Hyderabad Liberation Day

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About Hyderabad State Liberation Day-

• The erstwhile princely state of Hyderabad – which covered the modern-day Marathwada region in Maharashtra, the Hyderabad-Karnataka region in Karnataka, and all districts in current-day Telangana – became part of the Union of India on September 17, 1948.
• The princely state of Hyderabad was ruled by the Nizams and became part of the Indian Union only on September 17, 1948. 
• While Maharashtra and Karnataka already commemorate this day as Marathwada Liberation Day and Hyderabad-Karnataka Liberation Day, respectively, the Centre aims to celebrate the day across the three states and also take it directly under its wing.

Operation Polo (also referred to as “Operation Caterpillar”)-

• Operation Polo was the code name of the Hyderabad “police action” in September 1948, by the then newly independent Dominion of India against Hyderabad State. 
• At the time of Partition in 1947, the princely states of India, who in principle had self-government within their own territories, were subject to subsidiary alliances with the British, giving them control of their external relations. 
• With the Indian Independence Act 1947, the British abandoned all such alliances, leaving the states with the option of opting for full independence. 
• However, by 1948 almost all had acceded to either India or Pakistan. 
• One major exception was that of the wealthiest and most powerful principality, Hyderabad, where the Nizam, Mir Osman Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VII, a Muslim ruler who presided over a largely Hindu population, chose independence and hoped to maintain this with an irregular army.
• The Nizam was also beset by the Telangana rebellion, which he was unable to subjugate.
• In November 1947, Hyderabad signed a standstill agreement with the Dominion of India, continuing all previous arrangements except for the stationing of Indian troops in the state. 
• Fearing the establishment of a Communist state in Hyderabad by the rebels and the rise of Muslim nationalist Razakars, India invaded the state in September 1948 following a crippling economic blockade. 
• Subsequently, the Nizam signed an instrument of accession, joining India. It was a military operation in which the Indian Armed Forces invaded the Nizam-ruled princely state, annexing it into the Indian Union.

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