Operation Polo: Will Hyderabad and its people ever know the truth?

In the aftermath of Operation Polo, Lt Gen JN Chaudhuri, who led Operation Polo, took over as military governor of Hyderabad for 18 months.

Hyderabad: Telangana Praja Palana Dinotsavam (People’s Governance Day). That is the new moniker for Operation Polo, the military action through which Hyderabad was annexed to India on September 17, 1948, given by the current Congress government in Telangana. The previous Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government called it National Integration Day, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been hard pressing for it to be officially called “Liberation Day.”

But none of it makes sense, and frankly, one cannot expect honesty from any government these days, especially with regard to accepting and putting out information with historical accuracy. Operation Polo, in recent years, has become more and more contested, as different narratives have challenged older ones that had held sway. The BJP’s push for calling it “Liberation Day” is, however, the most inaccurate, because it tries to paint the last Nizam of Hyderabad, Mir Osman Ali Khan, as an evil character from whom we were set free. Not only is that wrong, but it also portrays Muslims negatively, very evidently for political gain.

However, while that is expected from the BJP, one cannot excuse the previous government or the incumbent Congress for not setting the record straight: that Operation Polo, called Police Action in local parlance, was not just a passing event. It was preceded by political violence, and there was large-scale violence against Muslims in its aftermath. These are well-recorded facts, and it’s time that whatever is out there is well-rounded and informative.

Rise of armed rebellion

More importantly, understanding where Telangana stood in 1948 is also necessary, as under the erstwhile Hyderabad state (1724-1948), it had been in the grip of feudal landlords who collected taxes for the Nizam. That led to the Communist Party of India (CPI)-led Telangana Armed Struggle, or peasant rebellion, which was something the Nizam’s government could not contain. In fact, one of the major reasons for the Indian Army staying on till 1951 was that there was a real possibility of the communists running the state.

This is the history of our state that was never taught, and it’s about time that we learn it. Moreover, it is also worth taking a look again at, and questioning, the decisions by the Nizam’s government that led to Operation Polo.

The Nizams of Hyderabad: Origins and independence bid

The Asaf Jahi Nizams originally served the Mughal empire, and in 1724, Mir Qamruddin Khan officially acquired the status of Nizam, making him the supreme governor of the south. The Nizams signed an agreement with the British East India Company in 1798, allowing the European powers to settle down here in Hyderabad. When the Mughal empire formally collapsed in 1857 after the First War of Independence, the Nizams came fully under the British crown, ruling semi-independently.

It may be noted that the Nizams were not independent, and the princely state of Hyderabad was part of British India. During the time of the last Nizam, Mir Osman Ali Khan (1911-48), the state was the second largest in India at 82,698 square miles, smaller only than what was then Jammu and Kashmir. It comprised what is today Telangana, parts of lower Maharashtra and small parts of northern Karnataka, with 16 districts in total.

As independence from the British seemed certain, some princely state rulers were not on board with joining India. Hyderabad was one among them.

Osman Ali Khan made it to the cover of Time magazine in 1937 as the world’s richest man. He was also the ruler of the Hyderabad state, which had its own railways, airline and other characteristics of an independent country. However, he ran a state that was entering a modern post-World War II era heading towards democracy. So when the British left India, the monarch chose to stay independent, a choice the colonisers gave him.

However, this did not sit well with the Indian government, given that Hyderabad lay bang in the middle of the country, surrounded on all sides by Indian territory. The two sides had even signed a Standstill Agreement on November 29, 1947, giving themselves a year to negotiate. That agreement, however, was never honoured, and the Government of India eventually sent in its army. In the meantime, the Hyderabad state government tried everything it could to remain independent.

Moreover, the Union government was worried about the equipment that the British left behind after 1947. “Matters regarding currency and trade passports and dealings with foreign powers had to be provided with some new legal basis after the lapse of paramountcy,” SN Joshi wrote in his book “Operation Polo – The Police Action Against Hyderabad.”

Razakars and communalism

One of the most important political developments in Hyderabad’s history was the formation of the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) in 1927, originally conceived as a social organisation. It grew into a powerful force under Bahadur Yar Jung, its president through much of the 1930s until his death in 1944. Jung was, in fact, one of MIM’s most influential leaders and a widely respected figure, and his untimely death marked one of the biggest turning points for Hyderabad, one that would prove almost catastrophic in the years that followed.

