The K Chandrasekhar Rao government has finally decided to officially commemorate the annexation of the Nizam-ruled Hyderabad state with the Indian Union 74 years back.
The decision comes following the Telangana BJP's demand and agitations for the same since the formation of Telangana state over eight years back, and ahead of the assembly elections next year.
Accusing the TRS of being scared of the AIMIM for the refusal, the BJP leadership including home minister Amit Shah had several times announced that they would celebrate the event with all grandeur when their party comes to power in the state.
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Rao's decision on Saturday also came swiftly after Union Tourism Minister Kishan Reddy announced that the Narendra Modi government has decided to celebrate “75 years of Hyderabad State Liberation” with yearlong commemorative events from 17 September 2022 to 17 September 2023.
However, the Chief Minister chaired a state cabinet meeting on Saturday and decided to observe the day as “Telangana national integration day,” and not “Telangana vimochana diwas” as wanted by the BJP.
Telangana BJP chief Bandi Sanjay has called the cabinet decision as the party's victory, but accused KCR of “falsifying historical facts.”
The BJP's stress on the word Vimochana (liberation) is to highlight the freedom gained by the vast expanse in the Deccan, which is largely Hindu, from the “tyrannical” Nizam rule.
The Nizam-administered Hyderabad state, corresponding with the present day Telangana and including Kalyana Karnataka, and parts of Maharashtra, was liberated and integrated with the Indian Union on 17 September 1948, over a year after Indian independence from the British. The Nizam who was reluctant to merge with India agreed to the merger after Operation Polo aka “police action” overseen by India's first Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
On Saturday, Kishan Reddy wrote to the Chief Ministers of Telangana, Karnataka and Maharashtra inviting them to the inaugural ceremony of the year-long event on 17 September at Hyderabad's Parade Grounds, which will be attended by Amit Shah.
Later in the evening, the KCR cabinet adopted a resolution to observe September 17 as “Telangana National Integration Day’ and organise celebrations for three days. A valedictory ceremony would be held on the same date next year to mark the end of the state government's planned Diamond Jubilee functions.