Hyderabad: Come September 17, political parties will attempt to make best use of the merger of Hyderabad princely state into the Union of India after police action that happened 75 years ago. The battle pitch over treating the day as one or integration or liberation is expected to be higher this time with Assembly polls round the corner.
The Bharatiya Janata Party was the first to announce a public outreach on “Hyderabad Liberation Day” which also happens to be the birthday of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“We will hold Telangana Vimochana Vajrotsavalu in every village of Telangana that were affected by Razakars,” announced Union minister and state BJP president G. Kishan Reddy a few days ago.
Last year, the Centre officially celebrated the event with a march past by central security forces and a public meeting in Hyderabad that was addressed by Union home minister Amit Shah. This year, plans are being made to hold a similar event in Warangal.
The Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen followed with announcement of ’Tiranga rally’ and a public meeting to celebrate “National Integration Day.” “We will observe the day the erstwhile Hyderabad state was integrated into Independent and democratic India,” said party chief and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi.
The Tiranga bike rally will start from Dargah Yousufain, Nampally, at 1 pm to Hockey grounds in Masab Tank where a public meeting will be held at 2 pm. The event will be attended by party floor leader in Assembly Akbaruddin Owaisi, other party legislators and leaders.
Principal opposition Congress has scheduled a mammoth public gathering at Parade Ground with what it described as “National Integration Day” celebrations. The party will hold its extended Congress Working Committee meet for two days on September 16 and 17 besides the public meeting which will be attended by top leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi-Vadra besides national president Mallijarjun Kharge, who was born in a part of Karnataka that was under Nizam’s rule.
The BRS is yet to come up with any announcement, though Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao had on previous occasions announced his intent to not rake up old wounds by observing Hyderabad's accession to India as liberation day. Maintaining that he too had demanded that the government celebrate liberation day during the Telangana struggle, he changed the thought process following suggestion by intellectuals to not disturb communal harmony. "The real liberation day for Telangana is June 2, 2014," he pointed out.
