Tuesday 15 August 2017

The unsung heroes of freedom struggle: Hyderabadis who defied the Nizam to fight against the British rule

As India turns 70, here are a few tales of heroes lost in history


Not many know that the free dom movement against the Brit ish rule was quite strong in the princely state of Hyderabad. The Nizam was a `faithful ally' of the British and always ensured that voices of dissent against the foreign rule was curbed with an iron hand.But braving the Nizam's wrath, hundreds joined the Indian National Congress and mounted an attack against the British. Even long before the Congress was formed in 1885, Hyderabad had its own freedom heroes in the form of Turrebaz Khan and Moulvi Alauddin, who led an armed fight against the British Residency .
According to historian and author Syed Naseer Ahmed, Hyderabadis stood by Mahatma Gandhi, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Moulana Azad and Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. If one Hyderabadi (Abid Hasan Safrani) had coined the most patriotic slogan, Jai Hind, another (Shoebullah Khan) fell dead to the bullets of Razakars.Yet another (Mir Akbar Ali Khan) preferred to fight for the merger of Hyderabad with Indian Union to holding the coveted post of the prime minister. He turned down the offer of prime ministership.
Naseer Ahmed, author of The Immortals, a pictorial guide on Muslim freedom fighters, told TOI that “There were revolutionary poets and women fighters too in Hyderabad. The princely state had also sent one of the first freedom fighters (Moulvi Alauddin) to the notorious cellular jail in the Andaman,“ he adds. The fight against the British rule began in Hyderabad on July 17, 1857 and continued for 91 years till the merger of Hyderabad with Indian Union on September 17, 1948.
As Independent India turns 70, many Hyderabadi heroes, who changed the course of freedom movement in Hyderabad, continue to remain unsung.

Mother's Care

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Syed Akbar in an island in river Godavari with Papikonda hills in the background

Recognition by World Vegetable Centre

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Under the shade of Baobab tree

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Convention on Biodiversity

Convention on Biodiversity
Syed Akbar at the 11th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity