Hyderabad: After a string of delays the movie ‘Razakar: Silent Genocide of Hyderabad’ will finally be released on March 15. produced by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Gudur Narayan Reddy from Bhongir, the movie, considered by critics as aHindutva propaganda movie, largely focuses on the Muslim militia called Razakars (volunteers) and its activities in the days leading to the erstwhile Hyderabad state’s annexation to India by the Indian army on September 17, 1948.
The movie on Razakars was supposed to originally release last year before the November 30 Telangana Assembly election in the month of October, but was delayed. Gudrun Narayan Reddy, a long time Congressman from Bhongir district who shifted to the BJP a few years ago, confirmed that the movie will finally release on March 15. He had earlier said it would be released on March 1.
It may be recalled that in the run to the Telangana polls, Gudrun Narayana Reddy had written to the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of the state asking to allow his movie on Razakars to be released on November 17, 2023. He had then stated that it was not made with the intention to create communal discord, given that many have accused him to spreading anti-Muslim hate through the film.
Moreover, it may be recalled that Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president and then IT minister KT Rama Rao (KTR) had in September 2023 also stated the then BRS government would stop the movie’s release and take the issue to the censor board. It may noted that the movie’s poster also portrays some casteist overtones. It shows a purported Brahmin boy being impaled on a spike as Razakars from a distance watch.
What the movie will likely ignore
While Narayan Reddy’s movie pushes the narrative that most or all Muslims, and the last Nizam Mir Osman Ali Khan, did not want the erstwhile state of Hyderabad to unify with India after independence, the truth is far from from it. The Razakar were in fact not as powerful as what is likely to be portrayed in the movie as well.
What the movie will most likely omit is the Telangana Armed Struggle, a Communist Party of India (CPI)-led peasant rebellion that had begun as early as 1946 itself, and continued all the way till 1951. It was a bigger reason for the Indian army being sent.
Many of the CPI’s leaders then were Muslims, and many amongst Muslims in fact also wanted the Nizam to peacefully accede to the Indian government through negotiations. The Razakar stereotype is often perpetuated by right-wingers to demonise Muslims.
”The movie may or may not be a hit but it will help the BJP solidly its base,” said political analyst Palawan Raghavendra Reddy.
More importantly, the larger issue concerning Operation Polo is the killings of thousands of Muslims in the Marathwada and Karnataka parts of the Hyderabad state. While the annexation itself is an issue per se, an estimated 26000 to 40000 Muslims lost their lives due to communal violence inflicted on the populace in the aftermath. Given how emotional the entire issue is for people whose families have been affected, both the Razakar violence and killings of Muslims are equally abhorrent and must be condemned.
In the aftermath of Operation Polo, Lt. Col. J. N. Chaudhuri, who led Operation Polo, took over as military governor for 18 months of Hyderabad, after which a provincial government under M. K. Vellodi existed till the first general elections. It may be noted that the last Nizam was made the Rajpramukh in 1950, while Razvi had been arrested and sent to jail for nearly a decade, after which he was allowed to leave for Pakistan.
