops in Hyderabad four days later. On September 17, three days after the deployment, the Nizam surrendered and acceded to the Indian Union in November. The Government of India decided to be generous and not punish the Nizam. He was retained as the official ruler of the state and given a privy purse of five million rupees, Chandra wrote.
The legacy of Operation Polo
It has also been said that the army’s march into Hyderabad did not just target the razakars and the radical extremist forces. The 2013 AG Noorani book ‘Destruction of Hyderabad’ says a four-member goodwill mission led by Pandit Sunderlal was constituted by the then Prime Minister. At the request of then PM Jawaharlal Nehru, a month was spent in Hyderabad in November 1948 where evidence was gathered and at the end, a report was filed, estimating thousands of people died in communal violence during the military action. The contents of the report were not made public for a long time.
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Further, the debate about whether the day of independence was about integration into the Indian union after months of negotiations, or liberation from an autocratic monarch has continued. Hyderabad’s history continues to affect today’s politics. After Qasim Rizvi left India for Pakistan, the organisation was handed over to Abdul Wahed Owaisi, the grandfather of Asaduddin Owaisi, the All India Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president and Hyderabad MP. He said recently that the AIMIM of today was the successor of freedom fighters Turrebaaz Khan and Maulvi Alauddin and not Qasim Rizvi, distancing his party from the organisation’s roots.
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