The central government on Tuesday announced that September 17 will be celebrated every year as 'Hyderabad Liberation Day', a government statement said.
In a notification, the Union Home Ministry said Hyderabad did not get independence for 13 months after India's independence on August 15, 1947 and was under the rule of the Nizams.
"The region was liberated from Nizam's rule on September 17, 1948 after police action namely 'Operation Polo'. Whereas, there has been a demand from the people of the region that 17th September may be celebrated as Hyderabad Liberation Day," the statement said.
"Now in order to remember the martyrs who liberated Hyderabad and to infuse the flame of patriotism in the minds of youth, the Government of India decided to celebrate 17th day of September every year as 'Hyderabad Liberation Day'", the notification added.
The government's decision to declare September 17 has 'Hyderabad Liberation Day' didn't come all of a sudden as Prime Minister Narendra Modi started a new tradition on the completion of 75 years of Telangana Liberation on September 17, 2022.
PM Modi announced that the Ministry of Culture of the Government of India will celebrate Telangana Liberation Day every year on September 17.
History of 'Hyderabad Liberation Day'
When India gained independence, the Razakars called for Hyderabad state to either join Pakistan or to become a Muslim dominion while resisting its merger with the Union of India, the government statement said.
The people of the region fought valiantly against the atrocities of the Razakars to merge the region into the Union of India.
The Razakars, a private militia, had committed atrocities and defended the erstwhile Nizam rule in Hyderabad. On September 17, 1948, the then Hyderabad state, which was under the rule of the Nizams, was annexed into the Union of India following military action, initiated by the then Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, it added.