Why Operation Polo was launched to take over Hyderabad, 77 years ago

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel put it more bluntly, famously saying that an independent Hyderabad would constitute a “cancer in the belly of India”.

The Nizam’s ambitions

Among the 500-odd princely states of India, the state of Hyderabad was one of the largest. It was spread over more than 80,000 square miles and inhabited by approximately 16 million people, belonging to three separate linguistic groups — Telugu, Kannada and Marathi. While the majority of its population was Hindu, its ruler was a Muslim, who held the hereditary title of the Nizam.

In 1947, Hyderabad was under the seventh Nizam, Mir Usman Ali, who had been enthroned as far back as 1911. Not only was he one of the richest men in the world, he also held the repute of being one of the most important Muslim figures. Over seven generations, the Nizam’s had created a state that would rival Constantinople as the repository of Islamic culture and learning. By the time of India’s Independence, Usman Ali had come to occupy a particular position in the imagination of the Muslim elites, and was at one point projected as the Caliph’s successor.

The Nizam had also contributed generously to the British during the World War I. In recognition of his efforts, the Nizam of Hyderabad became the only ruler of a princely state to be conferred the title, ‘his exalted highness’ . Quite naturally, the Nizam believed himself to be cut above the rest. He refused to join the Chamber of Princes established in 1920, and refused to take orders from what he believed were the “lesser” princes.

With independence looming in the horizon, the Nizam was determined to hold on to more than just his personal wealth. He wanted independence for his state, and the opportunity to forge direct relations with the Crown.

To help him in his case, he employed Sir Walter Monckton, a king’s counsel and one of the most highly regarded lawyers in England who also happened to be a friend of the last Viceroy of India, Lord Mountbatten. When the latter had suggested to Monckton that he should join the Constituent Assembly, he was met with the response that if India pressed too hard, Hyderabad might “seriously consider the alternative of joining Pakistan.”

Patel moved patiently with Hyderabad. In November 1947 a stand still agreement was signed between both the parties, agreeing to the fact that the ties between the two continue the same as they did under the British.

Internal revolt against the Nizam

While India and Hyderabad continued with their negotiations, a revolt was brewing within the state against the Nizam. Under the Nizam an exploitative and communal agricultural structure had come to be established. While a movement of resistance against this lopsided state of affairs had been gathering since the 1920s, it reached its zenith in 1946.

The agitation originally began as a linguistic struggle for Telugu by an organisation called the Andhra Jan Sangham. By the 1940s, the Andhra Jan Sangham (AMS) had transformed into the Andhra Mahasabha (AMS) and was soon a space in which the communists began to exert influence. The AMS and the Communist Party of India came together to mobilise a strong peasant movement against the Nizam and soon found a strong holding among the poor tenants and small landholders.

When the discussions around accession started out, the agitators were inclined to join India. They were backed by the Hyderabad State Congress.

On the Nizam’s side was the Ittihad-ul-Muslimeen, an Islamic fundamentalist organisation, which under the leadership of Kasim Razvi, an Aligarh-based lawyer, was keen on safeguarding the position of Muslims in administration and politics. Guha in his book writes that “Under Razvi the Ittihad had promoted a paramilitary body called the ‘Razakars’ whose members marched up and down the roads of Hyderabad, carrying swords and guns.” They were staunch supporters of the Nizam, who went about brutally suppressing the movement against him, raiding and plundering villagers, and killing anyone who came across as a potential agitator.

By June 1948, Patel had lost patience and wrote to Nehru: “I feel very strongly that a stage has come when we should tell them quite frankly that nothing short of unqualified acceptance of accession and of introduction of undiluted responsible government would be acceptable to us.”

With the situation in Hyderabad showing no signs of improving, a forceful annexation was thought to be the only way ahead.

Operation Polo

The Indian Army entered Hyderabad on the morning of September 13, 1948. Chaudhuri’s forces consisted of two infantry brigades, one armored brigade, and a smaller strike force. The army was further supplemented by armed policemen from various provinces and states of the Indian Union. Meanwhile the Indian Air Force conducted aerial bombing raids.

By September 17, the Indian army was on the outskirts of Hyderabad city, having easily overpowered the Hyderabad army and the razakars. The Nizam surrendered and agreed to accede to the Indian union. He made a speech on the radio on the night of September 17, announcing a ban on the razakars and advising his subjects to “live in peace and harmony with the rest of the people in India.”

The Nizam remained as the titular head of Hyderabad, until December 1949, under a military administration led by Chaudhuri. Thereafter an unelected civilian government was appointed by the Ministry of States. Elections were finally held in 1952.