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The Centre has decided to mark Hyderabad State Liberation Day on September 17 in a big way this year. In fact, the 75th anniversary of the event — that took place in 1948 — will be marked as a yearlong event during which various events will be held across the country till September 17, 2023. The inaugural event, being organised by the Union Ministry of Culture, will be held in Hyderabad and will be presided over by Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
Meanwhile, the Telangana Government on Saturday decided to observe September 17 as Telangana National Unity Day. The Cabinet, which met in the afternoon, resolved to observe Telangana National Unity Diamond Jubilee Festival for three days starting September 16. Grand ceremonies would be held in all 33 districts. Sources said the state government decided to celebrate the evolution of Telangana society from a monarchy system to the democratic system, and will observe National Unity Festival for one year.
On September 17, CM K Chandrasekhar Rao will hoist the national flag at the Public Gardens in Hyderabad. On the same day, ministers in all district centres, officials in all government offices and public representatives will organise national flag unveiling programmes. The CM will also inaugurate Banjara Bhavan and Adivasi Bhavan.
Union Tourism and Culture Minister G Kishan Reddy, also a Lok Sabha MP from Secunderabad, has written to Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, asking him to be a guest of honour at the event. While Maharashtra and Karnataka already commemorate this day as Marathwada Liberation Day and Hyderabad-Karnataka Liberation Day, respectively, the Centre aims to celebrate the day across the three states and also take it directly under its wing. Similar letters have also been sent to Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai.
The letter also mentions the intent behind the large-scale celebrations this year. As part of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav, the government is identifying events and individuals that have not been given the attention that they deserved over the years, it says. In the letter, Reddy says: “On September 17, 1948, more than one year after India got Independence, the erstwhile state of Hyderabad, comprising the entire state of Telangana and some districts in Maharashtra and Karnataka, got liberated from the Nizam rule. This was possible due to the swift and timely action of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel under Operation Polo.”
Sources say the move is also aimed at highlighting the Bhairanapally massacre of August 27, 1948, when Razakars — a private army of the Hyderabad nizams — killed 96 villagers to quell their uprising for demanding the merger of Nizam dominion into the Indian Union. The BJP wants to use the opportunity to score a political point over Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM, which was founded as Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) in 1927 as a pro-Nizam party. KCR and Owaisi seem to be politically close, with both praising each other lately.
After BJP revealed its plans for Hyderabad Liberation Day, Owaisi wrote letters to Shah and KCR to mark it as National Integration Day. “The struggles of the people of erstwhile Hyderabad state against colonialism, feudalism and autocracy are a symbol of national integration rather than merely a case of “liberation” of a piece of land,” he said in the letters. In his letter to KCR, he also wrote about organising “a befitting celebration” at University Women’s College in Koti, which was once the British residency.
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