A new movie being produced by a BJP leader in Telangana is yet another challenge, among others, to the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) which is in alliance with the Hyderabad-based Muslim political party, the AIMIM – All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (English: All India Council for Unity of Muslims).
The movie seeks to unravel historical facts for the present generation and help them understand the theme of Muslim Nationalism that unleashed a spate of violence against Hindus in pre-Independence Hyderabad State. The movie will showcase unsavory facts about the “razakars” and the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM), the pre cursor of present day AIMIM, led by Asaduddin Owaisi.
Politically, the BJP has emerged to be the strongest contender to K. Chandrashekar Rao’s incumbent TRS party in Telangana. The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the Congress have of late, been marginalized in the fight for political relevance and supremacy in Telangana state, where it appears to be a tooth and nail contest, predominantly between the BJP and the ruling TRS in the upcoming 2023 elections. The stakes are high for the BJP which is working hard to gain a foothold in the Telugu states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. The medium of movies with historical themes and underlying political implications, is not new to the Telugu states. The BJP appears to be cashing in on the popularity of the film medium in both states, with the help of the highly successful Telugu Film Industry (Tollywood) which has churned out several pan-Indian block busters like Bahubali and RRR.
The movie ‘Razakar’, being shot at a studio on the outskirts of Hyderabad, tells the story of the oppression, humiliation, atrocities and massacre of common people of Hyderabad state, mostly Hindus, at the hands of the Razakars militia, under the last Nizam.
Produced by BJP leader Gudur Narayana Reddy, the movie will attempt to educate citizens on the facts of fairly recent history, the full details of which may be unknown to the public, except for a quick accounting of it in Andhra and Telanagana state history text books, which briefly talk about the subject but stop short of divulging the horrors and the suffering of mostly Hindu subjects of the former Hyderabad State, before its merger with the Republic of India.
Who Are The Razakars?
The Razakars were the paramilitary “militia” force of the Muslim Nationalist party, the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen(MIM) in the Nizam’s Hyderabad State, during the British Raj and for a short while after Indian Independence, before its eventual merger with India on account of Vallabhai Patel’s firm ultimatum and military action.
The MIM was founded and shaped by Nawab Mahmood Nawaz Khan Qiledar of Hyderabad State in 1927 with a cultural and religious manifesto. It shunned integration with India and instead, advocated to set up a “Muslim dominion” in India. In 1938, Bahadur Yar Jung was elected president of the MIM and expressed his desire to see Hyderabad State, separate from the rest of India, as an Islamic state with Sharia Law in force. Bahadur Yar Jung was one of the most admired leaders of the Pakistan Movement and a friend of Mohammed Iqbal and Muhammad Ali Jinnah, both of whom were instrumental in the idea of a separate muslim nationhood and the creation of Pakistan.
After the untimely death of Bahadur Yar Jang in 1944, Qasim/Kasim Razvi (Syed Mohammed Qasim Razvi) was elected leader of the MIM and the Razakars expanded considerably under his leadership. Kasim/Qasim Razvi was a graduate of Aligarh Muslim University who claimed Hyderabad to be an independent Muslim state on the basis of Muslim supremacy which in turn, was based upon the right of Conquest.
During Qasim’s leadership from 1944 to1948, the Razakars were deployed in the cause of maintaining Muslim rule in Hyderabad and resisting integration into India. Described as “enthusiastic” and “undisciplined”, they targeted mostly Hindus and some Muslims whose loyalty was in question. They also fought communists who were launching a revolution in the state. Qasim Razvi, MIM and the Razakars wanted a Muslim country to be carved out of Hyderabad as “South Pakistan”.The Razakars operated as “storm troopers” for the MIM and were essentially Muslim separatists who advocated the continuation of the Nizam’s rule, while trying to convince him to accede to Pakistan. When accession to Pakistan proved impossible, owing to the distance of Hyderabad from Pakistan, Razvi encouraged the Nizam to take a hardline stance on its assertion for independence and muslim statehood. He ordered the Razakars to resist the accession of Hyderabad to the newly formed Government of India. Qasim Razvi even traveled to Delhi and had a stormy meeting with the then Indian Home Minister, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. He is quoted to have said “Death with the sword in hand, is always preferable to extinction by a mere stroke of the pen”, prompting the Indian government to call him “the Nizam’s Frankenstein monster”. Razvi, has been described as a religious Muslim fanatic who “insisted on the right of Muslims to enslave the Hindu”.
The Razakars terrorised the Hindu population and its sympathizers, causing many to flee to the safety of the jungles, un inhabited mud forts or neighboring Indian provinces. The Razakar militia, brutally put down any armed revolts by Communist sympathizers and the peasantry and even eliminated Muslim activists such as journalist Shoebullah Khan, who advocated Hyderabad’s merger with India.
Finally after several diplomatic efforts, Sardar Vallabhai Patel, the then Indian Minister for Home Affairs, decided to undertake “police action” in Hyderabad State to coerce the Nizam to agree to Hyderabad’s merger with India. Operation “Polo” was launched (September 13-18, 1948) 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 Qasim Razvi were arrested.
After the Indian annexation of Hyderabad State in September 1948, the Razakars were disbanded and the MIM was initially banned, although it was later allowed to be rechartered in 1957, as the All India MIM (AIMIM) under new leadership. Qasim Razvi was jailed and served in Indian prisons for almost a decade. He was released from prison on the undertaking, that he would migrate to Pakistan within forty-eight hours of his release. He agreed to seek asylum in Pakistan, as a condition of his release. Razvi is reported to have died in Pakistan in 1970, in relative obscurity.
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