Thursday, September 6, 2018

Flight from Bedar when Hyderabad Deccan fell to Indian Invasion in 1948

This post describes my maternal family's flight from Bedar Hyderabad at the time of the annexation of the Nizam-ruled princely state of Hyderabad Deccan by Indian forces in September 1948. 
See podcast of my mother's sister Arsalan Khatoon who was among the group that had to run empty handed with her mother, brothers and sisters. 
https://soundcloud.com/citizensarchive/arsalan-khatoon-podcast

"Operation Polo is the code name of the Hyderabad "police action" in September 1948, by the newly independent India against the Hyderabad State.  It was a military operation in which the Indian Armed Forces invaded the Nizam-ruled princely state, annexing it into the Indian Union. 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. In 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, Osman Ali Khan, Asif Jah VII, a Muslim ruler who presided over a largely Hindu population, chose independence and hoped to maintain this with an irregular army recruited from the Muslim aristocracy, known as the Razakars." [Wikipedia]

See also:

at
Labels: , ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)