Congress Says BJP, TRS, MIM Distorting History Of Hyderabad Merger

Congress MP N Uttam Kumar Reddy has accused the BJP, TRS and MIM of distorting history to extract political mileage from the merger of the erstwhile Hyderabad State into the Indian Union in 1948.

Speaking after hoisting the national flag in Huzurnagar on the occasion of the beginning of the 75th year of Hyderabad's merger on Saturday, Reddy said that it was the Congress which had spearheaded the movement against the Nizam's rule and fought against the "atrocities" of the Razakars.

"Several Congress leaders, communists and people belonging to all communities sacrificed their lives for the freedom of Hyderabad and its merger with the Indian Union. Today, the BJP, TRS and MIM are distorting history for political gains. They are presenting a fictionalised version of history to call Hyderabad's merger with the Indian Union as liberation," he said.

The MP said that the then Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and his deputy Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel had conducted Operation Polo when the last Nizam Mir Osman Ali Khan had refused to merge Hyderabad State with the Indian Union.

Several Congress leaders, including P V Narasimha Rao who later became the Prime Minister, and Burgula Ramakrishna Rao who became the first elected CM of the erstwhile Hyderabad State, had fought against the Nizam's rule, Reddy claimed.

He also pointed out that Narasimha Rao, after he became Prime Minister in 1991, gave recognition to hundreds of freedom fighters at the national level for their role in Hyderabad's freedom movement.

"The Congress has been continuously celebrating Hyderabad's merger with the Indian Union on September 17 every year since 1949. By calling the merger as liberation, the BJP is distorting history to communalise the freedom movement. Similarly, the TRS is trying to draw attention by celebrating it as National Integration Day. Neither of the parties has nothing to do with the freedom movement or the freedom fighters. They are just trying to hide their failures by triggering a debate between merger/integration and liberation," Reddy said.

He also strongly condemned Union Home Minister Amit Shah for stating that some people were still afraid of the Razakars.

"Is he (Amit Shah) trying to claim that the Razakars still exist? He should elaborate on who exactly a Razakar is," Reddy said, and accused the BJP leader of attempting to create a communal divide in society by instilling fear of the Razakars.