Hyderabad, March 13: Pushing ahead with its saffron agenda before Lok Sabha elections, the BJP government has decided to celebrate September 17 as Hyderabad Liberation Day.
In a move aimed at reaping electoral benefit in Telangana by raking up the controversial issue, it issued a gazette notification in this regard.
The Ministry of Home Affairs mentioned in the notification that Hyderabad did not get independence for 13 months of the Independence of India on 15th August, 1947 and was under Nizam’s rule. “The region got liberated from Nizam’s Rule on 17th September, 1948, after police action namely ‘Operation Polo’. Whereas, there has been a demand from the people of the region that 17th September may be celebrated as Hyderabad Liberation Day. Now, in order to remember martyrs who liberated Hyderabad and to infuse the flame of patriotism in the minds of the youth, the Government of India has decided to celebrate the 17th day of September every year as “Hyderabad Liberation Day”,” reads the notification issued on March 12.
The BJP has long been demanding an official celebration of September 17 as Hyderabad Liberation Day. Earlier in united Andhra Pradesh and later in Telangana, the party used to organise protests demanding the government to officially organise the celebrations.
Successive governments, however, avoided official celebrations in view of the objections from Muslim groups, who say that a massacre took place in the name of police action. AIMIM and other parties strongly opposed celebrations also on the ground that the entire India has one Independence Day.
Barring BJP, other parties were celebrating September 17 as Hyderabad Merger Day.
In 2022, the Union Ministry of Culture started organising the celebrations in Hyderabad on September 17. Union Home Minister Amit Shah hoisted the national flag and reviewed the parade by contingents of paramilitary forces in Hyderabad both in 2022 and 2023.
In a move to counter the BJP’s attempts at communal polarisation over the issue, then Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao in 2022 started officially celebrating September 17 as national integration day. AIMIM also changed its strategy and celebrated national integration.
The BJP, in its manifesto for the recent Telangana Assembly elections, had promised celebration of September 17 as Hyderabad Liberation Day.
BJP, which is looking to strengthen itself in Telangana after BRS lost power, has made it a poll issue. While addressing BJP workers in Hyderabad on March 12, Amit Shah slammed Congress and BRS for not celebrating Hyderabad Liberation Day due to vote bank politics.
Meanwhile, BJP leaders in Telangana have hailed the decision of the Centre.
Union minister for culture and tourism G. Kishan Reddy, who is also the state president of BJP, termed the decision ‘historic’ and called September 17 a day of liberation and legacy.
He said the move honours the sacrifices made and instils a patriotic feeling in the minds of the youth. “This historic decision marks a significant step towards remembering the martyrs who fought for Hyderabad’s freedom and infusing the spirit of national pride in the hearts of the next generation,” he said.
