Amit Shah To Attend Sunday's "Telangana Liberation Day" Event In Hyderabad

Union Home Minister Amit Shah would attend the Telangana 'liberation day' celebration in Hyderabad on September 17, Union Minister G Kishan Reddy said on Tuesday.

The event would be organised by the Centre at the Parade Ground.

The then Hyderabad State merged with the Indian Union on September 17, 1948 and the Centre had conducted an official function here last year to mark the liberation day which was attended by Shah.

"As per the word given in that meeting last year, Amit Shah is coming to Hyderabad this year also. We are conducting (the event) in the same ground," Mr Reddy, who is also Telangana BJP president, told reporters.

He said another function would be organised at the Rashtrapati Nilayam in Hyderabad, one of the Presidential Retreats, and President Droupadi Murmu would virtually attend the event.

Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan would also attend the programme, he said.

During his visit, Mr Shah would pay homage to the soldiers who fought against the Nizam's army and Razakars (armed supporters of Nizam rule) and unfurl the national flag at the Parade Ground event.

Mr Shah will receive guard of honour from the personnel of paramilitary forces before giving an address, he said.

Mr Reddy alleged that the Nizam sought to "Islamise" his territory and the 'Razakars' committed atrocities against Hindus during the Nizam rule.

He flayed the previous Congress and the incumbent BRS regimes for not celebrating the 'liberation day' (September 17) officially by the government.

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao had severely attacked the then Congress Chief Minister K Rosaiah in undivided Andhra Pradesh for not officially celebrating the day but he did not conduct a government function after coming to power in Telangana under the influence of AIMIM, Mr Reddy said.

"KCR ji is an opportunist who did not implement the promise (made by him)," he said.

The chief minister was perturbed after the Centre announced last year that it would organise an official function to celebrate the day and the former had then announced that the day would be observed as 'national integration day', he said.

"How can it be integration day? Are the sacrifices of freedom fighters not true? Is it not true that men, women and youth protected their lives using chilly powder and others (for self-defence during the Nizam rule)," he asked.

He accused the Congress of suppressing history regarding the "liberation" of erstwhile Hyderabad State when it was in power.

Mr Reddy also attacked the chief minister for not attending the celebration organised by the Centre on September 17 last year. KCR did not attend last year as "AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi did not give him permission", he alleged.

The Union Tourism Minister further said the event is not a religious issue but an issue of history and the aspirations of those who fought against the Razakars.

September 17, the day the erstwhile princely state of Hyderabad merged with the Indian Union in 1948, is interpreted differently by different parties in Telangana.

Describing September 17, 1948 as 'Liberation Day', the BJP has been fighting for its official celebration for about two decades now, while the ruling BRS celebrates the day as 'national integration day'.

The Asaduddin Owaisi-led AIMIM said it would organise a bike rally and public meeting on September 17 and celebrate 'national integration day'.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)