Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
Credit: PTI File Photo
Even as the debate continues on the significance and importance of September 17 for Telangana, the union government commemorated Telangana/Hyderabad Liberation Day officially at Parade Grounds and the state government observed the day as ‘National Integration Day’ at Public Gardens. The Congress also observed the day as Hyderabad merger day with its leaders offering tributes at a memorial in the Koti area.
While Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao at the programme in Public Gardens in Nampally recalled many sacrifices that led to the accession of Hyderabad state into the Indian union, Union Home Minister Amit Shah urged people to teach those who misrepresent history a befitting lesson.
Amit Shah was the chief guest at the concluding ceremony of the year-long 75th Hyderabad Liberation Day Celebrations at Parade Grounds in Secunderabad. Speaking on the occasion, the Union Minister said that those who are trying to portray the history of Telangana wrongly will be given a befitting lesson by the people.
He reminded the people of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel's statement that if Telangana was not liberated and remained independent under the Nizam, it would be like cancer in Mother India's stomach.
Amit Shah commenced the program by hoisting the national flag on the occasion of the Liberation Day ceremony under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture at the Secunderabad Parade Grounds. He saluted and paid tribute to the heroes who sacrificed their lives in the liberation struggle of Hyderabad state that includes modern-day Telangana, the Marathwada region of Maharashtra and several districts of Karnataka.
Amit Shah said that if it was not for Sardar Patel, Telangana would not have been liberated so soon. He said that he was prepared for police actions with the slogan of uniting the country. He said that after the military started 'Operation Polo', without shedding a drop of blood, Nizam prostrated before Bharat's might and prepared for the independence of Telangana. Amit Shah said that this operation was carried out under the leadership of K M Munshi and on the orders of Patel.
Shah reminded that many organisations like Arya Samaj and Hindu Maha Sabha worked during the Telangana independence movement. For 75 years, no government in the country has tried to tell our youth about Telangana's freedom struggle, besides giving this event in history the respect it deserved and it was Prime Minister Narendra Modi who decided to officially organise these festivals to inspire the future generations of Telangana, he said.
“The aim of the programmes under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture is to remember the struggle of our elders and build the state they dreamed of. Development of the state is possible only with the spirit of freedom struggle,” he said
He also said that 1,500 people were fired on in the style of Jallianwala Bagh for hoisting the national flag in Parakala, in which many were killed and others were injured. Similarly, common people were fired upon in Parbhani in Maharashtra and Bidar in Karnataka. Amit Shah said that Patel resolved on August 10, 1948, to get rid of the tyrannical rule of the Nizam. He completed the mission by September 17.
KCR after hoisting the national flag observed that it is appropriate to observe September 17 as National Integration Day. He also listed out the achievements of his government in the last nine years.
Congress senior leader and former Rajya Sabha member V Hanumantha Rao said that BJP never existed 75 years ago and never had any role in Telangana's liberation of Hyderabad merger. Communists and Congress leaders were instrumental in Telangana's liberation, he added.