BIDAR: Final touches are being given to the Martyrs Memorial at Gorta village in Basavakalyana taluk of Bidar district which witnessed a mass killing of Hindus by the private army of the Nizam of Hyderabad in 1948. Efforts are underway to get the memorial dedicated to the country by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Last year this small village close to the Maharashtra border drew national attention when BJP president Amit Shah visited it on September 17-the birthday of Modi- to participate in the ground breaking ceremony of the Martyrs Memorial.
Described as Karnataka’s Jallianwala Bagh, the Gorta massacre took place on May 5, 1948. According to eyewitness accounts, a large number of people were massacred by Razaakars, who were the private army of the Nizam, for expressing their desire to merge with independent India.
When India attained independence on August 15, 1947, the Nizam of Hyderabad declined to join the Indian Union. The region comprising present day Bidar, Kalaburagi, Yadgir and Raichur districts and other places were deprived of freedom, though the Hindus who constituted 80 per cent population of the Nizam state, favoured merging with the Indian Union.
This sowed the seeds of the struggle against those in power. The tricolour and Vande Mataram became the symbols of this struggle, earning the ire of the rulers.
It was during this time that a kite in tricolour was flown at Gorta. It was to send a message to the Nizam and subsequent events led to the massacre of the villagers who fought against the Razaakars . K.M. Munshi, then Agent-General of the Union government, who visited the village after the massacre, in his book ‘End of an Era’ puts the deaths at 200 and property destruction at Rs 70 lakh.
Since independence there has been a demand for honouring the sacrifice of these martyrs by constructing a memorial for them. Former chief ministers H.D. Kumaraswamy and B.S. Yeddyurappa had promised to build memorials in the village, but did not fulfill their promises.
