Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president KT Rama Rao hit back at Union Home Minister Amit Shah for criticising the K Chandrasekhar Rao-led government in Telangana yet again for not celebrating ‘Hyderabad Liberation Day.’ The BRS government commemorates September 17 — the date of Hyderabad state’s annexation to India — as ‘Telangana National Integration Day.’ The BJP-led Union government has been accused of trying to advance a communal narrative by celebrating it as 'Hyderabad Liberation Day' instead.
On Sunday, Amit Shah inaugurated the Gorata Martyrs’ Memorial in Karnataka’s Bidar district. Addressing a gathering, Amit Shah said, “More than 200 people were massacred here in Gorata by the brutal Nizam, but due to its appeasement policy, the Congress never remembered those who fought and sacrificed their lives for Hyderabad liberation only for its greed for vote bank.” Bidar is situated about 140 km away from Hyderabad, and was once a part of the erstwhile Hyderabad state, along with a few other districts of present-day Karnataka. Amit Shah pointed out that the ‘Hyderabad-Karnataka’ region was renamed as ‘Kalyana-Karnataka’ by the BJP in 2019, when BS Yediyurappa was the Chief Minister. The Union minister also criticised the BRS government for “hesitating” to celebrate ‘Hyderabad Liberation Day.’
In response, Telangana Minister KTR reminded Amit Shah that September 17 has been officially celebrated by the Telangana government as ‘Telangana National Integration Day.’ He added that Amit Shah's “blatant misrepresentation” was “unbecoming of the stature of a Union Home Minister.”
“17th September has been celebrated by Telangana Govt officially as National integration day since Hyderabad state was integrated into Indian union on the same day in 1948. Your blatant misrepresentation is indeed unbecoming of the stature of a Union HM (sic),” KTR said, pointing to news reports of official state celebrations.
“To those who ask why can’t we call it Liberation Day; Why do we celebrate 15th August as Independence Day and not as Liberation Day? What should matter is respectful commemoration of the sacrifices & struggles against oppressors; be it the British or Nizam. Stop being a prisoner of the past. Become the Architect of your Future (sic),” KTR added.
HM @AmitShah Ji,
— KTR (@KTRBRS) March 27, 2023
17th September has been celebrated by Telangana Govt officially as National integration day since Hyderabad state was integrated into Indian union on the same day in 1948
Your blatant misrepresentation is indeed unbecoming of the stature of a Union HM
Some… pic.twitter.com/9rBhxxmSLx
On September 17, 1948, the Indian Union, led by then Deputy Prime Minister Sardar Patel, annexed Hyderabad state through police action dubbed 'Operation Polo’ and wrested power from Mir Osman Ali Khan, the last Nizam of the princely state. It has been a longstanding demand of the BJP since the formation of Telangana to officially celebrate September 17 as 'Liberation Day'. The demand has been revived ahead of the 2023 Telangana Assembly election.
Thousands of Muslims were killed in ‘Operation Polo’, and the previous governments in united Andhra Pradesh and Telangana had avoided official celebrations around it fearing communal violence. The BRS too has rejected the BJP’s demand to mark it as ‘Liberation Day’, saying they would not accept such “divisive” demands. While the BRS and other parties in the past have observed the day as ‘Telangana Merger Day,’ last year, they decided to celebrate it as the ‘Telangana National Integration Day’. The decision came after All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi wrote to Amit Shah and CM KCR, urging both the Union and state governments to celebrate the day as such.
However, the Union government decided to hold year-long celebrations to mark 75 years of ‘Hyderabad State Liberation' from September 17, 2022, to September 17, 2023.