History at work: BJP to exploit Razaakar massacre to fight Congress

Gulbarga: Is the saffron party, which already has a strong base in the coastal and the Mumabi regions of the State, trying to wrest control over the Hyderabad Karnataka region from the Congress by whipping up public opinion on the brutality of the private army of the Nizam known as Razaakars during the liberation movement of the Hyderabad Karnataka region?

The answer is yes going by the grand plans the BJP has drawn up to celebrate the Hyderabad Karnataka Liberation Day on September 17 this year by inviting its National President Amit Shah to lay the foundation stone for installation of a memorial at Gorata village in Bidar district where more than 200 villagers were massacred by the Razaakars.

Besides a 35 foot monolith memorial, the BJP Yuva Morcha which has taken the initiative, also plans to lay the foundation for a statue of Saradar Vallabhai Patel, who played a pivotal role in getting the region integrated with the rest of India from Hyderabad state of the Nizam. The party has already purchased a one-acre plot for the memorial. Besides it is also said to have collected Rs 10 each from five youths from each of the 54,000 polling booths in the State. The amount so collected from the drive - Rs 27 lakh - was recently handed over to party State president Pralhad Joshi for building the memorial.

Besides trying to consolidate its position in the HK region "through highlighting the massacre of Hindus at Gorta", BJP's immediate focus is on winning the Maharashtra elections. "Both the Hyderabad Karnataka region as well as the adjoining Marathwada region of Maharashtra, which were part of the erstwhile Nizam state, suffered a lot at the hands of Razaakars. By taking up the construction of a memorial and installing a statue of Vallabhai Patel, the saffron party,  is trying to consolidate Hindu votes in Marathwada",  said a source.