Editorial, "Weren't Indians? Condemn Chauvinism!' in LAW ANIMATED WORLD, 31 August 2013 issue, Vol. 9, Part 2, No. 16.

WEREN’T INDIANS? CONDEMN CHAUVINISM!

It was shocking to learn about the disgusting statement of one V. Prakash, a lawyer, a founder-member of Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) and perhaps a dissident now having formed the Telangana Vimochana Samiti some time back, in an interview on TV5 (see the pic above) that Telanganites were never Indians before 1948, India committed aggression against the free country of Hyderabad in 1948 and annexed it though afterwards they [Hyderabadis] got reconciled to it. It is to be doubted whether this Prakash was a bit mentally imbalanced by his regional chauvinism. Anyway, it needs severe condemnation by all right thinking Indians, not just Telugus of the State. It is true, no doubt, that the Nizam of Hyderabad declared independence of the Hyderabad State in August 1947 by issuing a firman announcing that “Hyderabad would remain independent and not join the Union of India but the Government of India rejected the firman, terming it a "legalistic claim of doubtful validity". His minister Kasim Razvi unfurled the Asafia Flag and declared that the flag was the emblem of the suzerainty of God on earth” and all of us know that this Kasim Razvi was a protagonist of Choudary Rahmat Ali’s Osmanistan [which in Razvi’s conception included the Seemandhra districts too] proposal and the leader of the atrocious and hated razakars, fought tooth and nail by the valiant Telangana people in their glorious struggle against Nizam monarchy and feudal oppression and for a people’s state in Greater Andhra [Vishalandhraloa Prajarajyam]. The Nizam could not withstand the military assault [termed ‘Police Action’] of the Union, meekly surrendered and compromised to protect his status and assets to a great extent by becoming a Raj Pramukh in independent India. The corrupt and inept ruling party catered to his interests instead of punishing the people’s enemies who were cruelly suppressing the ‘Join Indian Union Movement’ launched by the revered Swami Ramananda Tirtha and militantly carried on by a vast majority of the people cutting across all parties/sections. That’s why many, including TRS officially, call for the marking of 17 September as Hyderabad Liberation Day, hence it sounds strange that an important separatist leader should stoop to such a low, ignorant level and so calls for this editorial condemnation. §§§