Razakars (Hyderabad): Difference between revisions
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Revision as of 22:10, 28 December 2021
 Razakar units being trained | |
| Formation | 1938 |
|---|---|
| Founder | Bahadur Yar Jung |
| Dissolved | 1948 |
| Type | Paramilitary volunteer force |
| Purpose | Support of the Nizam, Sir Osman Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VII, resisting the integration of Hyderabad State into India |
| Headquarters | Hyderabad |
Region served | Hyderabad State |
| Leader | Bahadur Yar Jung Qasim Razvi |
| Affiliations | Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen |
The Razakars formed the paramilitary volunteer force of the Muslim nationalist Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) party in the Hyderabad State under the British Raj. Formed in 1938 by the MIM leader Bahadur Yar Jung,[1] they expanded considerably during the leadership of Qasim Razvi around the time of Indian independence. They were deployed in the cause of maintaining Muslim rule in Hyderabad and resisting integration into India.[citation needed] Described as "enthusiastic" and "undisciplined", they targeted Hindus as well as Muslims whose loyalty was in question. They also fought communists who were launching a revolution in the state.[2][better source needed]
During the period November 1947–August 1948, when Hyderabad was under a Standstill Agreement with India, the Indian government made repeated demands to the Nizam of Hyderabad to disband the Razakars, which were all turned down. In the eventual armed invasion launched by India, dubbed 'police action', the Razakars formed the main resistance to the Indian Army.[3] The Nizam surrendered and agreed to disband the Razakars.[4] Qasim Razvi was initially jailed and then allowed to move to Pakistan where he was granted asylum.[5]
History
The Hyderabad State was a kingdom that was ruled by the Nizam. When India became independent in 1947, like all the other Princely states, the Hyderabad State was also given the choice of either joining India or Pakistan. The Nizam wanted neither; he wanted to remain independent. The Nizam finally entered into a standstill agreement with India on 29 November 1947 to maintain the status quo.[6]
Hyderabad state had been steadily becoming more theocratic since the beginning of the 20th century. In 1926, Mahmud Nawaz Khan, a retired Hyderabad official, founded the Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (also known as MIM). The MIM became a powerful organization, with the principal focus to marginalize the political aspirations of moderate Muslims.[7]
MIM "had its storm troopers in the Razakars who were headed by Kasim Razvi, a Muslim educated at Aligarh University who claimed Hyderabad was a Muslim state and that Muslim supremacy was based upon the right of conquest".[8][unreliable source?] The Razakars demanded special powers from the Nizam, which they started to misuse and the Nizam had to abide by their dictates. The Nizam sent a delegation to the United Nations to refer the Hyderabad State case to the UN Security Council.
The Razakar militia brutally put down the armed revolts by Communist sympathizers and the peasantry and even eliminated Muslim activists such as journalist Shoebullah Khan who advocated merger with India.[9][10] The Razakars terrorised the Hindu population and its sympathizers, causing many to flee to safety into the jungles, uninhabited mud forts, or neighboring Indian provinces.[11][better source needed] The Hyderabad State Congress was banned and its leaders forced to flee to Bezawada or Bombay.[citation needed]
Annexation after Operation Polo
Finally, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the Indian Minister for Home Affairs, decided to undertake "police action" in Hyderabad State to force the King Nizam's hand. Operation Polo was launched and the Indian Army, led by Major General J. N. Chaudhuri, entered the state from five directions. The Razakars fought briefly against the overwhelming attack by Indian forces before surrendering on 18 September 1948. Mir Laik Ali, the Prime Minister of the Nizam, and Qasim Rizvi were arrested.
On 22 September 1948, the Nizam withdrew his complaint from the UN Security Council.The merger of Hyderabad into the Indian Union was announced. Major General Chaudhuri took over as military governor of Hyderabad and stayed in that position till the end of 1949. In January 1950, M. K. Vellodi, a senior civil servant was made the Chief Minister of the state and the Nizam was given the position of "Raj Pramukh" or "Governor".
