Hyderabad: It is no secret that the right is always looking for reasons to flay minorities for political mileage. Hyderabad’s annexation to India in 1948 being brushed under the carpet throughout the state’s history for most parts was in fact nothing short of offering it on a platter to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has now conveniently used the historical incident to spin a new narrative.
Telangana was part of the erstwhile princely state of Hyderabad (1724-1948), and it was merged with present day Andhra Pradesh to create the joint AP state in 1956 on a linguistic basis. In AP, the RSS and BJP were never important players. The Congress eventually was met in opposition from the Telugu Desam Party (TDP).
For the longest time, until a few years ago, most social and political organisations kept mum in September on the topic of Operation Polo. While it is still a painful memory of families that faced violence and death, for a topic that is of such immense importance, it was seemingly not an issue that anyone wanted to talk about.
Even the Congress and TDP (which ruled AP) politically also never touched Operation Polo and Hyderabad’ annexation, because doing so would mean that they would also have to talk about Telangana and its independent statehood movement. The BJP was always a minor player between 1956 and 2014, until both the Telugu states split, with the K Chandrasekhar Rao-led (KCR) Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS, now rechristened to BRS) coming to power in 2014.
Interestingly, KCR in his public speeches even spoke fondly about Hyderabad’s last Nizam (while addressing Muslims) initially while he was at the helm. The BRS won 88 out of 119 seats in the 2018 Telangana Assembly elections and the BJP got just one seat. However, something interesting happened after 2018.
With help from the central leadership, the BJP began pushing vehemently to observe ‘Hyderabad Liberation Day’, a malicious phrase being used now to paint Operation Polo as a Muslim ruler versus Hindu population event. While people who are aware of facts did not pay much importance, the narrative was driven hard by the BJP to elicit a response from the BRS and even the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM).
AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi called to observe ‘National Integration Day’ instead, which the Telangana government under KCR promptly took up, clearly in a bid to thwart the BJP’s narrative. However, it may be noted that the BJP at the Centre is leaving no stone unturned, as the Rashtrapathi Nilayam in Hyderabad on September 17 this year held programmes on theme for school children.
The irony of it all
The irony of this entire episode however is that the BJP did not even exist when the state of Hyderabad was annexed to India via Operation Polo. Moreover, rural Telangana was for most parts in control of the Communist Party of India (CPI), which was leading a peasant rebellion from 1946-51. The Indian army was sent by the Centre on September 13 after negotiations with the last Nizam Mir Osman Ali Khan fell through after independence.
After what is called a 5-day ‘war, the Hyderabad state was formally annexed to India on September 17. The state then had a military governor for 18 months and the last Nizam Osman Ali Khan was also made the governor afterwards for 18 months in the aftermath. In all of this, a party which essentially has no say in it was able to set the political tone, while the Congress and the CPI both remained quiet on this for the longest time.
Razakar movie, BJP and Operation Polo
To make the kick even harder, BJP leader (which was originally a Congress veteran) Gudur Narayan Reddy in 2024 released the movie ‘Razakar: A Silent Genocide of Hyderabad’ on the paramilitary group Razakars. The movie clearly portrayed the Nizam and Muslims in evil overtones, making it it out to be nothing based on reality.
The movie is about the Muslim militia Razakar (volunteers), which indulged in looting and violence in the days leading to the erstwhile Hyderabad state’s annexation by the Indian army on September 17, 1948. In fact, BJP leader Gudur Narayan Reddy was a veteran Congress leader before he jumped ship a few years ago to the saffron party.
The most surprising move however was the Telangana government, which constituted the Gaddar Telangana Film Awards to promote both Telugu and Urdu films, awarding the Razakar movie for ‘heritage/history’. A collective of social activists, academicians, and legal practitioners has raised strong objections to the Telangana government’s decision to confer the Gaddar Telangana Film Award to the film Razakar (Silent Genocide of Hyderabad), terming it a “polarising and propaganda-driven film.”
Razakars and Operation Polo
In 1946, a parallel political power vis-a-vis the Nizam emerged in the Hyderabad state, in the form of Syed Qasim Razvi, a lawyer from Latur (Marathwada region in Maharashtra), who took over the reigns of the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (started in 1927) in 1946 after the death of its former president Bahadur Yar Jung in 1944.
Jung was one the MIM’s most powerful leaders and was a respected figure. It is hard to say what would have happened had he not died under suspicious circumstances (suspected poisoning). One of the major reasons behind Police Action is believed to be the fanatical Qasim Razvi, who started the Razakar (volunteers) militia, and indulged in atrocities.
The issue with Razvi was his violence. The late author Omar Khalidi in his seminal book ‘Hyderabad: After The Fall’ notes that, “Under Razavi’s charge the organisation (MIM) fairly quickly became a militant and somewhat frenzied party, accused, not without cause, of being fascist in both spirit and structure.”
The thing on which the Nizam held onto was the lapse of paramountcy, that the agreements princely states had was with the British. Like Osman Ali Khan and Hyderabad, a handful of other states also insisted that they could choose to be independent, and that they were not bound by rules of the Indian union.
Final days in Hyderabad before Operation Polo
One of the reasons that many believe that set forth Operation Polo was the suspicion that the Nizam was directly or indirectly helping the Razakars. However, this blame perhaps can be put on the last Prime Minister of Hyderabad Laiq Ali, who was more or less doing that. These developments convinced the Indian government that the Nizam was either in league with Qasim Qazvi or was powerless before them.
It was a matter of time before Operation Polo would commence. A militia, and a very legitimate concern that communists would take over the state (they had control of the rural areas) gripped the Indian government. Interestingly, the Nizam sent a secret letter to the Governor general Lord Mountbatten, stating that he would not accede to Pakistan, but also stipulated that he would remain neutral in case of a war between India and Pakistan.
Moreover, another major reason for sending in the army was the Communist Party of India (CPI)-led Telangana Armed Struggle (1946-51). It was essentially a peasant uprising against feudal Jagdirdars (landlords) in the Hyderabad state. It had begun much earlier in 1946. Wary of a communist takeover, the Indian government also wanted to crush the communist movement, which continued till 1951. The CPI called it off on October 21, 1951 and joined the Indian democratic system.
The Last Nizam’s legacy and Operation Polo
Whether one likes it or not, Osman Ali Khan’s legacy is tarnished because of what happened in 1948, primarily thanks to the narrative being twisted. GIven the general direction of hate campaigns being run against Muslims in India by right-wing groups over the last decade, this issue will only be dragged out further. However, honest questions and honest answers perhaps will address the issue.
