The Nizam State
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 modern Bharat we live in is the result of a glorious freedom struggle. We celebrate the Independence Day and Republic Day as the days of national importance. In the Amrit Kaal of Bharat we are remembering, celebrating the National movement. While celebrating the National movement against the British, the freedom movements against Portuguese and a despotic rule of Nizam of Hyderabad deserve equal attention.
Bharat before 1947, was a conglomerate of colonies and princely states. If we closely look into history, we can find that the British probably were the last in the race to colonize Bharat. Though they entered the race pretty late but ended up winning it.
The Portuguese managed to colonize few pockets around important ports on the western coast. They lost major parts to Marathas, and left with control over Goa, Dadara-Nagar Haveli, and Daman. The Azad Gomantak Dal led the violent freedom struggle in these areas. Mohan Ranade (who served a life imprisonment in a prison in Portugal) led the struggle. The struggle continued for quite a long time, and ended with the Operation Vijay in 1961. Giving another day of National Importance on 19th December.
These were the struggles against a foreign rule.
With India Independence Bill,1947 the British sovereignty over the Princely states ceased to exist. All the powers and perks of the erstwhile British sovereign came in the hands of Govt. of Bharat. However, the princely states were left with the option to integrate with Bharat, Integrate with Pakistan or declare themselves sovereign.
The minister for the newly created States department, Sardar Patel and Secretary V.P. Menon negotiated, convinced princely states to sign the 'Instrument of Accession' before 15th August 1947 itself. All the princely states were integrated with Bharat but four.
Those were Junagadh, Travancore, Kashmir and Hyderabad. The Junagadh princely state had a Muslim ruler with more than 90% Hindu population. A referendum took place under army's observation, which outright voted in favor of integrating with Bharat on 9th November 1947.
The question of Travancore was resolved. The story of Kashmir is very well known. There is no need to elaborate it further.
There was a princely state in the middle of the Deccan plateau, largest in size. It had a population of 1.6 Crore. It was a 'Muslim State' with more than 86% Hindu population. The majority population was oppressed on the communal lines.
The communal oppression forced the Hindus to unite against the despotic, brutal rule of Nizam under the leaderships of Justice Keshavrao Koratkar, Vamanrao Naik, Swami Ramanand Teerth, Babasaheb Paranjape, Bhai Govinddas Shraff and many more.
The people's movement of Hyderabad was the only movement where the National Congress, under the leadership-guidance of Mahatma Gandhi accepted the necessity of violent struggle. Eminent thinker, scholar, author and a young comrade in people's struggle Narhar Kurundkar stated
"Hyderabad was a state with no rule of law. It was educationally, politically and industrially backward state where a communal ruler was ruling."
He further states,
"Armed Razakars (a communal militant organization Nizam created, which carried out brutal attacks on Hindus, including forced conversions) and the communal establishment was oppressing Hindus with all its bigotry and might, but people's struggle continued."
The Nizam State
A communal establishment that forced Hindus to unite against
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| The Hyderabad State |
The Nizam State of Hyderabad came into existence in the year 1724. A general in Mogul army Mir Qamaruddin also known as 'Chin Qilich Khan' declared himself an independent ruler in deccan. The Nizams faced defeats at multiple occasions at the hands of Marathas. Palkhed (1728), Bhopal (1737), Udgir (1760), Rakshasbhuwan (1763) etc. In the year 1795 the then Nizam accepted the 'Subsidiary Alliance' with the British.
The Hyderabad state consisted of three linguistic regions. The Marathi speaking region, now called as Marathwada. Kannada speaking region/districts, now known as Kalyana Karnataka and Telugu speaking region, current state of Telangana.
1/3rd part of the state was under Jagirs. Most of the Jagirs were given to Muslim nobles. The largest part of Jagir lands was under control of Nizam himself. The state was divided into 16 districts, further divided in Talukas. One taluka in every district and its revenue was reserved for the private purses of Nizam.
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| Nizam Mir Osman Ali |
Mir Usman Ali, tried to organize the state on modern lines. At the same time he consolidated the power on communal lines. He removed Divan Kishan Prasad and appointed Salar Jung 3rd as the Prime Minister.
It had its own currency. The exchange rates with Indian rupee and global currencies was determined. The state had its own railway, postal, and telegraph services. Nizam had created Hyderabad Civil Services. It had industries in Textile, Steel, coal sectors.
It is evident that there was Mulism dominance in all sectors. It was a defined policy to not to have literacy rate of more than 10% at any given time. Higher education was available in the Urdu medium only. It resulted in advantage to Muslims over Hindus or Non-Muslims.
The govt. jobs were divided into two categories. The 'Ohad-e-Qulia' consisted of jobs like Tahsildar, and senior ranks in revenue, police, Judicial services etc. 95% of these were Reserved for Muslims. The 'Ohad-e-Gair Qulia' consisted of jobs of lower ranks, school teacher, peons. 75% of these were reserved for Muslims.
Nizam's Vision of a Independent, Sovereign State
The 7th Nizam Mir Usman Ali had a strong desire and vision to be an independent, sovereign ruler of a sovereign state. To achieve his aim, he patiently took his steps. He started asserting being an sovereign from the 1920s. Eminent thinker and scholar Narhar Kurundkar stated,
"The Nizam did not bother about his subjects much. He never bothered about Hindus in his state. He did not even think of common Muslims in the state. If he would have, he could have posed a great challenge for Bhartiya unity. He had a clear vision of becoming an independent, sovereign nation-state."
He used all the means available at his disposal. He had invested heavily in Turkish industrial ventures. He had invested in Iranian oil fields. He made matrimonial relations with the ousted Ottomon Caliph of Turkestan and Shah of Iran. His daughters-in-law were Ottomon and Iranian.
He created lobbies of supporters in Turkestan, Australia, Portugal, France, England, Belgium, Holland, Brazil, Argentina, United State of America, Egypt, Afghanistan, and Saudi Arabia. He groomed, nurtured a bunch of Cambridge educated diplomats to negotiate with British and Bharatiya leaders. Nawab Aliyawar Jung was a prominent figure among those, who went on to become the Governor of Maharashtra. He helped Nizam to draft the 'Status Quo' agreement to which the Govt. of Bharat had agreed upon for a time being.
The Nizam supported, nurtured the 'Ittehadul Musalmin' and a armed force of Razakars under Kasim Razawi. Those were created to assert Muslim superiority, that Muslims are the true conquerors and legitimately fit to rule over this land.
The Razakars inflicted brutal atrocities against Hindus, including violence, rape, plunder, forceful conversions. It forced Hindus to unite.
In Part 2: The communal Muslim rule of Nizam, communal extremities Hindus faced and the Social uprising among Hindus.
Stay tuned....
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