Telangana Celebrates State Merger Day 

Hyderabad: The merger of Hyderabad with the Indian union on this day, September 17, in 1948, was celebrated across Telangana on Sunday, with the unfurling of the national flag at the offices of political parties.

While the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), the main opposition Congress and others celebrated the merger day, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) celebrated it as "liberation day".

It was on this day in 1948 that the erstwhile Hyderabad State merged with the Indian union following the Indian military operation against the Nizam's Army.

Telangana Home Minister Nayani Narasimha Reddy unfurled the tricolour at the TRS headquarters in the presence of Deputy Chief Minister Mahmood Ali and other leaders.

Alleging that the BJP was dividing people on the issue, Narasimha Reddy advised the party to desist from communal politics. The BJP celebrated the day on a large scale with unfurling of the national flag at many places.

At the BJP state office, state president K. Laxman hoisted the tricolor where he targeted the TRS government for going back on its promise to officially celebrate the day. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh is to address a public meeting at Nizamabad later in the day.

Congress state President Uttam Kumar Reddy hoisted the national flag at the party office. He alleged that under the TRS rule, Telangana was witnessing the same repression committed in Hyderabad State and called upon the people to launch another govement.

The BJP and other Hindu right-wing organisations had called for officially celebrating the occasion as "liberation day". Muslim groups have been opposing any celebrations as they claim that Muslims were massacred during the "police action", as the Indian military action was popularly known. — (IANS)