Union Minister and Telangana BJP president G. Kishan Reddy on Tuesday reiterated his party’s demand to the Telangana government about celebrating September 17 as ‘Liberation Day’ as there was nothing “unifying” about it.
“How can it be a unification when Sardar Patel with the help of the Indian Army defeated the Nizam Army and liberated Hyderabad from his clutches? It is shameful to say Liberation Day celebration is anti-Muslim when so many people from the minority community, including journalist Shoibullah Khan and others, were killed by the regime at that time,” Mr.Kishan Reddy told a press conference.
Telangana people had fought a relentless battle against the Nizam’s autocratic rule and the violence unleashed by his militia force, Razakars, in which hundreds lost their lives. When Karnataka and Maharashtra, which got a few districts of the erstwhile Hyderabad, have been celebrating Liberation Day, why not here,” he questioned.
The Union Minister said Telangana people will forever remember the momentous day of September 17, 1948, when Hyderabad was liberated from the Nizam’s reign since 1724. He charged the Seventh Nizam, Mir Osman Ali Khan of declaring independence with an intent to ‘Islamise’ the State.
“Many were forcibly converted while people in villages fortified their houses to thwart the raids of the Razakars,” he said and accused the present Majlis Party of being the successor of the Razakars. Telangana and Telugu language, culture and heritage was sought to be destroyed during those tumultuous times, he added.
Both the Congress and ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi are “guilty” of not celebrating the day since 1948 and have been trying to “cover up” history because of “vote bank politics”, he said and stated that he will be writing to the sarpanches of all villages in Telangana to celebrate ‘Liberation Day’.
Chief Ministers of Telangana, Karnataka and Maharashtra will be invited for the celebrations to be organised by the Centre at the Parade Grounds in Secunderabad on Sunday when Home Minister Amit Shah will hoist the national flag, take salute from para-military contingents and address a public meeting, for the second successive year.
“This is not a party event, but the Narendra Modi government deciding to honour and respect the freedom fighters who fought against the Nizam. Since 1998, BJP has been demanding Liberation Day celebrations, but Chief Minister K.Chandrasekhar Rao, after having castigated the then Congress government for refusing to celebrate the day during the separate State agitation, followed the same policy to mollify the Majlis Party,” he claimed.
