Telangana celebrates ‘liberation day’ amid tension

HYDERABAD - The Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh Friday celebrated “liberation day” amid tension at some places.

Police chased and arrested activists of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) here when they tried to barge into the state assembly building to unfurl the national flag.

Similar incidents took place in various towns as Telangana activists made a vain bid to unfurl the tricolour atop government buildings. Tension prevailed at Siddipet in Medak district when a group of people made their way into the office of revenue divisional officer and unfurled the flag.

The tricolor was also hoisted on the Arts College building in the Osmania University here to mark the day.

It was on this day in 1948 that the then princely Nizam state was merged with the Indian Union following the surrender of Nizam’s army to the Indian Army. “Operation Polo”, India’s military action in Hyderabad, is popularly known as the “police action”.

The decision of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the ABVP and other pro-Telangana groups to celebrate the day as “Telangana Liberation Day” sparked a row with the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) and other Muslim groups terming it as “mischief” to create communal tension.

The protest by Muslim groups forced the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) and pro-Telangana leaders of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) to drop their plans to celebrate the “Liberation Day”. They instead celebrated it as the day of accession of the Nizam state with the Indian union.

Successive governments in Andhra Pradesh have turned down the demand for official celebration of the day on the ground that this could create communal trouble in view of the serious reservations of the Muslim community.

Muslim groups are opposed to any celebrations in view of the “massacre of Muslims during the police action”. “There is only one Independence Day for entire India and we are proud to be part of India. No other state in India celebrates a separate independence day. Some people want to spread hatred towards Muslims by celebrating Sep 17,” said MIM president and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi.

The ruling Congress party, the TRS, the BJP and other parties celebrated the day by unfurling the national flag at their party offices.

Telangana, which comprises Hyderabad and nine other districts, was part of the princely Nizam state along with some districts of present-day Karnataka and Maharashtra.

The Nizam had refused to merge his state with India and wanted to keep it as an independent state. However, 13 months after India’s Independence, the ‘police action’ forced him to accede.