Amit Shah hints at celebrating Sept 17 regularly, ascribes Hyderabad liberation to Patel

HYDERABAD: Union Home Minister and BJP top leader Amit Shah on Saturday said that the people of Telangana and the entire country should recall and commemorate the selfless efforts of India's Iron Man Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel in liberating Hyderabad from the clutches of Nizam and the atrocities of dreaded razakars. Without Sardar Patel, Hyderabad would not have been a free state, he claimed.

He addressed the gathering at an event organised at the Parade Grounds in Secunderabad to commemorate the Hyderabad Liberation Day, as called by the BJP and the Narendra Modi-led NDA Government. While paying homage to Sardar Patel and a host of people, whom he described as freedom fighters who laid down their lives, the Union Home Minister also extended his greetings to the people of Maharashtra, Karnataka and Telangana, some of whose regions were part of the erstwhile Hyderabad Princely State. He congratulated and thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his call to celebrate the Hyderabad Liberation Day, which, he alleged, was ignored over the last 75 years. "Modi's decision in this regard was in honour of the aspirations of people in the regions of Maharashtra, Karnataka and Telangana, which were a part of the erstwhile princely state," he said.

He said that the Nizam of the erstwhile Hyderabad state bowed down to the country, solely due to the decisions and timely action taken by Vallabh Bhai Patel. "Sardar Patel realised that India could never be completely independent without the inclusion of the Hyderabad princely state into the Indian Union. He initiated the Operation Polo which saw the liberation of Hyderabad from the clutches of Nizam and the atrocities of dreaded razakars, who carried out a carnage against the populace," he said.

He criticised the successive governments since Independence for failing to celebrate Hyderabad's liberation day. He said that they shunned this because of their vote bank politics.

In a veiled criticism of the current Telangana dispensation's decision to celebrate September 17 as Telangana Integration Day, Amit Shah remarked, "Today, Hyderabad Liberation Day is being observed but not in the name it was supposed to be. It's because of the fear that runs in their veins. I want to tell the people of Telangana, also those who are shying away from naming September 17 as Liberation Day, it will be an injustice to all those freedom fighters who laid down their lives, if you do not pay homage to them and respect their valour and selflessness," he remarked.

The Union Home Minister asserted that Hyderabad Liberation Day would be celebrated for many more years with more vigour and enthusiasm.

The BJP heavyweight also reviewed, on this occasion, the parade of the central forces from Telangana, Maharashtra and Karnataka, conducted in a symbolic move.

Amit Shah arrived in the city on Friday night by a special flight and proceeded to the Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel National Police Academy for an overnight stay.