‘Hyderabad Liberation Day’: BJP holds womens’ bike rally

Hyderabad: The Bhartiya Janata Party Mahila Morcha kicked started its ‘Hyderabad Liberation Day’ celebrations with an all-women bike rally from Bhagya Laxmi Temple at Charminar on Thursday.

Union Minister G Kishan Reddy participated in the rally. Dressed in saffron attire several women workers of the Bhartiya Janata Party women’s wing gathered near the 431-year-old monument constructed by Mohammed Quli Qutb Shah, Hyderabad’s founder.

Geetha Krishna Murthy, President, BJP Mahila Morcha, planned the rally following the BJP central leadership’s announcement to organize programs in view of ‘Hyderabad Liberation Day’.

The rally will pass through Charminar, Gulzar House, Madina building, Afzalgunj Library, Rangmahal – Chaderghat, Koti, Ramkoti, King Koti, YMCA Narayanguda, RTC crossroads, Musheerabad, Secunderabad, Parade Grounds, Begumpet, Ameerpet- Panjagutta, Khairtabad, Lakidikapul and end at Sardar Patel Statue, Saifabad, after covering 16 kilometers of distance.

The police are making all arrangements for the event. The BJP planned a series of events in the three States of Telangana, Karnataka, and Maharashtra to celebrate ‘Hyderabad State Liberation Day’ for a whole year.

Is BJP trying to gain political mileage?

In a clear push to politically capitalise on historical events, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-run central government will organise a year-long ‘celebration’ marking ‘Hyderabad Liberation Day’ starting from September 17. Union Home Minister Amit Shah has also been invited for the same. On that date in 1948, the erstwhile state of Hyderabad run by its Nizam, Osman Ali Khan, was annexed to India.

In a letter addressed to the chief ministers of Telangana (K. Chandrashekhar Rao), Maharashtra and Karnataka, union culture minister G. Kishan Reddy invited them as guests of honour for the inaugural event of the ‘Hyderabad Liberation Day’ event in Telangana. The entire state, along with five districts of Maharastra and three of Karnataka, were part of the Nizam’s Hyderabad princely state.

The irony however is that the BJP did not exist when the state of Hyderabad was annexed with the military offensive called Operation Polo. In fact Telangana was mostly in control of the Communist Party of India (CPI). The Indian army was sent by the Centre on September 13 after negotiations with the last Nizam Mir Osman Ali Khan.

Nizam and his independence bid 

Though the British formally left India in 1947, it, however, gave princely states and their monarchs the option to join India or Pakistan or to stay independent. Osman Ali Khan was one of the handful of kings, like Hari Singh of Jammu and Kashmir, who wanted to stay independent. After all, he was the king of the largest princely state, Hyderabad, which comprised 16 districts in 1948 (8 in Telangana, 5 in Maharashtra and 3 in Karnataka). 

It may be noted that Osman Ali Khan was also one of the richest men in the world, and was the king of a relatively peaceful state. However, the underbelly of it, especially in Telangana’s districts, was that of extreme oppression by state-appointed Jagirdars (landlords), whose main task was to collect revenue (taxes and rent) from farmers and give it to the state. The landlords were anything but benevolent. 

Hyderabad Liberation Day vs National Integration Day

While BJP-led central government and the saffron party leaders both in the Center and Telangana are terming it ‘Hyderarabad Liberation Day’, the TRS-led Telangana government is calling it ‘National Integration Day’.

Earlier, the Telangana cabinet decided to organise the opening ceremony of “Vajrotsavalu of Telangana National integration” for three days- 16, 17 and 18 September 2022 on a grand scale across the state.