Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Telangana BJP have once again demanded that the state government celebrate the "liberation" of Hyderabad from the Nizam’s rule, something in which the RSS had no role. It is like them wanting to celebrate August 8 as Quit India Day, a movement the RSS had opposed. Amit Shah was the chief guest at the BJP’s celebration last year.
It is now 77 years since the largest princely state in British India was integrated into the Union on September 17, 1948. Few celebrate the hoisting of the Tricolour here today. For those of us who were born here and have deep roots in this region, it is simply another milestone in history. The Hyderabad that was "liberated" no longer exists. But what do these Johnny-come-lately Sanghis know? They are prisoners of habit, used to fashioning lies into a self-serving history.
It is therefore ironic that the RSS, which never allowed the Tricolour to be hoisted at Hegdewar Bhavan, its headquarters in Nagpur, now wants to celebrate the hoisting of the Tricolour in Hyderabad on September 17, 1948, as Liberation Day. On the eve of Independence, the RSS mouthpiece Organizer wrote: “The people who have come to power by the kick of fate may give in our hands the tricolor but it never be respected and owned by Hindus. The word three is in itself an evil, and a flag having three colors will certainly produce a very bad psychological effect and is injurious to a country.”
The Tricolour went up on Hegdewar Bhavan only on January 26, 2001, when three young men of the Rashtrapremi Yuva Dal forcibly hoisted it on the building.
The truth is that the RSS never participated in the Quit India Movement of 1942 or in any anti-feudal liberation movement anywhere in the country. In the 1990s it made an abortive attempt to insert itself into the 1942 movement by claiming that the young Atal Bihari Vajpayee had taken part in Quit India activities in Bateshwar. This ended in embarrassment when Frontline published Vajpayee’s own confessional statement in which he distanced himself from the events and described himself merely as an onlooker.
Apart from Hyderabad, J&K and Junagadh had not acceded to India in 1947. J&K did so only on October 26, 1947, when Pakistani raiders reached the gates of Srinagar. The Nawab of Junagadh had actually acceded to Pakistan, but a popular upsurge forced him to flee with his kennel of beloved dogs. A referendum held on September 15, 1947, ratified Junagadh’s accession to India. Yet the RSS never celebrates Kashmir’s accession on October 26 or Junagadh’s on September 15 as Liberation Days. It chooses instead to celebrate Hyderabad’s accession on September 17, 1948—an event in which it had no role—just as it tries to appropriate a role in the nationalist movement. This is also a proxy attack on Hyderabad’s substantial Muslim community, represented today by a reinvented Majlis-e-Ittihad-ul-Muslimeen (MIM).
At Independence, Hyderabad was the largest princely state in terms of population and GNP. Its territory of 82,698 square miles was larger than England and Scotland combined. The 1941 Census put its population at 16.34 million, over 85% of whom were Hindus, with Muslims accounting for about 12%. It was a multilingual state with people speaking Telugu (48.2%), Marathi (26.4%), Kannada (12.3%) and Urdu (10.3%). It was a Muslim-dominated state, and the Hindu majority was generally excluded from government. In that sense, it mirrored J&K, which was a Hindu-dominated fiefdom.
Hyderabad had Hindu nobility, and a few even became Prime Ministers. Maharaja Chandulal was Prime Minister from 1833 to 1844 during Sikandar Jah’s reign. Sir Kishen Pershad was Prime Minister from 1902 until 1912. Nevertheless, it remained a government of Muslims, by Muslims. Records from 1911 show that 70% of the police, 55% of the army, and 26% of the administration posts were held by Muslims. A 1941 report on the Civil Service showed that out of 1,765 officers, 1,268 were Muslims, 421 Hindus, and 121 others, presumably British, Christians, Parsis, and Sikhs. Of those drawing salaries between Rs 600–1200 per month, 59 were Muslims, 38 were “others,” and only five were Hindus. The Nizam and his nobles, mostly Muslims, owned 40% of the total land in the kingdom.
The BJP’s only real base is in the old city of Hyderabad, which is dominated by the MIM, its mortal enemy. Its power here is best symbolised by the temple planted at the southeast corner of the Charminar, where it still grows like a fungus under the nose of the Charminar Police Station.
The first stirrings of political activity in Hyderabad began in 1927 with the formation of the MIM, created to unite various Islamic sects for “the solution of their problems within the principle of Islam” and to protect Muslim interests. It was influenced by events in Turkey and the Khilafat movement’s course in India when it aligned with the Congress in 1920. The MIM soon grew into a movement for an Islamic state in Hyderabad.
In 1933, an association of mulkis—local-born Hindus and Muslims—called the Nizam’s Subjects League was formed in reaction to the domination of gair-mulkis, mostly Muslim and Hindu Kayasthas from present-day UP, in government. This group, later called the Mulki League, first raised the demand for a “responsible” government in Hyderabad.
In 1937, the Mulki League split between radicals, mostly Hindus, and status-quoists. This led to the Hyderabad Peoples Convention in 1937, paving the way for the Hyderabad State Congress in 1938. With this, the movement for political and constitutional reform gained momentum. The RSS did not even exist in Hyderabad then. The only Hindu nationalist presence was the Hindu Mahasabha, largely confined to Marathwada.
The Hyderabad State Congress agitation ran parallel to movements led by the Arya Samaj and the Hindu Mahasabha under VD Savarkar for Hindu civil rights. Their interests overlapped with those of the Congress, placing them in opposition to the Majlis, then led by Bahadur Yar Jung, who had also founded the Anjuman-i-Tabligh-i-Islam, a proselytising organisation converting Hindus. Charismatic and influential with the Nizam, Bahadur Yar Jung summed up his goal: “The Majlis policy is to keep the sovereignty of His Exalted Highness intact and to prevent Hindus from establishing supremacy over Muslims.”
The Congress leadership took on a more nationalist character after the arrival of Swami Ramanand Tirtha. From Gulbarga, he became a sadhu in his youth and later led the Hyderabad Congress from 1946. Around him gathered many young leaders who would rise in independent India, most notably PV Narasimha Rao, as well as Shankerrao Chavan, Veerendra Patil, and Marri Channa Reddy.
Meanwhile, the Communists were active in Telugu-speaking areas. They took control of the Andhra Mahasabha, formed in 1921 to represent Telugu interests, by 1942. While the Hyderabad Congress launched its movement for democratic rights alongside Quit India, the Communists tacitly allied with the Majlis and supported the Nizam, a loyal ally of the British. The Communists may deny this, but like the Muslim League and RSS, they too opposed the Quit India movement.
Accession brought the changes long sought by Hyderabad’s political movements. The Muslim elite soon found themselves marginalised, with many migrating to Pakistan. Others, like Ali Yavar Jung, adapted to the new order. A new bureaucratic elite was quickly installed, even as the Communist insurrection was crushed. The Muslim feudal regime gave way to a government enjoying the people’s mandate. The RSS had nothing to do with it.
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*Well known policy analyst. Source: Author's Facebook timeline. Photo shows Maj.Gen. JN Chaudhury Military Governor, Hyderabad welcoming Jawaharlal Nehru at a rally at Fateh Maidan, Hyderabad
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