Hyderabad: There has been a growing animosity between the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) state government and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) party lately. Both parties are at loggerheads and won’t leave a stone unturned in putting each other down.
However, in a move that is mostly going to help the BJP, a handful of movies with a right-wing agenda, on the lines of ‘The Kashmir Files’, are likely to be released in the coming months.
The Telangana Assembly elections are due by September next year, and the BJP is likely to emerge as the main contender against the ruling TRS.
While chief minister K Chandrashekhar’s party is confident of winning, while showcasing new development works and welfare schemes, the BJP on the other hand is banking on tugging the religious sentiments of Hindus. And it has found ammunition in the complicated history of the Hyderabad state, which was annexed to India in 1948, a year after independence.
The Print, in its latest article, has reported that the BJP is making movies on the erstwhile Hyderabad Nizam and his private militia Razakars. It will soon get released to the public.
Currently, at the scripting stage, the films are believed to focus on how Hyderabad became a part of the Union of India as well as the peasant movement against the landlords.
The first one is being made by Abhishek Agarwal, the producer of ‘Kashmir Files’, the second one is being made by a BJP leader, and the third one by Rajya Sabha member Vijayendra Prasad.
Playing politics through the movies
The Print interviewed the three filmmakers and each one had a common thing to say – the BJP is not involved in the making of their films.
Abhishek Agarwal, who hails from Hyderabad said he has been researching for the last two years.
“For over two years, we’ve been involved in conducting research on this subject. Things have progressed, and they just have to be locked (finalized). At least 11 members are involved in the research. We want things to be done in a proper way, depict exactly what happened and truth to be told the way it is. No sugar coating,” he said.
A Telangana BJP leader (whose name is not revealed) told The Print that the story is about the Razakars. On August 29, BJP state president Bandi Sanjay flagged off the shoot.
“My company, involved in entertainment and creations, had already registered three film titles with the film association body. We have paid and registered the titles – so no one else can use them. The titles are ‘Razakar’, ‘Razakar Files’ and ‘Nizam Diaries’,” the BJP leader said.
The BJP leader revealed the film is being built on a budget of Rs 30 crores and plans to release in all languages.
“For the past six months we have been working on the project and the budget is about Rs 30 crore. [Union Home Minister] Amit Shah was informed about it when he recently came to Hyderabad. It will be a pan-India film, released in multiple languages,” the BJP leader told The Print. Even though the party has denied any involvement or funding in all three projects, it did not shy away from saying it will help in the promotions.
Former BJP Member of Legislative Council (MLC) Ramchander Rao also told The Print, “BJP officially is not involved in the production or is not working on any such movie project. But, if such movies do happen to release, the party will promote it so that it will reach a greater audience and people get an idea of what is the history.”
BJP-TRS tussle
Hyderabad recently celebrated Operation Polo on September 17 when 74 years ago it became a part of the Union of India. While the KCR-led state government along with the All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) celebrated ‘Telangana National Integration Day’, the BJP chose to celebrate by naming it “Hyderabad Liberation Day.”
Union Home Minister Amit Shah arrived in Hyderabad to take part in the celebrations and through his speeches accused the TRS of bowing down to the AIMIM under pressure.
Operation Polo and Telangana Armed Struggle
Though the British formally left India in 1947, it, however, gave princely states and their monarchs the option to join India or Pakistan or to stay independent. Osman Ali Khan was one of the handfuls of kings, like Hari Singh of Jammu and Kashmir, who wanted to stay independent.
After months of deliberations and talks with Mir Osman Ali Khan failed, the Indian government finally decided to send its army to annex (or merge, as some call it) the erstwhile princely state of Hyderabad to India with force. It began on September 13, 1948, and concluded in about five days on September 17.
The rural areas were marked with extreme oppression by state-appointed Jagirdars (landlords), whose main task was to collect revenue (taxes and rent) from farmers and give it to the state. The jagirdars were anything but benevolent or kind.
In fact, that extreme feudal oppression also led to the Telangana Armed Struggle (1946-51), which continued even after Operation Polo. Vetti Chakiri (bonded labour) was also commonplace in rural Telangana, wherein lower-caste folks were forced to service the higher castes and the landowning class. More than that, the Nizam himself had directly owned 10% of the state’s lands, while 60% of it were revenue lands (Diwani), and 30% were under the Jagirdars.
Bonded labour and forced collections are believed to be the main reasons behind the uprising, which began in 1946, and officially ended in 1951, till the communists decided to contest elections.
