Many turned back on celebrating Hyderabad Liberation due to fear of vote bank politics: Shah

Home Minister Amit Shah said that no party that ruled from Hyderabad in the last seven decades had dared to commemorate the liberation from Nizam rule “because of vote bank politics” even as Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao cautioned the public against “attempts by communal forces to create unrest in the state.”

Shah was addressing the Hyderabad Liberation Day event organised by the centre at the Secunderabad Parade Grounds, while Rao was speaking at the state government's version “Telangana national integration day” function at the Hyderabad Public Gardens on Saturday.

Seeking to credit Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his birthday for the official jubilation in the city, Shah said that the PM “decided to celebrate Hyderabad Liberation Day considering sentiments of the people of Karnataka, Maharashtra and Telangana.”

Also read: BJP, TRS gear up for tussle over Liberation Day

The Hyderabad state was freed from Nizam rule on 17 September 1948. Modi was born on the same date two years later, “a fortunate happenstance” acknowledged by Modi years ago when he was in the city.

“The Nizam and his (private militia) Razakars tried to crush the people of three regions by imposing harsh laws, committing unbearable injustice and mistreating women. People agitated against these misdeeds, atrocities and eventually emerged victorious. Today, PM Modi has shown acceptance and paid tribute to the Hyderabad Liberation Movement by deciding to celebrate the day through an ‘Executive Order’,” Shah said at the inauguration of the year long celebrations to observe 75 years of Hyderabad annexation with India.

Shah said the purpose of celebrating Hyderabad Liberation is to revive the history of liberation struggle and tales of the known and unknown martyrs by igniting the flame of patriotism among the youth, even as the TRS leaders accused the BJP of digging up the past unquiet events for its political gains.

At Public Gardens, CM Rao accused “divisive forces of conspiring to misrepresent Telangana history.”

“The danger from these vested interests is so grave that we cannot blink even for a second,” Rao said.

In a veiled attack, Shah accused the TRS chief and chief minister Rao of forgetting the purpose separate Telangana state was created and said that “people would also forget them soon.”

“The tradition of celebrating Hyderabad Liberation Day started by Modi today, will be continued with even greater fervour in the future,” Shah said in furtherance of T-BJP's vow to organize the event officially when it comes to power in the state.

The BJP attributes Rao's reluctance so far to officially celebrate Hyderabad liberation to the TRS-AIMIM affinity and the considerable Muslim vote base in the state.

Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde and Karnataka minister B Sriramulu accompanied Shah.