Asaduddin Owaisi, the chief of the All India Majilis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), has written to Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao and Home Minister Amit Shah urging them to celebrate September 17 as National Integration Day rather than as the Day of Liberation.
This comes hours after Bandi Sanjay Kumar, the leader of the BJP’s Telangana unit, urged that the state government formally observe “Telangana Liberation Day” on September 17, the celebration of the Nizam of Hyderabad’s Hyderabad state’s 1948 merger with the Indian Union.
“The government of India has announced that September 17 be celebrated as Liberation Day. But we appeal that the day must be celebrated as National Integration Day,” Owaisi, the chief of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), wrote in his letters to Amit Shah.
“As you are aware, September 17 marks the date when the erstwhile state of Hyderabad finally merged with the Union of India. This date marks the end of the indirect colonial and feudal rule for the people of these territories. I am writing to you to suggest that the government of Telangana mark this occasion as National Integration Day,” he stated in his letter to KCR.
“This day must be a celebration of the struggles of the people of erstwhile Hyderabad against both British colonialism as well as the feudal autocratic rule of the Nizams. Such a celebration must be a recognition that the people of these lands had long struggled against (indirect) British rule. Examples include Maulvi Allauddin and Turrebaz Khan in the War of Independence of 1857 and the martyred journalist Shoebullah Khan. While the former had waged a war against the British as well as the Nizam’s soldiers, the latter was assassinated for advocating Hyderabad’s integration into the Union of India,” he wrote.
“The common Hindus and Muslims of erstwhile Hyderabad state were advocates of a united India under a democratic, secular and republican government. This is also reflected in the Sunderlal Committee report. The Committee was appointed by the Government of India to report on the situation after the merger of Hyderabad. The Committee also found that mass violence was committed against common Muslims living in these territories.”
As mentioned in the letter, “It must be noted that the accession and merger of various princely states were not only about “liberating” the territories from autocratic rulers. More importantly, the nationalist movement rightly saw the people of these territories as an integral part of independent India. Therefore, the phrase “National Integration Day” may be more apposite, rather than mere “liberation”.”