Qasim Razvi, a lawyer with reported criminal antecedents, took over the MIM in 1946 and grew increasingly hardline in his push for Hyderabad’s independence. In the run-up to September 1948, several incidents served as grim previews of what was to come. Perhaps the worst of these was the murder of journalist Shoaibullah Khan, who had taken a public stand in his newspaper, Imroze, arguing that Hyderabad should merge peacefully with India. He was killed on the night of August 21-22, 1948, by the Razakars, in what was widely seen as a warning to the public.

Many also believe that among the major reasons behind Police Action were the actions of the fanatical Qasim Razvi, who founded the Razakar militia and presided over widespread atrocities, including attacks on anyone opposed to Hyderabad’s independence. In fact, Mohd Hyderabad, the last district collector of Osmanabad in Maharashtra, wrote of Razvi’s openly partisan views on Hindus, recorded from his own conversations with him. Razakar violence remains one of the issues the BJP most often uses today to twist historical narratives and paint all Muslims as anti-Hindu.

Telangana peasant rebellion in Hyderabad

If there is anything that is not talked about much in all of this, it is the peasant rebellion in Telangana under the Nizams. SN Prasad, in the book “The Police Action Against Hyderabad” (published by the Army’s historical section), also writes about how there was a real threat of a communist takeover in 1948.

Underneath all of the “greatness” and the wealth of the Nizams of Hyderabad lay the foundations: bonded slave labour under the Jagirdars, or state revenue collectors. About 60 per cent of the state was given to them for tax collection, and this is where most of the money came from. There are several accounts of terrible atrocities committed against poor farmers, and the CPI, despite its ban in 1939-40, began its movement against feudalism.

Chakali Ailamma was one of the first to resist her landlord, Visnuru Ramchandra Reddy, and that, along with other events, led to a full-blown violent uprising against the Jagirdars from 1946 to 1951. This is something that even General Syed Ahmed El-Edroos, the last commander of the Hyderabad State Army, attests to in his book “Hyderabad of the Seven Loaves.” El-Edroos, in fact, concedes that the CPI had stronger intelligence networks.

Led by revolutionaries like Ravi Narayan Reddy, Makhdoom Mohiuddin, Jawad Razvi and Arutla Kamala Devi, the movement was so powerful that the Indian state eventually had to send its Army to crush the communists. However, post-independence, this entire part of history was conveniently covered up.

Tense days in Hyderabad before Operation Polo

One of the reasons many believe set Operation Polo in motion was the suspicion that the Nizam was directly or indirectly helping the Razakars. However, this blame can perhaps be placed on Laiq Ali, who was more or less doing exactly that. These developments convinced the Indian government that the Nizam was either in league with Qasim Razvi or was powerless before him.

It was a matter of time before Operation Polo would commence. A militia, and a very legitimate concern that the communists would take over the state — they already had control of the rural areas — gripped the Indian government.

September 13: Operation Polo begins, march to Hyderabad

The Indian Army began its march to Hyderabad on September 13, and the state was no match. This was pretty evident from what Syed Ahmed El-Edroos wrote in his memoirs. According to “Hyderabad of the Seven Loaves,” a company of Pathan soldiers was the first to receive “the blow” at Naldurg, as it did not withdraw in time once the Indian Army began marching into the Hyderabad state.

Another infantry company at Tuljapur in the same area also suffered casualties, and that was pretty much the total fight put up by the Hyderabad state army.

In the aftermath of Operation Polo, Lt Gen J N Chaudhuri, who led Operation Polo, took over as military governor of Hyderabad for 18 months, after which a provincial government under M K Vellodi existed till the first general elections. It may be noted that the last Nizam was made the Rajpramukh in 1950, while Razvi had been arrested and jailed for nearly a decade, after which he was allowed to leave for Pakistan.

The Sunderlal committee report, formed in the aftermath of Operation Polo, states that 26,000 to 40,000 Muslims were killed in communal violence, mainly in the districts of Maharashtra and Karnataka. As far as casualties among the armies of both sides are concerned, the Indian Army lost 42 soldiers, while 97 were wounded and 24 went missing. For the Hyderabad state army, 490 were killed and 122 were wounded.

Osman Ali Khan and the legacy of Operation Polo

Today, almost eight decades later, Osman Ali Khan’s legacy is being relentlessly questioned. Many have often wondered whether Osman Ali Khan really thought he could fight the Indian government and stay independent. Others theorise that Qasim Razvi had taken over political control, leaving him helpless. But it would be surprising to say that the Nizam had no control in his own state — after all, an order from him would have changed everything.

Today, thanks to successive governments trying hard to hide this history from us, different generations have heard different narratives. The only way we will be able to reconcile and move on from this part of our history is if we are honest about it. Every life that was lost matters.