Hyderabad

The Nizam of Hyderabad wanted independence, not accession. This made Hyderabad the most difficult of the princely states to integrate. The story of its merger is a story of popular revolt, brutal repression, and finally, military intervention.

Hyderabad was the largest princely state in India. It was not a coastal territory but was entirely surrounded by Indian land — a landlocked giant in the heart of the country. Parts of the old Hyderabad state today lie in Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh.

Its ruler, the Nizam, was one of the richest men in the world. He refused to join either India or Pakistan and instead wanted Hyderabad to exist as an independent sovereign state. While negotiations with the Indian government dragged on, the Nizam signed a Standstill Agreement with India in November 1947. This agreement was meant to maintain the existing arrangements for one year, buying time while talks continued.

Inside the state, however, a popular movement against the Nizam’s rule was gathering force. The peasantry, especially in the Telangana region, had suffered under the Nizam’s oppressive feudal system and rose in revolt. Women, who had faced the worst of this oppression, joined the movement in large numbers. The city of Hyderabad itself was the nerve centre of this uprising. The Communists and the Hyderabad Congress were at the forefront of the movement.

The Nizam’s response was brutal. He unleashed a para-military force called the Razakars on the people. The Razakars committed atrocities with no restraint. They murdered, maimed, raped, and looted, targeting non-Muslims in particular. Their actions were communal in nature and created a reign of terror. …