On September 17, 1948, the princely state of Hyderabad was integrated into India after a military operation, ending Nizam rule. While it marks a significant historical moment, debates over its nomenclature and recognition have persisted, with political parties often clashing over how the day should be remembered and observed.
When India attained independence on 15 August, the princely state of Hyderabad ruled by Nizam Mir Osman Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VII, remained a separate country. It remained so for over one year. On 17 September, 1948, the then home minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel took what is known as police action (Operation Polo) and as a result, Hyderabad state became part of the Indian Union.
One anniversary and different names. Each political party in Telangana chooses to call 17 September in different names.
For the Congress government in the state, it is Paraja Palana (people’s governance) day, for the BJP it is Telangana Liberation Day and for the BRS it is Telangana Integration Day. The Congress also prefers to call it Telangana Merger Day.
Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, while addressing a parade at Public Gardens in Hyderabad, on Tuesday, 17 September, said that the anniversary symbolised freedom for Telangana from Nizam’s despotic rule.
When India attained independence on 15 August, the princely state of Hyderabad ruled by Nizam Mir Osman Ali Khan Asaf Jah VII remained a separate country.
It remained so for over one year. On 17 September, 1948, the then home minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel took what is known as police action (Operation Polo) and as a result, Hyderabad state became part of the Indian Union.
The result of the police action was however made to look as though the princely state had joined the Indian Union of its own volition, lest it should look like annexation and might spur an undesirable debate.
The Nizam acquiesced, unable to face the mighty Indian forces. By then the Nizam’s position had considerably weakened with the raging peasant struggle known as Telangana Armed Struggle, which began in 1946 against the Nizam’s rule.
Telangana Integration Day
BRS observed the day as National Integration Day as it did last year. BRS Working President KT Rama Rao addressed a meeting at the Telangana Bhavan where he elaborated on the significance of the merger of the Telangana state into the Indian Union.
The BRS, which neither celebrated the day nor condemned it when it was in power, decided to call it Telangana Integration Day last year.
When the party was leading the Telangana movement it demanded that the then Congress government observe the day as Telangana Liberation Day. After coming to power in the newly created Telangana state in 2014, the BRS, however, chose to remain neutral until last year.
The BRS changed its stance last year apparently with the BJP trying to rally Hindus by focusing on the “atrocities” during the Nizam’s rule and Union Home Minster Amit Shah taking special interest in exploiting the sentiment by vesting Hyderabad personally and addressing Liberation Day celebrations, since elections to the Telangana Assembly were close by.
The BRS organised rival celebrations officially as Telangana Integration Day, competing with the BJP.
The then chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao took part in the celebrations. On the eve of the celebrations last year, the then BRS minister KT Rama Rao said that the anniversary symbolised the day the people of Telangana had fought against autocracy and embraced democracy.
He also disapproved of the attempts of some political parties to benefit politically by fanning flames of communalism using the anniversary as a means.
Telangana Liberation Day
The BJP has been using the occasion to spread far and wide its Hindutva philosophy. It always described the day as one that marked the end of the tyranny of the Nizams. They said that Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel had liberated the state and, while praising him, the party accorded him a cult status even though he was a dyed-in-the-wool Congress leader.
The Union government, led by the BJP, declared the day officially as Telangana Liberation Day.
The party rejected the invitation by the Congress-ruled state government to attend the Praja Palana Day celebrations. BJP state president and Union Minister G Kishan Reddy in an open letter to Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy said that the BJP cannot be a party to an attempt to distort history since the anniversary marked the liberation of Telangana people from the Nizam’s rule.
The BJP argued that the state government had no business to call the anniversary praja palana day when the Union government had officially declared it as Telangana Liberation Day.
Kishan Reddy said they were very consistent in their stand for the last 30 years in calling the anniversary Telangana Liberation Day.
Praja Palana Day or Merger Day
The Congress, after it came to power in the state in December last year, described its government as Praja Palana Day, adopting a goldilocks approach.
It appears that Congress took the decision after weighing the political ramifications that might follow if it named the anniversary Liberation Day or Merger Day. The Congress-led government cloaked the anniversary in a very non-offensive vanilla name — Praja Palana Day — neither offending the Hindus nor the Muslims.
Revanth Reddy said that the anniversary symbolised freedom for Telangana from the Nizam’s despotic rule.
It appeared he referred to Nizam as a despot only to attack former chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao by likening the former’s rule to the latter.
He said the Congress had ended the 10-year despotic rule of the BRS and freed the people from its yoke like the people of Telangana had fought against the tyranny of the Nizams. Revanth Reddy utilised the occasion to deal sledgehammer blows on the BRS with his incisive criticism and offensive similes.
However, Congress had been calling the day Telangana Merger Day to attenuate the inflammatory flavour the use of the name Liberation Day conveys to the Muslims, yet retains a little bit of it to keep Hindus in good humour.
The word merger implied that both the parties — the Indian Union and the Hyderabad State — were on the same page for the merger. But the fact remains that the Indian Union annexed the Hyderabad state. #hydkhabar
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