DECONSTRUCT THE UNION OF INDIA: GLORIFYING NIZAM AND RAZAKARS WHILE DEFAMING SARDAR PATEL AND THE INDIAN ARMY

Sept. 30, 2010, IPF Seminar Hall

The issue of integration of Hyderabad into the Indian Union was central among the considerations of Indian political leaders in 1947, immediately after independence. Hyderabad, which was among the erstwhile princely States, had been reeling under the undemocratic, communal and repressive rule of a Nizam, Mir Usman Ali Khan, who was enormously rich. The Nizam, a faithful ally of the British, was plotting the formation of a ‘Third Dominion’ after engineering a secession of the State from India. The nefarious plan of the Nizam, however, was nipped in the bud by the resolute action of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, independent India’s first home minister.

 

Now, after six decades of Hyderabad’s merger into the Indian Union, a certain section of people in Hyderabad have begun glorifying the former Nizam and his private armed brigands called Razakars, while heaping calumny on Sardar Patel and the Indian army. These sections of the people are forging a front aimed at re-establishing the Nizam’s feudal rule in Hyderabad. Such moves clearly violate the tenets of secular democracy and are an attempt to balkanize the Indian Union.

 

 

In the light of the present happenings, IPF organized a brainstorming session on “Trends Aiming to Deconstruct Union of India” (Glorifying the Nizam and Razakars While Defaming Sardar Patel and the Indian Army). At the session, Sanjeev Tiwari, Associate Professor at Delhi University, spoke on the role of Sardar Patel in unifying the territories of India. Manmohan Sharma revealed the background and true nature of the Nizam’s rule and also highlighted writings in Urdu media which denigrate Sardar Patel as “bloodthirsty” and someone responsible for “dismantling the Nizam’s rule in Hyderabad”. IPF views all such things as a systematic effort to communalise the atmosphere, bring about communal polarization and above all, weaken the Indian Union.

 

 

The Panel Members of the programme were: Sh. Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, Director, Mhalgi Prabodhini, Sh. J P Nadda, Spokesperson, BJP, Sh. R P Singh, Leader, BJP, Prof. Rajvir Sharma, DU, Sh. Satish Pednekar, Jansatta, Sh. Manmohan Sharma, Senior Journalist, Prof. Prerana Sinha, DU, Prof. Sanjeev Tiwari, DU, Prof. Deoraj, DU, Sh. Priyadarshi Dutta, Journalist, Sh. Uday Sinha, Senior Journalist, Prof. Rakesh Sinha, Hon. Director, IPF