Burgula Narsing Rao, 82, has seen the Indian Army marching into a defiant Hyderabad State, the Razakaar mayhem, the Telangana armed struggle and the stirs for separate Telangana.
“For an average Hindu, it was liberalisation (the Indian government’s annexation of the Nizam-ruled Hyderabad State), a ‘vimochana’ leading to integration. It could have been avoided, but for an adamant Nizam. While it was a merger into the Indian Union, unfortunately it happened by force,” says Rao, 82, a communist at that point.
He says that the integration of Hyderabad State with the Indian Union could have been done in a peaceful manner if the Nizam had little foresight. “Hyderabad was in the heart of India and there was no scope to align with Pakistan. The Majlis rejected it and the Nizam was dilly-dallying. He finally declared it an independent,” says the veteran freedom fighter.
Rao recalls that the government gave many chances to the Nizam to join the Indian Union. Pt Nehru wrote to him and promised protection to him, his family and status, including 40 per cent quota to Muslims in legislature for a population of just 12 per cent.
“The government had exhausted all avenues of peaceful settlement before the march. The armed militia, Razakars, indulged in mayhem. Soebullah, a journalist, was shot dead for writing against the Nizam,” he explains.
Rao also recalled the triumphant march of the Indian Army when people spilled on to the streets to welcomed it.
Next: Excerpts from the Sundarlal ‘confidential’ Report submitted to then PM Jawaharlal Nehru

Excerpts from the Sundarlal ‘confidential’ Report submitted to then PM Jawaharlal Nehru
Eight of the 16 districts in Hyderabad State were hit by communal trouble that followed Police Action. Of these, the worst sufferers were Osmanabad, Gulbarga, Bidar and Nanded.
We can say, at a very conservative estimate, that in the whole Hyderabad State, at least 27,000 to 40,000 people lost their lives during and after the Police Action.
The four affected districts were strongholds of the Razakars and the people of these districts had been the worst sufferers at the hands of the Razakars. In Latur, the home of Kasim Razvi, which had been a big business centre with rich Kuchhi Muslim merchants, the killing continued for over 20 days. Out of a population of about 10,000 Muslims there, we found barely 3,000 still in town.
Rape, abduction of women, loot, arson, desecration of mosques, forcible conversions, seizure of houses and lands, followed or accompanied the killing.
Perpetrators of these atrocities were not limited to those who had suffered at the hands of Razakars. We found definite indications that a number of armed and trained men belonging to a well-known Hindu communal organisation from Sholapur and other towns and also some local and outside communists participated in these riots and in some cases led rioters.
Duty also compels us to add that we had absolutely unimpeachable evidence that there were instances in which men belonging to the Indian Army and also the local police took part in looting.
Molestation and abduction of girls were by no means rare.
However, overall the Indian Army and its officers in Hyderabad generally maintained a high standard of discipline and sense of duty. In General Choudhri we found a man without any tinge of communal prejudice, a firm disciplinarian and a thorough gentleman.
A silver lining to the dark clouds of communal strife. We were given by Muslims, instances in which Hindus had defended and given protection to their Muslim neighbours even at the cost of their own lives. In some professions the fellow feeling was particularly marked. For instance at places Hindu weavers defended Muslim weavers against Hindus. Many Hindus helped in the recovery of abducted Muslim women.
Like the Razakars, the perpetrators of crimes against the Muslims encouraged the belief that they had the backing of the authorities.