Razakars (Hyderabad)

Not to be confused with Razakars (Pakistan).

Razakars

Razakar units being trained
Formation	1938
Founder	Bahadur Yar Jung
Dissolved	1948
Type	Paramilitary volunteer force
Purpose	Support of the Nizam, Sir Osman Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VII, resisting the integration of Hyderabad State into India
Headquarters	Hyderabad
Region served	Hyderabad State
Leader	Bahadur Yar Jung Qasim Razvi
Affiliations	Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen

The Razakars were the paramilitary volunteer force of the nationalist party in the Hyderabad State under the British Raj. Formed in 1938 by the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen leader Bahadur Yar Jung, ^[1] they expanded considerably during the leadership of Qasim Razvi around the time of Indian independence. They were deployed in the cause of maintaining Muslim rule in Hyderabad and resisting integration into India. Described as "enthusiastic" and "disciplined", they attacked and committed atrocities against Hindus and those who were launching an insurrection (Telangana Sayuda Poratam) against the Hyderabad State and the state's feudal lords like doras and deskhmukhs. ^[2]

During the period November 1947–August 1948, when Hyderabad was under a Standstill Agreement with India, the Indian government made repeated demands to the Nizam of Hyderabad to disband the Razakars, which were all turned down. In the eventual armed invasion launched by India, dubbed a 'police action', the Razakars formed the main resistance to the Indian Army. ^[3] The Nizam surrendered and agreed to disband the Razakars. ^[4] Qasim Razvi was initially jailed and then allowed to move to Pakistan where he was granted asylum. ^[5]

History

Qasim Razvi, the leader of Razakars

Razakars during Operation Polo

The Hyderabad State was a kingdom that was ruled by the Nizam. When India became independent in 1947, like all the other Princely states, the Hyderabad State was also given the choice of either joining India or Pakistan. The Nizam wanted neither; he wanted to remain independent. The Nizam finally entered into a standstill agreement with India on 29 November 1947 to maintain the status quo . ^[6]

Hyderabad state had been steadily becoming more theocratic since the beginning of the 20th century. In 1926, Mahmud Nawaz Khan, a retired Hyderabad official, founded the Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (also known as MIM). The MIM became a powerful organization, with a principal focus of marginalizing the political aspirations of Hindus and progressive Muslims through its actions, including the insistence that Hyderabad be declared a Muslim state. ^{[7] [ better source needed ]}

MIM "had its storm troopers in the Razakars who were headed by Kasim Razvi, a Muslim educated at Aligarh University who claimed Hyderabad was a Muslim state and that Muslim supremacy was based upon the right of conquest". ^{[8] [ unreliable source? ]} The Razakars demanded special powers from the Nizam, which they started to misuse and the Nizam had to abide by their dictats. The Nizam sent a delegation to the United Nations to refer the Hyderabad State case to the UN Security Council.

The Razakar militia brutally put down the armed revolts by Communist sympathizers and the peasantry and even eliminated Muslim activists such as journalist Shoebullah Khan who advocated merger with India. ^{[9] [10]} The Razakars terrorised the Hindu population and its sympathizers, causing many to flee to safety into the jungles, uninhabited mud forts, or neighboring Indian provinces. ^[11] The Hyderabad State Congress was banned and its leaders forced to flee to Bezawada or Bombay.^{[ citation needed ]}

Annexation after Operation Polo

Main article: Indian annexation of Hyderabad

Finally, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the Indian Minister for Home Affairs, decided to undertake "police action" in Hyderabad State to force the Nizam's hand. Operation Polo was launched and the Indian Army, led by Major General J. N. Chaudhuri, entered the state from five directions. The Razakars fought briefly against the overwhelming attack by Indian forces before surrendering on 18 September 1948. Mir Laik Ali, the prime minister of the Nizam, and Kasim Razvi were arrested.

On 22 September 1948, the Nizam withdrew his complaint from the UN Security Council. The merger of Hyderabad into the Indian Union was announced. Major General Chaudhuri took over as military governor of Hyderabad and stayed in that position till the end of 1949. In January 1950, M. K. Vellodi, a senior civil servant was made the Chief Minister of the state and the Nizam was given the position of "Raj Pramukh" or "Governor".

