Hyderabad:
The merger of the erstwhile princely state of Hyderabad with the Indian Union on this day in 1948 was celebrated by the ruling TRS, opposition BJP, Congress, Telugu Desam Party and others here on Tuesday.
The parties hoisted the national flag at their offices and hailed the valour and sacrifices of those who fought for the merger.
TRS working president and state Municipal Administration Minister K T Rama Rao unfurled the tricolour at the party office.
Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prahlad Joshi attended the event at the BJPs state headquarters here, where Minister of State for Home, G Kishan Reddy, state BJP president K Laxman and other leaders were present.
Joshi flayed the TRS government in Telangana for not celebrating Hyderabad Liberation Day, calling it the “most shameful” act and alleged it was due to the ‘vote bank’ politics of the ruling party and the ‘influence’ of AIMIM.
The state BJP, which describes the day as ‘Liberation Day’ has been carrying out a campaign for the last several years to officially celebrate the day, asserting that it is a matter of ‘self-respect’ of the Telangana people.
The party recently urged Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan to advise the TRS government to celebrate the day officially.
The saffron party has been critical of the TRS government for not celebrating the event officially, despite favouring it during the agitation for a separate Telangana.
BJP also organised a public meeting at Patancheru near Hyderabad on Tuesday evening on the occasion.
State Congress president and MP N Uttam Kumar Reddy, who unfurled the national flag at his party office, claimed that only Congress and Left parties have played a role in the struggle for Hyderabad’s merger with the Indian Union.
“It is ridiculous that BJP leader Ram Madhav, who hails from Andhra Pradesh, spoke about Hyderabad Liberation day despite the fact that BJP did not even exist in 1948,”he said.
Reddy claimed that only the Congress and Left parties were active in the struggle for Hyderabad’s merger and it was they who had made several sacrifices.
He said the last Nizam, Mir Osman Ali Khan, had refused to join Hyderabad State with the Indian Union and wanted to either join Pakistan or stay independent.
“The credit for the merger of Hyderabad with the Indian Union through Operation Polo goes to Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel,” Reddy said.
BJP or members of Sangh Parivar neither played a role in India’s freedom struggle nor Hyderabads merger with India or in the formation of the state of Telangana, he alleged.
However, BJP leaders were trying to make an issue out of Hyderabad Merger Day, he added.
