Powered by

Home Top Stories

Hyderabad liberation history: What was Operation polo?

What was Operation polo; 13 September 1948, this is the date when the Indian Army carried out 'Operation Polo'. The purpose of this military

By Ground report
New Update
What was Operation polo

Ground Report | New Delhi: What was Operation polo; 13 September 1948, this is the date when the Indian Army carried out 'Operation Polo'. The purpose of this military action was to end the Nizam's rule in Hyderabad and merge his princely state into the Indian Union. In fact, after Partition, the Nizam of Hyderabad, Osman Ali Khan Asaf Jah VII, refused to join India and Pakistan.

What was Operation polo

Operation Polo was the code name for the police operation in September 1948 in which the Indian Armed Forces invaded the state of Hyderabad and annexed the state to the Indian Union. Operation Polo was led by Interior Minister Sardar Bhai Bhai Patel and Major JN Chaudhry.

The Indian Army, led by the Commander of the Southern Command, Lieutenant General EN Goddard, opened up fronts against Hyderabad from various directions. In the west, their focus was on Vijayawada, while in the east, their focus was on Shulapur.

ALSO READ: Hindus living in Kashmir are not all ‘Kashmiri Pandits’: High court

The Nizam was also getting the support of Pakistan. In such a situation, Sardar Patel ordered military action, which he called 'police action'. The reason behind doing this was that as soon as the military action was called, the rest of the countries of the world would have accused India that India has attacked any other country.

As a result, the army pursued the Communists, leading to the imprisonment of more than 4,000 CPI workers by 1951. However, the issue was resolved after the CPI decided to abolish the struggle on October 21, 1951 (Telangana People's Struggle and its Lesson: P. Sandriya) and participated in the first general elections.

In addition, the state is said to have had about 200,000 volunteers commanded by Qasim Rizvi. Nothing could be said with certainty about their numbers as they were all untrained people who were showing loyalty to the Hyderabad system.

As soon as the order was received, 36,000 soldiers of India entered the princely state of Hyderabad. This operation started on 13 September lasted for five days and on 17 September the Nizam of Hyderabad Osman Ali Khan surrendered.

Integration of Hyderabad into India

But there is much more to police action, given that at least 27,000 to 40,000 Muslims have been killed in targeted sectarian killings in the state of Hyderabad. So what started it all? The problem originally arose after Mir Usman Ali Khan, the last ruler of the Hyderabad state, wanted to be independent and not join the Indian Union. Here is the whole sequence of events.

After independence, Usman Ali Khan's government and the Indian Union began negotiations, later insisting on allowing the state of Hyderabad, which was besieged by India, to remain independent. The last system, on the other hand, did its best to do just that. As a result, the two sides signed a one-year 'Standal Agreement' on November 1, 1947, to discuss the issue.

ALSO READ: Female student, prevented from taking the exam due to wearing shorts

Nawab Najaf Ali Khan, who belongs to the Nizam Hyderabad family and is ranked 36th in terms of inheritance, says the wounds of the September 17, 1948 attack are deep and still fresh. It was not Independence Day but the day of the massacre, the effects of which are still felt today.

The Indian government calls the Hyderabad attack a 'police action', also known as 'operation polo'. According to the Indian government, the police action was inevitable, but Hyderabad-based scholar Syed Ali Hashmi wrote a book in response entitled "The attack could have been avoided and avoided."

In his book 'Innovative Innovation: 1948 Hyderabad', he wrote that in India, the 'ruling group, the rulers of India, wanted to integrate a developed state (Hyderabad) into India at all costs.'

The state of richest man in the world

This is the same Hyderabad which was called the most prosperous state of India at that time. Which was full of treasures and was called the cradle of civilization and culture. The Ganga-Jamni civilization was actually inhabited here. It was a confluence of different civilizations. 

Its natives were speakers of different languages, if a large section had Telugu, the other spoke Kannada, while in one area Marathi was spoken and all of them were associated with Urdu, which became the official language of the state in the late 19th century. The language was declared.

You can connect with Ground Report on FacebookTwitter, and Whatsapp, and mail us at [email protected] to send us your suggestions and writeups.