Asaf Jahi dynasty: War of succession heats up
Monday saw two rival groups come face to face at a press conference claiming to be the ‘real sahibzadagan’ (progeny).
Hyderabad: No dynasty, no crown and no ruler. Yet the war of succession refuses to die down in the Nizamate. The coronation of Azmath Jah as the 9th Nizam after the death of his father, Nawab Mukarrum Jah Bahadur, last month has become a bone of contention with different groups laying claim to the royal title.
Monday saw two rival groups come face to face at a press conference claiming to be the ‘real sahibzadagan’ (progeny). There was an exchange of heated words before the warring groups dispersed. Much before the press conference commenced at the Mediaplus auditorium, police arrived on the scene following security sought by a family member fearing disturbances from the rival group. The cops left after they were told that it was just a family dispute and that there would be no trouble.
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Dressed in the traditional sherwanis and Rumi topis, the family members led by Sahebzada Mir Hashmat Ali Khan, president, Majlis-e-Sahebzadagan Society, pledged loyalty and solidarity with Azmath Jah and hailed his anointment as the 9th Nizam. “He is the rightful heir to the throne and deserved it. Those not related to the Nizam family cannot claim this position”, said members of the Sarf-e-Khas Trust, House of Asaf Jahi dynasty.
Quoting a 1950 deed of the Trust, Mir Zaheeruddin Ali Khan, Trust general secretary, said if a sahebzada marries a girl from a non-sahebzada family, their child will be considered among the sahebzadagan. But if a sahebzada girl marries someone from the non-sahebzada family, their children will not be counted among the sahebzadagan. “And it is exactly the case with Nawab Raunaq Yar Khan, who was designated as the 9th Nizam the other day”, he said.
Stating that the Nizam legacy continues with sons and not daughters as has been the case right since the first Nizam, Mir Qamaruddin Ali Khan, he said the Society was working for the collective benefit and well being of the family.
Zaheeruddin Ali Khan further stated that the Majlis-e-Sahibzadagan had requested the 9th Nizam for a piece of land to set up a residential colony for the Asaf Jahi family. Prince Azmath Jah, promised to donate Rs. 5 crore but we requested him to sanction Rs. 20 crore, he said.
Even as the Society members were winding up the press conference, a few members from the rival group along with a couple of bouncers walked in. Led by one Nizam Ali Khan, this group contested the claim of the other group and said their society was set up in 1932 and was renewed in 2020. Some people who are after posts have formed a fake society when they are not even sahebzadas. He criticised their opponents for using the name of Majlis-e-Sahibzadagan to mislead people. “We will take legal action against them as we have all the documents to prove the charge”, he said.
Earlier in the day, the Nizam Ali Khan group held a press conference elsewhere and showed some documents to claim that they were the rightful members of the Majlis-e-Sahibzadagan Society.
Meanwhile as the rift in the Nizam family widens, Prince Azmath Jah, who is in Turkey, is believed to have told a confidant of his in Hyderabad to just ‘ignore’ the whole thing. The young prince who came with the mortal remains of his father left Hyderabad along with his mother on January 29
