Junagadh: The torch on BJP’s dark politics behind Liberation Day

A chapter from the immediate post-Independence days of India has been conveniently tucked away into oblivion

Hyderabad: A chapter from the immediate post-Independence days of India has been conveniently tucked away into oblivion as the Bharatiya Janata Party begins its 2023 assembly election preparations in the form of its Hyderabad Liberation Day celebrations.

The much hyped event, in which many see an attempt to trigger religious divide in the State, has been countered by the Telangana government with its decision to observe September 17 as National Integration Day and tackle the communal bogey that the BJP has resurrected around the day.

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Amidst all this, the BJP’s double standards have also been exposed, because the party has conveniently been ignoring Junagadh, a town in Gujarat that was integrated into India much before Hyderabad.

The tiny mountain town in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home State, once an eminent princely state in pre-Independence India, has found no mention anywhere in any BJP leader’s speech. No major celebrations were announced there for the past several years.

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and BJP do not even talk about Junagadh at all, unlike how the combine has repeatedly targeted the Hyderabad story, the agenda behind which is now becoming clearer.

Junagadh’s liberation saw much more tension than other States as Muhammad Mahabat Khanji III, the Nawab, was adamant to join Pakistan till the last minute. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and VP Menon had tried different approaches including friendly advice.

When Pakistan refused to reverse its acceptance of the accession, Patel sent the Indian Army to annex the princely State on November 1, 1947. On November 7, Junagadh’s court, facing collapse, invited the Government of India to take over the State’s administration. The Government of India agreed. A plebiscite was held soon during which 99 per cent of Junagadh’s people chose India over Pakistan.

Back to the BJP’s deceptive silence, Modi even while installing the massive statue of Patel in Gujarat, calling it The Statue of Unity’, did not talk about Junagadh at all, that too even when Patel was a key figure in the integration of Junagadh, Hyderabad, and Kashmir into the Union.

The Telangana government’s stance, on the other hand, has to talk integration, maintaining communal harmony and keeping the people united, as against the BJP’s approach of using historic events to create a religious rift among Hyderabad’s peace loving people.