BJP-TRS showdown on the cards over 'Liberation Day'

A showdown appears to be on the cards between the BJP, which is pushing the Telangana government to officially celebrate September 17 as 'Hyderabad Liberation Day', and the ruling TRS in the state, which appears to be in no mood to oblige, at least this year.
The saffron outfit had been demanding for years that the celebrations of the "liberation of Hyderabad State" be made official. This year, the opposition party seems to be pressing it with a lot more vigour and aggression.
BJP national president Amit Shah is slated to address a public meeting in Warangal district on September 17 as part of 'Hyderabad Liberation Day' being celebrated by the party's state unit.

The Hyderabad State, which was under the Nizam's Rule, merged with the Indian Union on September 17, 1948, following a "police action". The BJP views the Nizam's Rule as "tyrannical".
During the "autocratic" rule of the Nizam, Telugu language was discouraged as the medium of instruction in educational institutions, Union minister M Venkaiah Naidu had recently said, while asking the Telangana government to officially celebrate the day as 'Hyderabad Liberation Day'.
Speaking to PTI today, TRS leader and Karimnagar MP B Vinod Kumar said the ruling party wanted to build a consensus on the issue of the government officially celebrating the day as there were "divergent views" among the political parties on whether the occasion should be called 'Merger Day' or 'Liberation Day' among other issues.

Ever since it was formed, TRS has been celebrating the day by hoisting the national flag but without mentioning it as 'Merger Day' or 'Liberation Day'.

"Now, per se, we are not against celebrating it the way the BJP wants it. As a responsible political party, we want to build a consensus on the issue and definitely, as and when there is consensus, we will officially celebrate it, nothing wrong in it," Kumar said.
"But now, as a responsible political party and as a government, we should name it. Should we name it Liberation Day or Merger Day? That is the issue before the government," the MP added.

Telangana BJP chief K Laxman had recently claimed that
during the statehood movement, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao had said 'Hyderabad Liberation Day' would be celebrated in a grand manner, the way it was done in some districts of Karnataka and Maharashtra.
"But, due to pressure from the MIM (a Hyderabad-based political party led by Asaduddin Owaisi), this (TRS) government is not coming forward to celebrate it," he had alleged.
CPI general secretary S Sudhakar Reddy said his party viewed the day as "liberation from feudalism" and added that it was "certainly an occasion to be celebrated by the government".

"Till now, they were refusing to do this because they thought, even the previous Congress and TDP governments (in undivided Andhra Pradesh) were afraid of celebrating it, thinking it would annoy the Muslims," he said.
"The MIM opposes it (celebrating the occasion), saying some Muslims were killed during that period (in police action). There was not even a single communal clash in entire Telangana (during that period).
"There were some clashes in the Marathwada region (in Maharashtra) but not in Telangana," Reddy said, adding that there was no need now to give "value" to what the MIM thought about it.

"A large number of Muslims had also supported the struggle against feudalism, against the Nizam. So, the government should celebrate it officially by calling it whatever (Liberation Day or Merger Day) they want," he said.
Reddy alleged that the RSS was "afraid" of fighting the Nizam and it did not even move a "single finger" against the Nizam's rule.
"They (RSS) have no moral right to even talk about the liberation of Telangana," he told