Hyderabad: Like in Akira Kurosawa’s famous film ‘Rashomon’, September 17, the day erstwhile Hyderabad State under Nizam rule merged with the Indian Union in 1948, is interpreted differently by different parties in Telangana.
For BJP, it has been ‘Telangana Liberation Day’, while the TRS government this year decided to observe the day as ‘Telangana National Integration Day’.
CPI commemorates September 17 as the successful culmination of ‘Telangana Armed Struggle’ led by the Communists which the party says forced the Nizam to merge Hyderabad State with the Indian Union.
The day has come into focus this year with the Centre recently deciding to organise year-long celebrations to mark 75 years of ‘Hyderabad State Liberation’.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah would attend as chief guest at the inaugural event on September 17 in Hyderabad.
The State of Hyderabad which was under Nizam’s rule was annexed into the Union of India after a police action code-named ‘Operation Polo’ that culminated on September 17, 1948.
Besides Telangana, the erstwhile Hyderabad State included parts of present day Maharashtra and Karnataka.
The BJP has been demanding for many years that the state government celebrate the officially.
The saffron party has pointed out that governments of Maharashtra and Karnataka do celebrate the day in districts that were part of the Nizam State.
“When India got Independence, why is it that he (Nizam of Hyderabad) did not annex or accede to the Indian Union, when all other princely states have done it,” BJP spokesperson Krishna Sagar Rao told PTI.
It is certainly a “liberation” as the military had to land on this region, he said.
Addressing a public meeting last month at Munugode where a by-poll would soon be held, Shah had alleged the TRS government was not celebrating September 17 as Liberation Day as promised due to “fear” of the Asaduddin Owaisi-led AIMIM.
The BJP will hold the celebrations if it comes to power, Shah had said.
The Telangana government on September 3 decided to observe September 17 as “Telangana National Integration Day.”
It decided to organise three-day celebrations beginning September 16.
Meanwhile, AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi had on September 3 said he has written to Union Home Minister Amit Shah asking him to use the phrase ‘National Integration Day’ rather than mere “liberation”.
“It must be noted that the accession and merger of various princely states were not only about liberating the territories from autocratic rulers. More importantly, the nationalist movement rightly saw the people of these territories as an integral part of independent India. Therefore, the phrase ‘National Integration Day’ may be more apposite, rather than mere liberation,” the Hyderabad MP said in the letter.
The CPI announced that it would organise a week-long celebration of ‘Telangana Armed Struggle’, like every year, beginning September 11 (Sunday).
CPI state secretary Kunamneni Sambasiva Rao alleged that the BJP and RSS were trying to give a communal colour by describing the event as “liberation from a Muslim ruler”. But, it was not not an anti-Muslim struggle, a CPI release quoted him as saying.
He said Muslim personalities like Maqdoom Mohiuddin were among those who fought against Nizam rule.
The CPI leader also said September 17 should be commemorated as the “merger day”.
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