The Pandit Sunderlal Committee Report estimated that between 27,000 and 40,000 lost their lives in the violence that ensued the operation.[12]
Disbandment
The Razakars were disbanded after the merger of Hyderabad with India and the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen was banned—though it was rechartered under the Congress government as All India MIM (AIMIM) in 1957.[13] Qasim Rizvi was jailed and served in Indian prisons for almost a decade. He was released only on an undertaking that he would migrate to Pakistan within forty-eight hours of his release.[5] He was granted asylum in Pakistan.
See also
Further reading
References
- ^ Benichou, From Autocracy to Integration (2000), p. 99.
- ^ Sherman, The integration of the princely state of Hyderabad (2007), pp. 6–7.
- ^ Kamat, Border incidents, internal disorder (2007), p. 220: "A little over 800 people died on both sides during the operation, with the Razakars suffering the majority of the casualties."
- ^ Kamat, Border incidents, internal disorder (2007), p. 220.
- ^ a b "Hate speech not new for Owaisi clan". The Times of India. 10 January 2013.
- ^ Srinath, Raghavan (2010). War and peace in modern India. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 75. ISBN 9780230242159. OCLC 664322508.
- ^ Kate, Marathwada under the Nizams 1987, p. 73.
- ^ Moraes, Frank, Jawaharlal Nehru, Mumbai: Jaico. 2007, p.390
- ^ Rao, P.R., History and Culture of Andhra Pradesh: From the Earliest Times to 1991, New Delhi: Sterling Publishers, 2012. p. 284
- ^ Remembering a legend, The Hindu, 22 August 2008; Aniket Alam, A one-man crusade, it was and still is[dead link], The Hindu, 6 January 2003.
- ^ Kate, Marathwada under the Nizams 1987, p. 84.
- ^ "Are modern Razakars as Owaisis trying to get the same goal today politically? Part I". Trunicle. 20 November 2020. Retrieved 20 August 2021.
Bibliography
- Benichou, Lucien D. (2000) [University of Western Australia, 1985], From Autocracy to Integration: Political Developments in Hyderabad State, 1938-1948, Orient Blackswan, ISBN 978-81-250-1847-6
- Kamat, Manjiri N. (2007), "Border incidents, internal disorder and the Nizam's claim for an independent Hyderabad", in Waltraud Ernst; Biswamoy Pati (eds.), India's Princely States: People, Princes and Colonialism, Routledge, pp. 212–224, ISBN 978-1-134-11988-2
- Kate, P. V. (1987), Marathwada under the Nizams, 1724-1948, Mittal Publications, pp. 73–, ISBN 978-81-7099-017-8
- Sherman, Taylor C. (2007), "The integration of the princely state of Hyderabad and the making of the postcolonial state in India, 1948–56", The Indian Economic and Social History Review, 44 (4): 489–516, doi:10.1177/001946460704400404, S2CID 145000228
Further reading
- Hyder, Mohammed (2012). October Coup, A Memoir of the Struggle for Hyderabad. Roli Books. ISBN 978-8174368508.
- Khalidi, Omar (1988). Hyderabad, after the fall. Wichita, Kansas: Hyderabad Historical Society. ISBN 093081102X.
- Menon, V. P. (1956). The Story of Integration of the Indian States. MacMillan.
- Sherman, Taylor C. (2015), Muslim Belonging in Secular India, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-1-107-09507-6
- Muralidharan, Sukumar (2014). "Alternate Histories: Hyderabad 1948 Compels a Fresh Evaluation of the Theology of India's Independence and Partition". History and Sociology of South Asia. 8 (2): 119–138. doi:10.1177/2230807514524091. S2CID 153722788.
- Noorani, A. G. (2014). The Destruction of Hyderabad. Hurst & Co. ISBN 978-1-84904-439-4.
External links
- "This day, that year: How Hyderabad became a part of the union of India". News Minute. 16 September 2018.