The Tricolor
It is the Amrit Mahotsava of Hyderabad Mukti Sangram 'The people's struggle, frequent rounds of negotiations, and the final intervention by the Indian Army under the name Operation Polo termed as Police Action the Nizam State of Hyderabad was integrated with India on another day of National Importance, 17th September, 1948.' Here's a comprehensive yet brief introduction of the Unsung National Movement..
The Hyderabad State Congress under the leadership of Swami Ramanand Teerth continued the struggle with every possible means at their disposal. It was the violent movement which Mahatma Gandhi Ji approved.
Mahatma Gandhi Ji had stated,
"I would appreciate it if this struggle is painted with the blood of sacrifice of the fighters. I consider them great who fight for their rights than surrendering before oppressive state without any preparedness for resistance."
The Flag of United Bharat
The second phase of the struggle commenced on 7th August, 1947, with the vision of 'Unconditional Unification' with Bharat. One of the defining incident took place on the Independence Day. 15th August, 1947.
The third floor of Shamrao Bodhankar's residence in the Sarafa area of Nanded city housed the Nanded district office of the State Congress. The leaders decided to hoist the flag of independent Bharat on 15th August at the office.
It was a risky business. The communal brutalities of Razakars were at their peak. The Rohilla Pathans, Razakars, and the State Police had unprecedented prowess with them.
On the day, Bhagwanrao Ganjwe, unfurled the flag of Independent Bharat at the Congress office. Hindus had prepared for possible skirmishes.
Gangs of communally charged Muslims were gathering mobs. At around 4 PM, the Dy.SP came to the office with around 50 troops, asking Ganjwe to take the flag down. Ganjwe simply refused it.
The flag stood there for more than two days. The festival of Eid was on 17th August. Muslims were to come out in huge numbers on 18th August. The Police and State Congress feared of possible riots in the city.
The Congress leaders asked Ganjwe to take a step back and take down the flag. Hindu traders of the area asked Ganjwe to take down the flag. Ganjwe stood firm. He stated,
"This is the flag of United and Independent Bharat. Thousands have laid their lives for this day. Why not some more, including mine..."
The District Collector of Nanded Shahbuddin, personally came and begged Ganjwe to take down the flag.
When all the attempts failed, the district president of Ittehadul Musalmin, Akhlakh Hussain came to the office of State Congress. He stated that their men are waiting for an opportunity to start riots.
He asked Ganjwe if he could take the flag down by 1 foot? Ganjwe simply refused and asked Hussain to come and stand with beside the Tricolor till the Eid procession is passed.
Armed freedom fighters were ready with guns, lathis, swords on the terraces of nearby houses around Shamrao Boshankar's. Hussain came to know about the preparedness and requested the Eid procession to pass quickly from the place.
The flag of united, independent Bharat gave strength, determination to heroes like Bhagwanrao Ganjwe and thousands of common men to continue the fight.
The Final Nail
All said and done, what if Nizam wouldn't have turned more greedy for sovereignty, becoming independent nation-state? We would have ended up having an independent nation and to be specific, another Pakistan, in the middle of Bhartiya peninsula.
Nizam's orders to cut off the air space for Bhartiya spacecrafts exacerbated matters. Bharat stood firm on international arena, that Hyderabad is an internal matter of Bharat.
One can conclude that Hyderabad Mukti Sangram was way too much larger than National movement against British, based on the participation to population ratio.
In British India, number of Satyagrahis and Revolutionaries was not more than 20,000 at any given time. The population of British India was around 35 Crore.
In Hyderabad Mukti Sangram, a National Movement against Nizam, more than 1.4 Lakh people participated. The population of the state was 1.6 Crore.
While singing the ballads of freedom fighters, we must also remember the support it got from other areas.
The then Chief Minister of Central Provinces & Berar Shri Ravishankar Shukla and Home Minister Dwarakaprasad Mishra wholeheartedly supported the movement. They provided safe heavens to revolutionaries, freedom fighters in border areas. They even supported cause with arms, ammunition supply and finances also.
The State Congress had established 'Azad Hyderabad Radio' from Mumbai. It helped the fighters to get the information on movement of Razakars, State actions while they were underground.
Sardar Patel had said to Swamiji,
"We as GOI cannot take decisive steps till Lord Mountbatten is the Governor-General and British General is leading the armed forces. You have to continue with the struggle till we get full authority over forces."
In other words, Sardar laid down the fact that Nizam had sympathizers in the British establishment.
C. Rajgopalachari took over as the first and last Bharatiya Governor General of Bharat, and General Cariappa as the Chief of Army Staff in July, 1948. Within 2 months, on 13th September 'Operation Polo' was commenced.
The military action under the garb of 'Police Action' took place, as it was not an aggression against foreign country. The Nizam forces, Razakars who were on rampant atrocities with overconfidence surrendered within 3 days.
On 17th September, 1948, Bharat united again, and is on the way to become Viksit Bharat by 2047.
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