Adilabad: Unrest and violence follow Operation Polo’s aftermath

Adilabad: If the Nizam’s rule was marked by the oppression and tyranny of the Razakars, especially the final years of it, some violence also characterised the period immediately after the Liberation of Telangana or Hyderabad’s accession to India.

The initial years of the newly formed State of Hyderabad, however, were not marked by the kind of confusion which is associated with regime change.

Late PK Dave, a well-known bureaucrat from Maharashtra had recalled his stint as an administrator in Nirmal in present-day North Telangana in the initial years of the formation of Hyderabad years in a first-person account in a leading daily in 2001. He was a trainee during the tumultuous years following Operation Polo, the name given to the operation mounted by the Indian Army to throw out the ‘unyielding and belligerent’ Nizam.

Mysterious instances of violence

In his brief reminiscence as the deputy civil administrator at Nirmal, he had mentioned mysterious instances of violence against the local Razakars soon after the end of their rule. He recalled his posting at Nirmal which had come after the crossing of the Indian Army and a ‘civil team’ into the Nizam’s Hyderabad from Chandrapur in Maharashtra on September 13, 1948.

“People were jubilant and greatly relieved that the Razakar terror had ended,” he remembered as he took over in his new capacity. The last collector to have served under Nizam’s administration was allowed to continue but his designation was changed to additional collector.

Among the interesting incidents that he recalled was the one which mentioned about five people from the present-day Khanapur, which was a Paigah jagir then, being thrown into River Godavari which was in spate. The victims were apparently Razakars from a village along the banks of Godavari and were being punished by locals for their tyranny.

A revenge sage

Late G Gopal Reddy, a teacher belonging to Parimandal village in present-day Mamda mandal used to emotionally talk about the reign of terror under the Razakars. He also never forgot to mention the incident about villagers taking their revenge against local Razakars.

Quoting Gopal Reddy, his son Karunakar Reddy remembered the particularly vicious Razakar duo based at Nirmal known famously as the Abdulla brothers. Soon after the entry of the Indian Army, which had established its camp at Kankapur, the brothers were hunted down by the villagers from Parimandal and one of them was executed equally brutally while the other one managed to escape.

“Villagers found them hiding in the forest nearby. One of the Razakar who was caught was tied to the yoke of a bullock cart, raised him in air and was fired upon,” he remembered his father recounting the incident.

Having come to know about the Godavari incident, Dave directed the Nirmal DSP to register a case and investigate. Coming from the civil administration, this was not liked by the SP who complained about it to the then-Adilabad collector.

While interacting over this matter with Dave, the intrigued collector too talked about an incident which said that 20 persons had been thrown into a flooded Penganga closer to the district headquarters.

This was also evidently an instance of locals indulging in retribution against Razakars. The number of the ‘victims’ was much larger in this case perhaps because of the higher presence of Razakars in the district headquarters.