On Wednesday, 18th January 2023, the dead body of Mukarram Jah Bahadur, the nominal eighth Nizam of Hyderabad, was buried at the Makka Mosque in Hyderabad. He was the grandson of Nizam Mir Usman Ali Khan who was the ruler of the Nizam state at the time of Operation Polo through which the territory in the Deccan was merged with India. The full name of this nominal Nizam was ‘Mir Barkat Ali Khan Mukarram Jah Bahadur Asifjah the Eighth’.
The 89-year-old heir of the Nizam dynasty died on 14th January 2023 in Turkey. His dead body was kept at the Chowmahalla palace for the locals of Hyderabad who wanted to pay him respects one last time. Though it was supposed to be held till 1 pm on Wednesday, many prominent admirers of the Nizam rule from the old city gathered in the palace delaying it to 2 pm.
The dead body was brought to the Makka Mosque at around 4:30 pm where Maulana Hafiz Qari Qureshi offered funeral prayers. The nominal Nizam’s lifeless body was buried after the evening Namaz. The funeral was attended by his relatives, many other trust members, and a large number of Muslims.
Telangana’s chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao paid floral tributes to the nominal Nizam at Chowmahalla Palace. The Telangana government led by KC Rao gave the guard of honour at this time, which is seen as a disrespect to thousands of Hindus who fought against the Islamic rule of Nizam to get the state merged with India, in the 75th year of their independence which they got 13 months later than rest of the then British India. Notably, according to his last wish, this nominal Nizam’s dead body was wrapped in the flag of the Nizam state.
KC Rao is in alliance with the All India Majlis e Ittihadul Muslimin (AIMIM) which is an ideological successor of the Islamic ruler Nizam. The decision of giving a guard of honor to the nominal Nizam was taken by the state government in its own capacity neglecting the fact that Mukarram Jah had nothing to do with India. The decision was taken by the government because the AIMIM allegedly asked the state government to do so. Though Mir Usman Ali Khan was named the governor of the Hyderabad region after the province was merged with India, his heirs – especially Mukarram Jah had nothing to do with India.
He did not hold any constitutional post. He was not a noted public figure in India. He was not a Padma Awardee. He was not a war veteran or someone who gave supreme sacrifice in the national interests. He was not some great messenger of humanity whose death should be mourned by the state by giving him a guard of honour. He represented the dynasty of the last recognized Islamic state on Indian soil and unapologetically said that his last wish is to be wrapped in the flag of the Nizam state that persecuted Hindus to the worst level an Islamist rule can degrade at. An Indian state giving him a guard of honor for wooing Muslim voters is therefore an insult to the freedom fighters.
Mukarram Jah – the nominal Nizam – was born on October 6, 1933, in France. Azam Shah, son of Mir Usman Ali Khan was his father, and Durru Shehvar, the imperial princess of the Ottoman Empire was his mother. In this way, he was related to the Ottoman dynasty of Turkey. He was coronated as the Eighth Nizam on April 6, 1967, as Mir Usman Ali Khan died in February 1967. This nominal Nizam lived in Australia till 1996. After that, he sold everything he had in Australia and settled in Turkey where he finally died.
This nominal Nizam is survived by his wife Esra and their children among others. The nominal Nizam was an heir of the Nizam dynasty that persecuted Hindus who were its subject before getting annexed to India in 1948, a year after the so-called independence.
Persecution of Hindus in the Nizam rule
At the time of partition in 1947, the Nizam of Hyderabad Mir Osman Ali Khan was in a dilemma to choose which union he’d like his country to merge with and initially agreed to the ‘standstill agreement’ where the Republic of India would handle the external affairs and defense of Hyderabad but won’t interfere in the internal affairs. This was however violated by the state of Hyderabad when it secretly loaned 15 million pounds to Pakistan and raised a semi-private military (Razakars) in the country.
Under the rule of Nizams, Hindus were brutally suppressed by the rulers. Hindus were routinely discriminated against due to their religion during their appointment to government posts and the state army. Of 1765 officers in the State Army, 1268 were Muslims, 421 were Hindus, and 121 others were Christians, Parsis, and Sikhs. Of the officials drawing a salary between Rs. 600 and 1200 per month, 59 were Muslims, 5 were Hindus and 38 were of other religions. The Nizam and his nobles, who were mostly Muslims, owned 40% of the total land in the state, showing the vast inequality in the distribution of wealth.
Frightened by the growing awareness amongst the Hindu population in Hyderabad, Nizam Khan ordered the formation of a semi-private army called ‘Razakars’ to suppress the agitations. The Razakars were a wing of the Majlis-e-Itihadul Muslimeen (MIM, or AIMIM as it is presently known). The Razakars managed to raise 1 lakh Jihadis in their army within a span of days. The army managed to suppress the Hindus by mass-murdering and abducting Hindus in Urban Telangana, the Marathwada section of present Maharashtra, and the northeast Karnataka region of present Karnataka.
By 1948, Nizam didn’t want the growing public opinion of Hindus that Hyderabad should accede to India to grow roots in the state and ordered the Razakars to suppress the Hindu population brutally. Qasim Razvi was made the chief of the Jihadi forces.
Toothless-ness of Nehru and the wrath of Patel
After receiving the details of the exodus of Hindus by the Nizam of Hyderabad, India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was afraid that any attack on the princely state would attract retaliation from West and East Pakistan. Nehru was hesitant to take the decision to storm into the state and annex it.
On the insistence of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Nehru hesitantly agreed to the annexure of Hyderabad and ordered the Indian Army to annex the state of Hyderabad and storm into the state from all fronts.
On 13th September 1948, the Indian Army launched an attack on Hyderabad; this operation was named ‘Operation Polo’. The Indian Army, in a 5-day battle, annexed Hyderabad from the Nizam and integrated it into the territory of India.
Tushar Gandhi continues the Nehruvian legacy
MK Gandhi’s grandson Tushar Gandhi mourned the death of the nominal Nizam of the Islamic state in the Deccan and displayed his colonial mindset. He tweeted, “Rest in Peace, Al Vida, Nizam Muqarram Jah, the 8th and last Nizam of Hyderabad Khuda Hafiz.”
Rest in Peace, Al vida, Nizam Muqarram Jha, the 8th and last Nizam of Hyderabad Khuda Hafiz🤲🏾
— Tushar (@TusharG) January 19, 2023
