Hyderabad: Days after the poster launch of the movie ‘Razakar – The Silent Genocide of Hyderabad,’ the Majlis Bachao Tahreek (MBT) on Monday demanded a ban on the film.
In a statement, MBT spokesperson Amjed Ullah Khan said that the film ‘Razakar’ is based on distorted history and pure imagination and has the potential to incite hatred among people.
The poster launch event had seen the presence of senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders like former Telangana chief and Karimnagar MP Bandi Sanjay Kumar, former MP AP Jithendar Reddy, and former Maharashtra governor C Vidyasagar Rao.
The Razakars were the paramilitary volunteer force of the nationalist party in the Hyderabad state under Nizam’s rule. Formed in 1938 by the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen leader Bahadur Yar Jung they expanded considerably during the leadership of Qasim Razvi around the time of India’s independence.
The film is being produced by a politician Gudur Narayana Reddy, who switched loyalties from Congress to BJP after he faced allegations of misappropriation of party funds during the 2018 elections, Khan accused.
‘Razakar’ is an Urdu word which means ‘volunteer’, the MBT leader said, adding that right-wing historians have attributed the word to ‘members of a fictitious private army associated with the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen.’
Khan said that BJP leaders were unaware of history or the Urdu language. An Urdu translation of “Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh” would also mean an association of “Razakars,” he alleged.
If the film is allowed, someone would come up with a sequel to it, called ‘Police Action’ depicting the atrocities committed during police action that has been documented in the Pandit Sunderlal Report prepared by a Central Government appointed team immediately after the 1948 incident.
At least 27000 to 40,000 Muslims are said to have died during police action in the erstwhile Hyderabad state.
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