17th of September 1948 marks the day when the erstwhile Hyderabad state, consisting of modern-day Telangana, parts of Maharashtra (Auranagabad, Beed, Hingoli, Jalna, Latur, Nanded, Osmanabad and Parbhani) & parts of Karnataka (Bidar, Gulbarga, Koppal and Raichur) was liberated from Nizam’s rule and merged into the Indian Union.
Even while the rest of India celebrated independence on 15th August 1947, the people of Telangana had to wait for over 13 months to free themselves from the shackles of Nizam’s tyrannical rule.
Being a feudal monarchy, the Nizams ruled with an iron fist. With a few chosen aristocrats and nobles in charge of the administration of the jagir land (owned by the monarchy), the kingdom relied on ‘Vetti Chakiri’ or unpaid labour to thrive.
Exploitation and slavery flourished under the Nizam rule and numerous restrictions were placed on the indigenous populations, including the curtailing of cultural and linguistic freedom, leading to a peasant rebellion that eventually aided in the unification of the region with India.
In an effort to suppress the growing anti-Nizam, pro-India sentiment amongst the Telangana people, Qasim Rizvi, the president of Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) from 1946 to 1948, created the paramilitary wing of Nizam, infamously known as the Razakar militia to unleash unspeakable violence.
Thousands were massacred and women were raped and killed, and yet the struggle to be free of the Razakars and Nizam’s tyrannical rule continued. From indigenous tribals to those living in the main city of Hyderabad, people from across the state rallied against the brutality and oppression of the Nizams, Rizvi, and bloodthirsty Razakars. Rural women from Telangana, arguably amongst the first anti-caste, anti-feudal feminist labour agitators in India, participated in and led the Telangana armed struggle from 1946-1951.
It was the success of Operation Polo (Police Action against Hyderabad), under the decisive leadership of the then Home Minister Sardar Vallabhai Patel, that finally led to the liberation of Hyderabad on 17 September.
Both Maharashtra and Karnataka, regions of erstwhile Hyderabad State have celebrated this historic day as the Marathwada Liberation Day and Hyderabad-Karnataka Liberation Day respectively.
As we marked the beginning of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav– the 75th year of Independence last year, the Government of India celebrated 75 years of Hyderabad’s independence from the Nizam rule. The Ministry of Culture had started the year-long commemoration of ‘Hyderabad Liberation Day’ on 17th September 2022.
Honourable Prime Minister Narendra Modi, needs to be complimented for taking this bold decision. The year-long Amrit Mahotsav celebrations will end with Union Home Minister Amit Shah hoisting the tricolour in Hyderabad. These celebrations were held under the aegis of Union Minister G. Kishan Reddy’s Ministry of Culture. These celebrations are a fitting tribute to the sacrifices, valour and struggle of many unsung s/heroes of Telangana against the brutal legacy of the Nizams.
After the announcement of celebrations by the Narendra Modi government, the ruling BRS administration was compelled to announce a parallel program under the name of National Integration Day. The idea behind National Integration Day is to erase the atrocities committed by Nizam & his Razakar army from public memory and is an insult to the thousands of martyrs- men and women who sacrificed their lives to bring down the tyrannical rule of Nizam.
