Published Sep 17, 2026 | 3:38 PM ⚊ Updated Sep 17, 2026 | 3:42 PM
The remarks came ahead of Thursday, 17 September, which marks 78 years since the princely State’s annexation by the Indian Union.
Synopsis: Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy’s praise for the Nizam-era administration has triggered a row, with the BJP accusing the Congress and BRS of romanticising Nizam rule. The Chief Minister’s remarks came ahead of Thursday, 17 September, which marks 78 years since the princely State’s annexation by the Indian Union.
Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy’s praise for the administration of the erstwhile Nizamate of Hyderabad in the Assembly on Wednesday, 16 September, has triggered controversy, with the BJP accusing the Congress and the BRS of romanticising Nizam rule to appease the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM).
Revanth said that, barring its final decade, the Nizam-era administration was among the better-run regimes in history. He cited how funds from the then land revenue system were used to finance roads, irrigation works, factories, schools, hospitals and several landmark structures that still stand in Hyderabad today.
The remarks came ahead of Thursday, 17 September, which marks 78 years since the princely State’s annexation by the Indian Union.
The BJP has dubbed it “Liberation Day”; the Congress government “Praja Palana Dinotsavam,” or People’s Governance Day; while the BRS, during its decade in power, called it “Telangana National Integration Day.”
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Union Minister for Coal and Mines G Kishan Reddy invoked Komaram Bheem, Doddi Komuraiah and Chakali Ailamma, and asked why they had rebelled if the Nizam was so great.
Addressing an official event organised by the Central government on Thursday, he likened the violence perpetrated by the Razakars, the paramilitary wing of the Majlis, to the Nazis, and said that their atrocities must be remembered in the same way Germany continues to remember the Nazi atrocities, as a warning for future generations.
He maintained that when the BJP comes to power in Telangana, “the liberation day” would be celebrated across the State in a grand manner.
Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Bandi Sanjay used a communal dog whistle. He said that a DNA test must be conducted for people who praise the Nizam to determine if they were really from India or elsewhere.
He asked who was responsible for the Parkal massacre—where 22 protesters were killed by the Razakars during the suppression of the popular movement for India to annex Hyderabad—and said that it was a shame that Nizam rule was being glorified by Telangana leaders.
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State Transport and BC Welfare Minister Ponnam Prabhakar hit back at the BJP leaders and reminded them that neither the BJP nor its ideological parent, the RSS, was part of the freedom struggle or the fight against the Nizam.
He noted that it was the Congress and the Communists who led the people’s movements.
The Minister also said the tricolour should not be reduced to a political prop. He pointed out that the State had already hoisted the flag at every collectorate, government office and school across Telangana, with the Chief Minister and Ministers doing the same at official functions, and rejected suggestions that only the BJP honours the occasion.
He asked why the BJP government at the Centre does not mark the merger of Junagadh and Jammu and Kashmir with the Union with the same enthusiasm, and recalled that the RSS did not hoist the national flag at its Nagpur headquarters until 2002.
He then asked what funds the Centre actually released for Telangana’s development, and when veterans of the Telangana armed struggle would finally be recognised and pensioned as freedom fighters.
(Edited by Dese Gowda with inputs from Sreshta Ladegaam)
