Aftermath of Independence for Bharat was a period of total bedlam. Apart from partition, the mass genocide that accompanied it, the inevitable surge of millions of refugees, and to make matters worse, the malicious expansionist designs of new-born Pakistan, there was one more issue the Indian leadership had to wrangle with- the integration of Princely states into India. With the tactful diplomacy of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and his trusted assistant VP Menon, almost all the states had signed the instrument of accession before the eve of Independence- all but three. These three were Kashmir, Junagarh and Hyderabad. Kashmir, in the wake of armed aggression by Pakistan, realised the importance of assimilation with Bharat, while the Nawab of Junagarh was abdicated after a referendum. It was the Nizam of Hyderabad that proved most obstinate. He not only consistently turned down the negotiations with Delhi, but also helped actively to raise a grand armed militia to suppress voices that favoured accession. These fanatical militants, Razakars as they were called, ushered an era of unprecedented communal violence on Hindus of Hyderabad, and were routed only after military action by Indian army (Operation Polo).
Background
The then Nizam of Hyderabad, Mir Usman Ali Khan Bahadur, who had ascended to the throne back in 1911, and those who favoured his rule, had long been aware and cautious of pro-nationalist and anti-Nizam sentiments proliferating in the territory. These sentiments were particularly pronounced among Hindu community- particularly because they were systematically marginalised and discriminated against on all levels. The population of Hyderabad was over 85 per cent Hindu. But the civil services, the police and the army were the close preserve of the Muslims. Even in the Legislative Assembly, which the Nizam set up in 1946, the Muslims had a majority of 10 over the Hindus in a House of 132. [ref]
To counter such sentiments, to propagate pro-Nizam agenda and to consolidate Muslim organisation in Hyderabad, Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) came into existence in 1927. In 1944, its leadership came in the hands of an Aligarh-trained lawyer and a passionate believer in the idea of Muslim Pride- Kasim Rizvi. It was under him that MIM organised a paramilitary wing- Razakars, to resist accession with India and to secure an independent sovereign Muslim state of its own.
Nizam, at the time of Independence, was unwilling to join either India or Pakistan, and sought a dominion status. To handle negotiations for this purpose, he had also appointed an English lawyer Sir Walter Monckton, a celebrated lawyer of Britain who had previously served King Edward VIII. The Nizam also issued a firman declaring his intention not to send representatives to the Constituent Assembly of either Pakistan or India, and making it clear that on 15 August he would be entitled to resume the status of an independent sovereign. However, after many rounds of negotiation, he agreed to sign a standstill agreement with Delhi. Under article II of this agreement, the Nizam and the Indian government deputed agents to each other’s territory. The Indian agent was KM Munshi, a trusted ally of Patel. However, this agreement was very short-lived as Nizam, going against the terms and conditions clearly specified, issued two ordinances which imposed restrictions on the export of all precious metals from Hyderabad to India and declared Indian currency no longer to be the legal tender in the State. In the meantime, the situation of law order had grown worse still. [ref]
Actions of Razakars
The communal frenzy, fuelled further by the inflammatory speeches, had reached its optimum point by now. The speech delivered by Kasim Rizvi on 31 March at the inauguration of the Hyderabad Weapons Week for instance, would be sufficient to show the general tone of this fanatical demagogue. In this speech Kasim Rizvi indulged in a good deal of sabre-rattling and urged the Muslims of Hyderabad not to sheathe their swords until their objective of Islamic supremacy had been achieved. He exhorted them to march forward with the Koran in one hand and the sword in the other to hound out the enemy. But the most sinister part of the speech was his declaration that 'the forty-five million Muslims in the Indian Union would be our fifth columnists in any showdown.' On 12 April, Rizvi perpetrated an even more grotesque verbal aggression. He asserted: 'The day is not far off when the waves of the Bay of Bengal will be washing the feet of our Sovereign.' He went so far as to declare that he would plant the Asaf Jahi Flag on the Red Fort in Delhi. [ref]
By 1948, the real power had passed into their hands. By March the membership of Ittihad had reached a million, with a tenth of those being trained in arms. Every Razakar had taken a vow in the name of Allah to ‘fight to the last to maintain the supremacy of Muslim power in the Deccan.[ref]
The real ferocity of the situation was revealed by JV Joshi, a member of Nizam’s executive council who perturbed deeply by the state of things, resigned in 1948. In his resignation he pointed out that the law and order situation in the Jalna, Aurangabad, Parbhani and Nanded districts in the State, had completely broken down; that incidents were not lacking where the police had joined the Razakars in looting, arson, murder and rape and molestation of the womenfolk; and that, in their despair, many Hindus had sought shelter outside the State.
