HYEDERBAD, 18 September 2006 — Tension prevailed in Warangal town in Andhra Pradesh’s Telangana region yesterday as police prevented Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) activists from unfurling the national flag to mark the 58th Liberation Day of the erstwhile Hyderabad state.
The BJP, Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) that is fighting for separate statehood for the region, and the communist parties celebrated the occasion.
The main opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP), which had shunned celebrations when in power, organized a function at its headquarters here to mark the occasion. The ruling Congress party too held rallies in some parts of the region.
However, as in the past, no official function was held to avoid any controversy as the issue is considered sensitive and could lead to communal tension. The BJP activists, who tried to unfurl the national flag at Parade Grounds in Warangal, clashed with police when they were prevented from holding the rally.
Police used mild force and detained dozens of protesters to bring the situation under control.
For the first time, Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, the Hyderabad-based Muslim political party, took out a rally to highlight its “struggle to improve the lot of Muslims after the police action.”
It was on this day in 1948 that the erstwhile Hyderabad state was merged with the Indian Union following a military operation, also known as the police action.
Mir Osman Ali Khan, the then ruler of the princely state, surrendered after refusing to accede to the Indian Union for 13 months after India’s independence from the British rule.
The Hyderabad state comprised Telangana (a part of the present Andhra Pradesh) and a few districts of Maharashtra and Karnataka.
The BJP also held a function in Hyderabad to pay tributes to martyrs and India’s first Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel who had ordered the police action.
The successive governments in the state have desisted from celebrating the occasion officially to avoid any controversy.
In Hyderabad, TRS leader A. Narendra led the celebrations at Telangana Bhavan, the party headquarters. He said the Andhra Pradesh government was ignoring the historic day while the governments in neighboring Karnataka and Maharashtra were celebrating it.
Narendra also paid tributes to martyrs of Telangana, who laid down their lives while fighting against the rule of the Nizam.
Addressing a meeting organized by the Communist Party of India-Marxist, its state Secretary B.V. Raghavulu alleged that while the BJP was celebrating the day to create a divide between Hindus and Muslims, TRS was raising the slogan of a separate Telangana state.
Raghavulu said the movement for liberation of the erstwhile Hyderabad state was launched by landless laborers and those who suffered at the hands of rich landlords and the Nizam government. He, however, regretted that the goals of that struggle were yet to be achieved and the poor were still suffering.
