BJP to celebrate September 17 as Telangana Liberation Day

HYDERABAD: The BJP has finally taken the plunge and decided to officially celebrate September 17 as the ‘Telangana Liberation Day’ with a special programme at the Parade Ground in the city. Union home minister Amit Shah will be the chief guest at the event and among the invitees will be the Chief Ministers of Telangana, Maharashtra and Karnataka, where the old Hyderabad State lay.

The day marks the merger of the then Hyderabad State with the Indian Union in 1948, following Police Action.

A long meeting was held here on Friday to discuss the preparations for the event with Union minister G. Kishan Reddy chairing the meet. Senior officials from the ministry of culture were among those who were present.

It may be recalled that the BJP had been gunning for Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao, reminding people at every possible opportunity how, during the Telangana statehood movement, he had repeatedly promised to celebrate the “true” liberation day of Telangana on September 17, in 1948. As recently as on August 21, Amit Shah declared at a public meeting at Munugode that the BJP, when it came to power in Telangana, would make Telangana Liberation Day celebrations official.

 The BJP had repeatedly said that Chandrashekar Rao was reluctant to keep his promise on this issue as he was afraid of the AIMIM and its leader Asaduddin Owaisi. The BJP’s claim is that those who founded the AIMIM were associated with the Razakarsm who were opposed to  Hyderabad’s merger with the Indian Union, and hence, the TRS government was wary of celebrating the Telangana Liberation Day.

According to senior BJP leaders, the September 17 celebrations in the city will just be the start of what promises to be a year-long series of events that will culminate on September 17, 2024 to mark the 75 years of merger of Hyderabad state with the Indian Union.