Centre to celebrate Sept 17 as ‘Hyd Liberation Day’

New Delhi: The Centre on Tuesday announced that it will celebrate September 17 every year as ‘Hyderabad Liberation Day’. In a notification, the Union Home Ministry said Hyderabad did not get independence for 13 months after India’s independence on August 15, 1947 and was under the rule of the Nizams. The region was liberated from Nizam’s rule on September 17, 1948 after police action namely ‘Operation Polo’.

“Whereas, there has been a demand from the people of the region that 17th September may be celebrated as Hyderabad Liberation Day. “Now in order to remember the martyrs who liberated Hyderabad and to infuse the flame of patriotism in the minds of youth, the Government of India decided to celebrate 17th day of September every year as ‘Hyderabad Liberation Day’,” the notification read.

When India gained independence, the Razakars called for Hyderabad state to either join Pakistan or to become a Muslim dominion while resisting its merger with the Union of India. The people of the region fought valiantly against the atrocities of the Razakars to merge the region into the Union of India. The Razakars, a private militia, had committed atrocities and defended the erstwhile Nizam rule in Hyderabad.

On September 17, 1948, the then Hyderabad state, which was under the rule of the Nizams, was annexed into the Union of India following military action, initiated by the then Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.

The Narendra Modi government had held event on September 17 every year in last few years to mark ‘Hyderabad Liberation Day’. Union Home Minister Amit Shah had also attended the event in the past.