The discussion on the Police Action (Operation Polo) against the Hyderabad State of the erstwhile Nizam, Mir Osman Ali Khan has begun to pick up speed, thanks to the polarization policy of the BJP.
Until a few years ago hardly any significant group thought of celebrating or condemning the Police Action. But for the BJP it was a different case. “Celebrating” the police action would incite people on both sides of the fence and the result, it was thought, bring the Hindus of Telangana to its side.
But for the Hindus of Telangana, a tolerant lot for ages, the event hardly mattered. What mattered was that “We have a State of our own” and “We will govern it peacefully, without dividing the people.”
Meanwhile, it should be understood that the end of the Nizam era has never been discussed in detail. What followed the Operation Polo was hardly discussed publicly. Therefore, even academically, the event largely remained under the wraps.
Here I will not go into the details of the Operation Polo or what happened afterwards in Telangana, Hyderabad Karnataka and Marathwada.
Qasim Razvi
My first question is about Qasim Razvi who was the president of the Majlis Party. He was the one who had founded the organization of Razakars or the Volunteers ostensibly to defend the rule of the Nizam from the ‘enemies’ of the State. Once the Razakars had the backing of the government via Qasim Razvi, they began hunting, killing and raping the populace. It is not known, historically, how many people (read Hindus) the Razakars killed during those two years. According two sources I have come across in my research, around 1000 Hindus were butchered, their women raped and humiliated. But the fear of their terror was such that every crime that took place between 1946 and 1948 was put in the name of Razakars.
Incidentally, there are confirmed reports that Razakars were also employed by the Jagirdars, both Hindus and Muslims, to safeguard their lives and property from the Communists.
When the Indian government took charge of the Hyderabad State, it put Qasim Rizvi under house arrest first and detained formally later. He was not charged of any mass killings.
He was tried for arson, dacoity and a single murder and given a sentence of eight years of imprisonment. He came out of the prison, held a meeting of his party members wherein his successor Abdul Wahid Owaisi was chosen as the new president. A little while later he left Hyderabad and went to Karachi, Pakistan where he died at the age of 67.
Looking at the details of his detention and release I feel that he was let off easily, allowed to chose his successor and fly away to Pakistan. Why so much of leniency was given to him.
I believe that it was a deliberate plan of the government of Indian not to hold him back in Hyderabad either in jail or in freedom.
Mir Laik Ali
The second case is that of Mir Laik Ali, the prime minister of Hyderabad State at the time of Operation Polo.
Soon after the Nizam declared merger of Hyderabad State with the Indian Union, Mir Laik Ali along with several other officers in the government were placed under house arrest.
He was living in his bungalow. At first it was guarded by the military but a litter later the security was brought down to the level of Police officials.
Laiq Ali stayed in that bungalow until March 3, 1950 when he along with his close family members fled to Mumbai. After a few days of the stay in Mumbai he managed to escape to Karachi.
His escape is shrouded in mystery. According to some experts, he was not placed under formal arrest. When his escape came to light a few days later, the government got into action and arrested a few officials who were all freed after some time.
Now, the question is this: Did the government of India facilitated his escape along with family members by turning its eyes away?
That appears to be the case. Because his case was not pursued.
My observation
I feel that the government of India did not wish to be seen as an ‘enemy’ of the Nizam. Though the Nizam had been dethroned, the military government was taking his nod on the actions it was carrying out, especially against the Communists who were involved in the armed struggle against the State.
Within two years Indian government came out in the open and declared the Nizam as the Rajpramukh (Governor) of Hyderabad State. He continued to be in that office until the reorganization of the States in 1956. He submitted his resignation to the government of India and lived as a civilian until his death in 1967. He was given the State funeral. Osman Ali Khan’s successor the Eighth Nizam Mir Barakat Ali Khan alias Prince Mukarram Jah was also given the State funeral when he passed away in January last year in Turkey. His body was flown to Hyderabad and he was laid to rest in the cemetery located in courtyard of Makkah Masjid.
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