The Pandit Sunderlal Committee Report estimated that between 27,000 and 40,000 lost their lives in the violence that ensued the operation. ^[12]

Disbandment

The Razakars were disbanded after the merger of Hyderabad with India and the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen was initially banned—though it was allowed to be rechartered as All India MIM (AIMIM) under new leadership in 1957. Qasim Rizvi was jailed and remained in Indian prisons for almost a decade. After his release, he emigrated to Pakistan. ^[5]

Popular culture

In 2015, Marathi film Razzakar was released. A Telugu film Razakar – Silent Genocide of Hyderabad was released on March 15, 2024, and was simultaneously dubbed into Hindi, Tamil, Kannada, and Malayalam. ^[13]

See also

• Muslim National Guard
• Razakars (East Pakistan)
• Hyderabad State Forces
• Kasim Razvi

References

1. Benichou, From Autocracy to Integration (2000), p. 99.
2. Sherman, The integration of the princely state of Hyderabad (2007), pp. 6–7.
3. Kamat, Border incidents, internal disorder (2007) , p. 220: "A little over 800 people died on both sides during the operation, with the Razakars suffering the majority of the casualties."
4. Kamat, Border incidents, internal disorder (2007), p. 220.
5. "Hate speech not new for Owaisi clan". The Times of India. 10 January 2013.
6. Srinath, Raghavan (2010). War and peace in modern India. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 75. ISBN   9780230242159. OCLC   664322508.
7. Kate, Marathwada under the Nizams 1987, p. 73.
8. Moraes, Frank, Jawaharlal Nehru, Mumbai: Jaico. 2007, p.390
9. Rao, P.R., History and Culture of Andhra Pradesh: From the Earliest Times to 1991, New Delhi: Sterling Publishers, 2012. p. 284
10. Remembering a legend, The Hindu, 22 August 2008; Aniket Alam, A one-man crusade, it was and still is ^{[ dead link ]}, The Hindu, 6 January 2003.
11. Kate, Marathwada under the Nizams 1987, p. 84.
12. Thomson, Mike (24 September 2013). "India's hidden massacre". BBC. Retrieved 26 September 2013.
13. "Razakar: The Silent Genocide Of Hyderabad Movie: Showtimes, Review, Songs, Trailer, Posters, News & Videos |eTimes". The Times of India . Retrieved 29 February 2024.

Bibliography

• Benichou, Lucien D. (2000) [University of Western Australia, 1985], From Autocracy to Integration: Political Developments in Hyderabad State, 1938-1948, Orient Blackswan, ISBN   978-81-250-1847-6
• Kamat, Manjiri N. (2007), "Border incidents, internal disorder and the Nizam's claim for an independent Hyderabad", in Waltraud Ernst; Biswamoy Pati (eds.), India's Princely States: People, Princes and Colonialism, Routledge, pp. 212–224, ISBN   978-1-134-11988-2
• Kate, P. V. (1987), Marathwada under the Nizams, 1724-1948, Mittal Publications, pp. 73–, ISBN   978-81-7099-017-8
• Sherman, Taylor C. (2007), "The integration of the princely state of Hyderabad and the making of the postcolonial state in India, 1948–56", The Indian Economic and Social History Review, 44 (4): 489–516, doi:10.1177/001946460704400404, S2CID   145000228

Further reading

• Hyder, Mohammed (2012). October Coup, A Memoir of the Struggle for Hyderabad. Roli Books. ISBN   978-8174368508.
• Khalidi, Omar (1988). Hyderabad, after the fall. Wichita, Kansas: Hyderabad Historical Society. ISBN   093081102X.
• Menon, V. P. (1956). The Story of Integration of the Indian States. MacMillan.
• Sherman, Taylor C. (2015), Muslim Belonging in Secular India, Cambridge University Press, ISBN   978-1-107-09507-6
• Muralidharan, Sukumar (2014). "Alternate Histories: Hyderabad 1948 Compels a Fresh Evaluation of the Theology of India's Independence and Partition". History and Sociology of South Asia . 8 (2): 119–138. doi:10.1177/2230807514524091. S2CID   153722788.
• Noorani, A. G. (2014). The Destruction of Hyderabad. Hurst & Co. ISBN   978-1-84904-439-4.

External links

• "This day, that year: How Hyderabad became a part of the union of India". News Minute. 16 September 2018.
• Razakars - a "rope around the neck" of the Nizam