When India gained independence in 1947, the Nizam declared his intention to remain independent, either as a sovereign ruler or by acquiring Dominion status within the British Empire. In order to keep essential trade and supplies flowing, he signed a Standstill Agreement with the Indian Union which surrounded him on all sides. The law and order situation soon deteriorated, with escalating violence between the private Razakar army fighting for continuation of the Nizams rule and the people with the support of the Congress leaders like Swami Ramanand Tirtha and the communists of Telangana, were fighting for joining in the Indian Union. As the violence spiraled out of control with refugees flowing into the coastal Andhra region of the Madras state of India, the Indian Government under Home Minister Sardar Patel initiated a police action titled Operation Polo. On September 16, 1948, Indian Army moved into Hyderabad State from five fronts. Four days later, the Hyderabad forces surrendered. The number of dead was a little over 800[citation needed]. The Police Action achieved success within a matter of days. The Nizam finally surrendered and signed the Instrument of Accession to the Indian Union and Hyderabad was integrated into the Indian Union as a state. In 1955, B. R. Ambedkar, the then chairman of the Drafting Committee of the Indian Constitution, expressed in his report that the city should be designated as the second capital of India after Delhi. He expressed: Hyderabad has all the amenities which Delhi has and it is a far better city than Delhi. It has all the grandeur which Delhi has. Buildings are going cheap and they are really beautiful buildings, far superior to those in Delhi. The only thing that is wanting is a Parliament House which the Government of India can easily build. The state got its first democratic government and the representatives of its 18 million people were admitted to the Constituent Assembly drafting a constitution for free India. For the next eight years, Hyderabad continued as a separate state within the union. On November 1, 1956, the states of India were reorganized on linguistic grounds. Consequently, the terrorities of the State of Hyderabad were divided between newly created Andhra Pradesh, Bombay state (later Maharashtra), and Karnataka. Hyderabad and the surrounding areas were annexed into India, and later to Andhra Pradesh based on Telugu linguistic majority, and Hyderabad became the capital of the new state of Andhra Pradesh. Since 1956, Rashtrapati Nilayam, Hyderabad, has been the second official residence and business office of the President of India.
Posted on: Tue, 27 Jan 2015 14:32:20 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015