The Center and state’s separate celebrations take competitive politics to the next level. (FILE)
Hyderabad:
Union Home Affairs Minister Amit Shah and Telangana Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao will fly the national flags in Hyderabad on Saturday in separate “September 17” celebrations, in what is being built to become a day of intense political activity and competition in the state.
For the first time, the Center will celebrate September 17 as “Hyderabad Liberation Day”. The former state of Hyderabad under Nizam merged with the Union of India on this day, more than a year after India’s independence.
The Telangana government has been planning what it calls “Telangana Unity Day” and has announced 3-day festival activities. It was an important message from Mr. Rao or KCR, who rallied opposition parties to join the BJP in the 2024 national elections. He and Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) watched the Center’s celebrations. with suspicion, calling them in line with the BJP’s “divisive agenda”.
Union Home Affairs Minister Amit Shah will address the Center’s celebrations at the Army Parade in Secunderabad. Invitations have been sent to the Heads of the two neighboring countries where the BJP is in power – Karnataka and Maharashtra. Basavaraj Bommai and Eknath Shinde will both attend the event. Both states include portions ceded from the former state of Hyderabad.
The Home Secretary will land tonight in Hyderabad for his one-day visit. BJP leaders point out that in 1948, India’s first Home Minister, Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel raised the national flag after Hyderabad joined India.
Mr. Shah will also participate in another event, called “Sewa karyakram”, to mark Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s birthday.
The BJP has tagged the ongoing central government’s annual “Liberation of Hyderabad” celebration “Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav” to mark 75 years of Independence.
Telangana’s KCR was also invited. But he has other plans. He will be at Public Gardens for the official government function to mark National Integration Day.
The Center and state’s separate celebrations take competitive politics to the next level. Both Amit Shah and KCR will address public protests.
AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi also wrote to the Center and the state government requesting that this day be designated as “National Integration Day”. The Hyderabad MP will raise the national flag and plant the “Tiranga bike rally” flag.
Asked if he would attend any events tomorrow, Mr Owaisi said “only if they call it National Integration Day”.
Mr. Owaisi was asked why AIMIM didn’t organize an earlier date. “The central government should be asked the same question,” he retorted. The AIMIM leader said both Hindus and Muslims in the former Nizam state wanted to join a “secular, democratic Republic of India”.
The party of the KCR questioned why the BJP did not celebrate the incorporation of Junagadh of Gujarat in India on 9 November 1947, and wanted to focus only on Hyderabad.
The BJP was politically aggressive in Telangana. In 2018, the party won only one council seat in the state elections, but it has since won three votes and also local agency polls in Hyderabad. The Party sees a major political opportunity in Telangana, with the weakened Congress unable to challenge the TRS forcefully.
