 "We won't accept Sept 17 as Hyderabad Liberation Day: Telangana Rashtra Samiti to BJP")
The ruling TRS in Telangana has rejected Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu's suggestion to officially celebrate 'Hyderabad Liberation Day' on September 17 and accused the BJP of trying to indulge in "divisive politics".
"Moderate Telangana people do not believe in the Liberation Day. We believe in a day where Telangana state was merged into the Indian union," TRS (Telangana Rashtra Samiti) MP Kalvakuntla Kavitha told PTI here.
Naidu had last week said that even though people all over the country celebrated and rejoiced the hard won freedom from British on August 15, 1947, those living in the erstwhile Hyderabad state had to wait for celebration till September 17, 1948, when the region was liberated from the tyrannical Nizam's rule and integrated with the rest of India.
"While the BJP has been demanding for the past many years for official celebration of the Liberation of Hyderabad State, it is unfortunate some political parties view even matters relating to the nation's integrity through the prism of vote bank politics," Naidu had said.
There should not be any kind of politics, leave alone vote bank politics, when it comes to unity and integrity of the nation, the senior BJP leader had said.
"Hyderabad Liberation Day is being celebrated officially on September 17 in some of the districts of Maharashtra and Karnataka and my suggestion to Telangana government is to follow suit. I hope it would respond positively to the suggestion," he said.
During the "autocratic" rule of the Nizam, Telugu language was discouraged as the medium of instruction in educational institutions, he had said.
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Kavitha, the Lok Sabha member from Nizamabad, noted that even during the movement spearheading statehood demand for Telangana, TRS always used to celebrate it as a merger day, and hoist national flag in party office on that day because the "then Andhra government would not recognise this day".
"But then the BJP's view of thinking about it as liberation from the Nizam's rule does not have greater acceptance in Telangana society. It will be divisive to talk about that. But as a day of merger with Indian Union, we will certainly acknowledge it and celebrate it," she said, when her reaction was sought on Naidu's suggestion.
Responding to questions, Kavitha, the daughter of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, said: "The very survival of BJP...Extreme right-wing party it's divisive politics... that's their only motto. They always call it a liberation day because it (Telangana) has been out of Muslim rule. We will not accept that."
"We always said our Nizam was certainly very good in lot of aspects and one or two things go wrong in everybody's rule. Babri Masjid (demolition) went wrong when Kalyan Singh was the Chief Minister. You can't dig up history and try to divide the society now. BJP has always been taking that view, and TRS is always been opposing it right from movement days.
"We say it's a merger day, not a liberation day. It's not a day to bring any differences between Hindu and Muslim communities in Telangana society," she said.
BJP Telangana chief K Laxman recently said the party national president Amit Shah would address a public meeting in Warangal district of the state on September 17 as part of the 'Hyderabad Liberation Day' being celebrated by the state unit.
"During the separate statehood movement, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, had said 'Hyderabad Liberation Day' will be celebrated in a grand manner on the lines of it being celebrated in some districts of Karnataka and Maharashtra," Laxman had said.
"But due to pressure from MIM (of Asaduddin Owaisi), this (TRS) government is not coming forward to celebrate it," he alleged.
"Hence, the BJP has decided to celebrate 'Hyderabad Liberation Day' on September 17 in nook and corner of the state," he had said.
The Hyderabad state, which was under the Nizam's rule, merged with the Indian Union on September 17, 1948, following a "police action".
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had, during his visit to Hyderabad on August 7, called upon BJP functionaries to take up the 'Tiranga Yatra' on motorbikes from August 15 to September 17 across the state.