@rezangahir Thanks for sharing, great stuff.
Just need to clarify few things.
(i) The Razakhars are called "private". This suggest that they were operating without the sanction of the legal government of Hyderabad. Was that the case? To me they appear to be uniformed and look more like
auxiliary force like say a reserve units or homeguard. Maybe even hastily prepared civil defence force. As long as they have official sanction of the government they cannot be called "private". That would only apply to force raised, operating and in conflict with the legal authority of the said state.
(ii) What was the strength of the invading Indian Army. In particular do you have any idea of numbers, units taking part in this invasion?
Thanks.
sir the sources which i came across suggests ...
1.35000 Infantry of indian army
2. An armoured regiment
while according to The Prime Minister of Hyderabad,
Mir Laik Ali, boasted that ‘If the Indian government takes any action against Hyderabad, 1
00,000 men/militia/razakar are ready to fight.
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By K E Eapen
Let me recall two stories reflecting his arrogance of power. As a young man who had to walk from the City’s Abid road to Narayanaguda YMCA, where I stayed, meant negotiating King Kothi Palace Road. All walkers had to remove footwear before the palace gates as policeman on duty would not want to disturb the ruler; Aala Hazrat Araam Karrchehain (His Majesty is resting). The other tale was his daily visit to the mosque across river Mussi in the Charminar area. Usually the long route was watered and closed for traffic, so that the Nizam’s Sedan car could zoom through.
As the Indian army was rolling towards Hyderabad, my Bengalee friends (Roy and Sen Gupta) and I cycled to Begumpet to welcome the unit. None else was in the streets. Rasakars had blown up many bridges. The Madras Sappers and Miners were quick in repairing them so that the army battalions could proceed to Hyderabad
. The total strength of the Indian forces was around 35,000 compared to Hyderabad’s 40,000 under Major General El Edroos, the Nizam’s Commander in Chief. He was a tall and majestic Arab. He left the state before long. Rasakars who went to fight numbered about 10,000. To the Indian army’s causality of 10 or so, some 1400 of Razvi men perished along with Hyderabad’s 807 during the five-day “Operation Polo”.
Choudhuri rode into Hyderabad as the head of an armoured column on Sept 17. The Nizam went on air and asked his forces to ceasefire by 5:00 pm. He banned the Rasakars and allowed Union Troops into Secundarabad and Bolarum. Razvi was arrested on the 19th. Choudhuri took over the state as Military Governor. On Nov 24, he handed over control to a civilian Governor following Nizam’s accession to the Indian Union. Razvi had the support of Pakistan and had melted into that nation, India overlooking his departure.
This nostalgic wandering on the dim, uneven murky memory lane has to end after the mention of stumbling on royalty. Muffakom, the grandson of the Nizam wanted my help to set up a world class institute of mass communication in Hyderabad. I went twice to Hyderabad with a team of experts, but the project fell through as his advisers told the prince that it was too expensive and too ambitious for Indian needs of the day.
On another occasion, while in Hyderabad, Muffakom invited me to the devadi (palace) for dinner. He was apologetic that he could not provide a good meal. All his good cooks had migrated to Saudi Arabia, he said. The prince was trying to be too polite. Rare fruits, adorned the dinner table. Food was in plenty, excellent, and we ended with the famous “double ka meetta” of the City. He lives mostly in London these days.
This was a story which had three turns — walking near the palace on King Kothi road with shoes in hand, the breath-stopping five day operation polo, and sitting at table with the royal family. History makes us act different roles with the changing tides.