Bharatiya Janata Party

Statement by Shri L.K. Advani

Leader of the Opposition (Lok Sabha)

New Delhi – 16 September 2008

Tomorrow is the 60th anniversary of Hyderabad Liberation Day. I pay my respectful homage to all the martyrs and patriots who struggled for the liberation of the erstwhile Hyderabad State, which was under the oppressive rule of the Nizam.

17 September 1948 is indeed a watershed in the history of India’s Freedom Struggle. The collective will of the people of the Hyderabad State not merely repulsed the Nizam’s attempt to make the region an independent country but also ensured its merger with the Indian Union. When the entire India was celebrating Independence Day on the 15 August 1947, the people of the Nizam’s princely state were facing repression for demanding the state’s merger with India. Undeterred by the brutality of the Nizam and his private army, the Razakars, the people of the Hyderabad state sustained a spirited fight for freedom.

It was the bold decision of Police Action taken by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the then Home Minster and the Iron man of India, which compelled the Nizam to surrender and accede to the Indian Union on 17 September 1948. The people of the Hyderabad state therefore had to struggle for 13 months and 2 days for their own freedom after the rest of India had gained independence from British rule. The map of India would not have been what it is, had the Nizam been allowed to succeed in the Nizam’s evil designs.

Therefore the demand of the people of the erstwhile Hyderabad State to celebrate their freedom is entirely just. The Governments of Karnataka and Maharashtra, which got two parts of the erstwhile Nizam Kingdom, have duly acknowledged the freedom struggle. As a result, September 17 is officially celebrated every year as the Hyderabad State Liberation Day in these areas of Karnataka and Maharashtra.

It is unfortunate that the people of the Telangana region in Andhra Pradesh are deprived of official celebration of their freedom from the Nizam rule on 17 September. This demand acquired momentum during the Golden Jubilee Celebrations of the Hyderabad Liberation Day in 1998. The BJP organized a huge public meeting in Hyderabad on 17 September 1998, in which I participated in my capacity as the Union Home Minister. It was after this that the demand for annual celebration of 17 September once again came to the center-stage in Telangana.

It is most unfortunate that the Congress government in Andhra Pradesh has rejected this demand solely because of the ruling party’s vote-bank considerations. It is beyond my comprehension as to how the official celebration of Hyderabad Liberation Day would hurt the feelings of any community. After all, the Telangana Freedom struggle is witness to the fact that it was the martyrdom of Shoabullah Khan, whose hands were chopped off before he was shot dead, that really ignited the Liberation Movement.

The demand for official recognition to 17 September is closely linked to the demand for a separate Telangana, which the BJP fully supports.

I would like the Central and State Governments to realize that for the people of Telangana the celebration of Independence Day on 15th August would be incomplete if they are not allowed to celebrate their Liberation Day on 17th September. I urge all the patriotic forces in India and Andhra Pradesh to support the democratic and nationalist aspirations of more than 3.5 crore people of Telangana.