109 Hours: Operation Polo and the Liberation of Hyderabad

10 months back on a bright November afternoon I found myself wandering on the busy lanes of Connaught Place located in the middle of the country's capital. If you ever visit that place, you will notice that after every few meters there are book vendors selling pirated copies of popular books at cheaper rates. As I was rolling my eyes through the pile of books, I suddenly spotted a book which I had been wanting to read for a long period of time. The book was 'Integration of Indian States' written by VP Menon who was a civil servant and also secretary to the government of India in the ministry of states under Sardar Patel. While going through the book the state whose accession excited me the most was the state of Hyderabad. As Hyderabad marks 75 years of its liberation, let me take you back to the events that unfolded during the days of its accession to the state of India. 

 From Mughals to the Whites

Hyderabad before the Independence of India

Hyderabad since its earlier days was ruled by local rulers and chiefdoms. It was only in 1687 AD when Mughal emperor Aurangzeb laid a siege around Golconda and declared it the 'Deccan Suba'. As time passed, the other nearby rulers started ceding their territories to Aurangzeb as they came into the umbrella alliance headed by the Mughal emperor. The first Nizam of the state was Kamaruddin Khan who later came to be known as Asaf Jah or Nizam I. He was one of the the most trusted and loyal men of Aurangzeb who was later made the General. The last Nizam to rule Hyderabad was Mir Osman Ali Khan also known as Asif Jah VII. He was once declared as the wealthiest man in the world whose wealth was 2% of the total US GDP. The Nizam also owned 10% of the entire land of the state of Hyderabad. The reign of the last Nizam lasted from 1911 to 1948.

Nizam - Mir Osman Ali Khan

Before partition Hyderabad was a princely state much bigger than the combined states of present-day Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Spread across 214000 Sq Km, about 85% of the population was Hindu while 15% were muslims. During the reign of the Nizam the state was introduced with railways, roads and the airports. Along with it, there is also a documented history of widespread feudal oppression across the state. Even though the majority population was hindu, the bureaucracy, army and administration was led by muslims and nobles who ran the entire system on the orders of the Nizam. The commander in Chief of Nizam's Army was Syed Ahmed El-Edroos who himself was an Arab by origin.

Independence and the beginning of the bloodshed

Razakars

As India got its independence in the August of 1947, Hyderabad under Nizam straightly refused to merge with the dominion of India and also with that of Pakistan. The Nizam cleared his intentions of keeping Hyderabad an independent state or a dominion under the British Commonwealth. The Nizam started buying time as Hyderabad's then Prime Minister, Mir Laiq Ali signed the 'Standstill Agreement' with the Government of India on November 29,1947. According to the agreement, the Foreign Affairs, Defence and the Communication were to be controlled by the state of India whereas the domestic affairs were to remain under control of the Nizam.

The loyalists of Nizam were against the accession of Hyderabad into the Union of India. Among those was the MIM (Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen), an organisation formed in 1926 by the close aides of Nizam. During 1946 MIM was led by a lawyer named Qasim Razvi. Razvi soon started a private militia force- The ‘Razakars’ or volunteers whose primary task was to commit atrocities. Their motto was 'Maadar Hyderabad: Paindabad' which meant mother Hyderabad be eternal. The Razakars were found committing harsh atrocities, indulging in violence, rapes, robbery and creating havoc across the state. They were receiving support from the state which boosted their confidence to inflict even more damage. Along with the revolt of Razakars there was another communist uprising which started brewing in multiple parts of the state. This tussle between the Communists and the Razakars was often described as ' people's revolt on the one side and fascist orgy on the other'. 

Operation Polo: The final Nail in the Coffin

By August 1948 the situation in the state worsened as the cruelty of Razakars peaked. Sardar Patel called Hyderabad an "Ulcer that continues to spread poison to the rest of the country". The central administration under Jawahar Lal Nehru, the then Prime Minister of India, came to an agreement that a fierce action was necessary. Operation Polo was launched on september 13,1948 where 36000 Indian troops entered the state of Hyderabad under the leadership of Major General JN Chaudhuri. Indian Army's 'Goddard Plan' was set to envisaged attack from two directions, west and the south. In the meantime, Sardar Patel appointed KM Munshi as India's representative who was in continuous diplomatic talks with the Nizam. 

Defeating Razakars and the forces of Nizam was not an easy sail for the Indian Forces. The Nizam was buying weapons from Europe. Europe at that time had a big collection of seized weapons which they had captured from the Germany after the end of World War II. Pakistani trade commissioners were buying these weapons and were taking them to Pakistan from where they were being flown to Hyderabad by the gun runners. An Australian by nationality, Sidney Cotton was also captured ferrying away the weapons. 

Major General JN Chaudury taking surrender from Syed Ahmed El-Edroos

Operation Polo which began on 13th September 1948 ended after 109 hours on 17th september 1948 after the Nizam announced the ceasefire and the surrender of his territory, which meant Hyderabad was now officially the part of India. The Nizam was immediately sent to Radio where he announced and asked all his troops and Razakars to put down the weapons and surrender to the Indian forces. Qasim Razvi was arrested and was allowed to go to Pakistan only in 1957. During the operation both the sides suffered heavy casualties. Sardar Patel called it a Police action as he didn't want to put the role Indian Army into any bad light. In the aftermath, the Nizam was made the governor of Hyderabad. The former strongholds of Razakars were stormed strongly by the security forces and people of other communities. The communist armed struggle too continued until 1951. 

At the time of Independence India was divided into 565 Princely states. With pressure bruising from all four sides, it required some extraordinary efforts and skills to unite India into a single entity that we see today. If we didn't had leaders and statesman of that calibre to do the job in that particular way, we would have still been lying as a country, in bits and pieces.

 

Sources -

Integration of Princely States -VP Menon

India after Gandhi - Ramchandra Guha

The Print 

LIFE Images