On 17th of September 1948 the military of the Indian Union marched in to the erstwhile Hyderabad State of the Nizam, under the command of then Maj. Gen. Joyontonath Chowdhury (J.N. Chowdhury) and brought the Nizam's army and the boastful Razakars to their knees within two days. The operation was termed Operation Polo and Mir Osman Ali Khan the Nizam, surrendered before the military forces unconditionally. It was a great blow to the then communal Muslim pride and left a deep scar on the psyche of a section of the Muslims of Hyderabad which finds expression to this day through the venomous outpourings of the two elected representatives of that city. The Bangladesh war of 1971, when over a lakh of Pakistani soldiers surrendered before Lt. Gen. Jagjit Singh Arora made a huge dent in the collective Muslim psyche of Pakistan. And being incapable of taking a military revenge it finds expression through terror attacks against India to this day.

After 15th August 1947, when the rest of India was celebrating the Independence Day the people of Hyderabad State were groaning under the persecution of the Nizam. The Nizam who was the King cultivated his image as one who treated both the Hindus and the Muslims as his own people. Quasim Rizvi, a rabid communalist who specialised in spewing venom through his inciting oratory, organised an armed force of Razakars. Razakars means volunteers but which for all practical purposes received arms and funds through the Nizam's Government. While these Razakars unleashed a reign of arson, plunder and mass killings of Hindus, the Nizam looked the other way. At this time K. M. Munshi, a close confidante of Sardar Patel was stationed in Hyderabad as India's Agent General. He kept an eagle's eye on the situation in Hyderabad and sent his reports to the Sardar who was India's Home Minister and Deputy Prime Minister too.

It is said that a general massacre of Hindus under the name of 'Qatl-e-Aam' was planned in the month of September 1948. Sardar Patel, in consultation with K.M. Munshi took the decision to send the military to Hyderabad even without getting Nehru's approval under his powers as Home Minister and Deputy PM. Since the operation was an internal operation it was commonly known as Police Action. The Sardar was running a temperature when he landed at Solapur airstrip at dawn on the 14th of September and gave the marching orders to the Indian forces. The Nizam's military and the Razakars who were bragging about their strength and their intention to humble the might of India, were miserably defeated and brought to their knees within two days. And on 17th September 1948 the Nizam surrendered before the Indian military unconditionally. The Congress government, in line with its policies of making history palatable to Muslims and not to ruffle any wrong feathers kept the fact of Qatl-e-Aam under wraps. Within a week the Sardar visited Hyderabad and the proud Nizam went to the airport and humbly received him. That historical photograph too was never published anywhere by the Congress government for a long time. So, although there may not be any evidence to support the diabolical plot of Qatl-e-Aam, it fits well with what happened to Kashmiri Pandits many years later who were terrorised, plundered and killed in large numbers. Had they not fled for their lives, their Qatl-e-Aam was sure to take place. Recently the BJP MP Subramanian Swamy has asked for an in-depth inquiry into the genocide of Kashmiri Pandits.

It is no wonder that even to this day Congress leaders are conspicuous by their absence at the Hyderabad Liberation Day ceremonies taking place in Marathwada, Hyderabad Karnataka area, and Telangana. The people of all these regions need to remember with gratitude Sardar Patel and KM Munshi.

Image provided by the author.