Union home minister Amit Shah on Sunday accused the opposition parties of distorting the history of Telangana and said the people would teach a fitting lesson to all such forces who had been trying to bury the real history of the country.
He was addressing a gathering after unfurling the national flag as part of the official celebration of 75th year of “Telangana Liberation Day” at Secunderabad Parade Ground to commemorate the merger of Hyderabad state with the Indian Union on September 17, 1948.
“I would like to tell such forces that people of the country would give a fitting reply to those who have been trying to bury the history of the country,” Shah said.
Paying rich tributes to thousands of martyrs who had laid down their lives for the liberation of Hyderabad from the autocratic rule of the Nizams, the Union home minister said the whole credit would go to first home minister of the country Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
“If not for Sardar Patel, it would have taken many more years for Hyderabad to get liberated. Patel had taken the bold decision to order a police action, as it was the only way to liberate the people of Hyderabad from the clutches of the Razakars and fulfil the dream of Akhand Bharat,” he said.
He recalled that Sardar Patel had described the idea of having an independent nation of Hyderabad within India as an “ulcer in the belly of India which needed to be removed surgically.”
Shah pointed out that several organisations like Arya Samaj and Hindu Maha Sabha had played an active role in bringing freedom to Telangana from the Nizam rule. “The Vandemataram movement launched in Osmania University had sent shivers down the spine of the Nizam,” he recalled.
Recalling the efforts of leaders such as KM Munshi and Sardar Patel for the liberation of Hyderabad, Shah urged the people of Telangana, Karnataka and Marathwada region of Maharashtra to always remember the sacrifice made by the patriots.
He found fault with the previous rulers of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana for turning a blind eye to the official celebration of Hyderabad Liberation Day on September 17 every year. “The people of this part of the country, who got the independence 13 months later, have desired to celebrate the event officially, but the previous governments had no guts to do so, as they were interested in playing vote bank politics,” he said.
The home minister thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for deciding to officially celebrate the golden jubilee of Hyderabad liberation day. It was only after Modi’s decision that the Telangana government and other parties chose to celebrate the event, he said.
The home minister virtually inaugurated the residential quarters of Sasastra Seema Bal (SSB) officials and also an exhibition on Telangana culture at Bollaram.
Earlier, Shah inspected the ceremonial parade of the central paramilitary forces. The event was marked by march past by the armed forces, army bands, cultural troupes and folk artistes of Telangana, Karnataka and Maharashtra.
BEWARE OF COMMUNAL FORCES, SAYS KCR
Meanwhile, Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao called upon the people of the state to be wary of the communal forces who were out to distort the history, disturb the communal harmony and damage the culture of Telangana for petty politics.
Addressing the gathering after unfurling the national flag, the chief minister paid glorious tributes to the martyrs of Telangana armed struggle and others who fought for the integration of Hyderabad with the rest of India.
“After the merger of Hyderabad with India, Telangana remained a separate entity till 1956, when it was merged with Andhra much against the wishes of the people. After a prolonged struggle, we could get back the Telangana state in 2014 and it emerged as a front-runner in many sectors,” he said.
Stating that in the last nine years, Telangana had become a torchbearer for the entire nation, the chief minister explained the initiatives taken by his government to develop the state on all fronts. “What we need now is the unity of all sections of people, which is our strength. Let us not fall into the trap of disruptive forces and disturb the harmonious atmosphere in the state,” he said.
Earlier, he paid floral tributes to people who laid their lives for Telangana State, at Telangana Martyrs’ Memorial.
At the Congress head office at Gandhi Bhavan, the party’s state working president Mahesh Kumar Goud unfurled the national flag and paid rich tributes to the martyrs.
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