To quote his words:
A complete reign of terror prevails in Parbhani and Nanded districts. I have seen in Loha a scene of devastation which brought tears to my eyes — Brahmins were killed and their eyes were taken out. Women had been raped; houses had been burnt down in large numbers. My heart wrung in anguish. . . .Under the circumstances, I cannot continue to lend my name to a Government which is powerless to prevent these heartrending atrocities which I have seen with my own eyes.
The terrorism inside the State was not merely directed against Congressmen or Hindus: even Muslims who did not agree with the Razakars received short shrift. Over ten thousand State Congress members were in jail and the Congress organization was banned.The most disconcerting news which reached us was that the Razakars had allied themselves with the Communists. In 1943 the Nizam had banned the Communist Party throughout the State. This ban was now lifted. Moreover, we came to know that the Communists were being supplied with arms. In addition to this, attempts were being made to smuggle arms and ammunition into Hyderabad. An. Australian by the name of Sidney Cotton was reported to be engaged in aerial gun-running, with Karachi as his base. The supplies were made by night and Bidar and Warrangal were the receiving airfields. It was difficult to check these flights, or the quantity of arms supplied, but at the time the affair was given great, and possibly exaggerated, prominence in the Indian press. [ref]
KM Munshi also sent lurid reports of Nizam’s perfidy, of his fixed idea of independence, of his referring to the government of India as scoundrels of Delhi, of the venomous propaganda being carried out day and night through speeches, Nizam’s radio, newspapers, dramas etc., against Indian union. [ref]
Added to it was the news of arms deal placed with government of Czechoslovakia. Some sort of action that could put an end to this pernicious set of circumstances had become mandatory. This action came in the form of Operation Polo that ultimately rescued the masses of Hyderabad from the corrupted despotic clutches of Nizam and his private militia-Razakars.
Testimonies
Here are some testimonies of the survivors of that carnage which were published recently in different reports of The Hindu. The first one belongs to Chettu Kommalu (99) of Perumandla Sankeesa Village in Dornakal Mandal of Warangal district, while the second one is of N. Mallaiah from Bhairanpally village.
“About 25 to 30 Razakars came on horses and gathered several people. They took villagers to the outskirts and made them stand in a circle before shooting them dead. They burnt hay stacks and threw those injured and surviving into the fire”. Mr. Kommalu said that women ran away on seeing the Razakars and hid in maize fields. But they were chased and hunted down by the Razakars and raped openly in broad daylight. “The Razakars raided our village three times in six months in 1947 and 1948. I was caught alive and hanged upside down. They tortured me seeking the whereabouts of Thumma Seshaih, the commander of armed squad in this area. I was sent to jail for one and half years at Warangal, Gulbarge and Jalna. I was released after six months of police action that led to Telangana liberation and merger with Indian Union,” (The Hindu, September 12, 2016)
N. Mallaiah, who is around 90 years, says the Razakars were on their way to Karimnagar and his villagers did not allow them to march through. “They plundered everything. The armed men molested women, killed sheep and killed able-bodied men just for pleasure. They looted every village en route.”When the people of Bhairanpally resisted and wanted the Razakars to take another way, the latter raided. After two or three attempts, they succeeded with the help of Nizam’s military. To save bullets, they lined us up and shot. The bullet missed me and went through my left hand. Thinking that I am dead, they threw me on the heap of dead,” he said sharing his woes. His left hand became defunct and moves 360 degrees. He is the lone survivor of that massacre in the village. Many who are over 75 years try to recall some memories as teens then. According to them, on that single day, the Razakars killed over 70 people in the village. The whole village burst into celebrations on September 17, 1948, when the newly independent India’s government launched police action and merged the Nizam State into Indian Union. (The Hindu, September 14, 2013).
