New Delhi: The Union government has announced that it will hold a year-long commemoration to mark 75 years of ‘Hyderabad State Liberation’, kicking off with an inaugural event presided over by Union home minister Amit Shah in Hyderabad on September 17.
The erstwhile princely state of Hyderabad – which covered the modern-day Marathwada region in Maharashtra, the Hyderabad-Karnataka region in Karnataka, and all districts in current-day Telangana – became part of the Union of India on September 17, 1948.
Union culture minister G. Kishan Reddy has written letters to the chief ministers of Telangana, Karnataka and Maharashtra, inviting them to the inaugural programme at the Hyderabad Parade Grounds. Along with Amit Shah, the Karnataka and Maharashtra chief ministers are likely to participate in the event. It is not yet clear if Telangana chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao will attend the event, given that his Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government has not acceded to the demand of observing the day officially as ‘liberation day’.
“I am happy to inform you that the Government of India, after careful consideration of the various aspects, decided to celebrate 75 years of Hyderabad State Liberation. The Government of India has approved year-long commemoration of ‘Hyderabad State Liberation’ from Sep 17, 2022 to Sep 17, 2023,” Reddy wrote in each of the letters dated September 3.
He has also requested the three chief ministers to observe the inaugural day of commemoration with suitable events across their states. “I would also request you to identify events and commemorations throughout the year and share these plans with the Government of lndia, so that a holistic approach can be taken in planning the yearlong commemorations,” Reddy wrote.
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The princely state of Hyderabad was ruled by the Nizams and became part of the Indian Union only on September 17, 1948. Political parties in the state are divided over how to view this historical ‘reality’, resulting in no acceptable nomenclature to describe the significance of September 17. Some call it a ‘liberation day’ while others term it as a ‘day of merger’.
There are others who associate the day with military action conducted by the Indian Army in ‘Operation Polo’, widely known as ‘police action’. As The Wire reported earlier, according to a report sanctioned by the Government of India, a “very conservative estimate” said that during and in the aftermath of Operation Polo, at least 27,000 to 40,000 people – mostly Muslims – were killed.
While the TRS and Congress in the state celebrate September 17 as ‘Telangana Merger Day’ by hoisting the national flag and paying tributes to the freedom fighters, the All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) maintains that there is only one Independence Day for the entire country and hence there is no need for separate celebrations in Telangana. Several Muslim groups are also opposed to celebrations, citing the ‘police action’.
The BJP, for its part, has long pushed for the day to be celebrated as ‘liberation day’ – a demand which the TRS government has never conceded to. Recently, Amit Shah alleged that the TRS government is reluctant to celebrate ‘Telangana Liberation Day’ due to “fear” of the AIMIM, according to The Siasat Daily.
Reacting to the announcement, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi said that September 17 should be observed as ‘National Integration Day’ since it is an occasion to celebrate the struggles of people against both colonial and autocratic rule.
17 September marks merger of erstwhile Hyderabad State with Union of India. Wrote to @AmitShah & @TelanganaCMO suggesting that the day should be observed as National Integration Day. It’ll be an occasion to celebrate the struggles of people against both colonial & autocratic rule pic.twitter.com/A05hkJo5Sl
— Asaduddin Owaisi (@asadowaisi) September 3, 2022
Although the TRS, during the Telangana statehood movement, promised that it would mark the day officially if the Telangana state became a reality and it made it to power, it has never done so in the past eight years of its governance. It has followed the path of successive regimes of the united Andhra Pradesh, which were officially opposed to observing the event.
Given that the BJP is once raking up the emotive issue, while its political prospects in Telangana are seemingly on an upward trajectory, the KCR government considering various options. According to The Hindu, chief minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao is expected to take a call on the matter in the upcoming cabinet meeting and may propose it to be observed as a celebration of the Telangana Armed Struggle – which is another aspect of history associated with September 17, 1948 – a communist-led struggle against the Nizam and his feudal lords.
(With PTI inputs)