Centre to celebrate Hyderabad Liberation Day on September 17 every year

HYDERABAD: Interpreted differently by different parties, the day Hyderabad was liberated by the Indian Army from Nizam's rule on September 17, 1948, will be celebrated by the Union Government as Hyderabad Liberation Day.

The announcement came from the Ministry of Home Affairs on Tuesday, just as when the Home Minister was on a visit to Hyderabad to participate in the party’s cadre-related meetings. The Government order said that the day would be celebrated in memory of those who liberated the princely State of Hyderabad from the hands of the Nizam.

"Now to remember the martyrs who liberated Hyderabad and to infuse the flame of patriotism in the minds of youth, the Government of India decided to celebrate the 17th day of September every year as 'Hyderabad Liberation Day'," the notification said.

While, the rest of India got its independence on August 15, 1947, Hyderabad remained under seventh Nizam Mir Usman Ali’s rule for 13 months. The then Home Minister Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel liberated Hyderabad after a successful police action called “Operation Polo’.

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The action was swift under Major General JN Choudhury as Mir Usman Ali at that juncture was indecisive and was contemplating joining Pakistan rather than India. The operation took five days and finally, the seventh Nizam surrendered before the Indian Army.

However, the BJP had made it an agenda to celebrate the Hyderabad Liberation Day on September 17 every year along the lines of similar celebrations in the Nizam-ruled provinces of present-day Maharashtra and Karnataka. Union Minister Amit Shah also attended the Liberation Day celebrations at the Parade Grounds in Secunderabad in the past.

However, Congress Governments stayed away from controversy by not officially celebrating the event. The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) decided to celebrate the event in the name of "National Integration Day," symbolising the need for cohesion between communities in Telangana. The then Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao also participated in the State organised function.

The All India Majlis E Ittehdul Muslimeen (AIMIM) on the other hand celebrated the day with a ‘Tiranga Bike rally’ followed by a public meeting under the National Integration Day. Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi led these rallies.