It was the Communists who waged the battle on behalf of the people against the atrocities during the Nizam’s rule.
Published Oct 04, 2025 | 3:07 PM ⚊ Updated Oct 04, 2025 | 3:07 PM
Speaking at the RSS’ centenary event in Delhi on 1 October, Modi portrayed the Sangh as a key force in ending the Nizam’s oppression. Credit: x.com/narendramodi, x.com/RSSorg
Synopsis: PM Modi’s claim that the RSS made sacrifices in Hyderabad’s liberation from Nizam’s rule has sparked outrage. Historians and locals refute this, crediting the Communist-led Telangana Armed Struggle and Operation Polo for ending feudal oppression. The RSS had no presence in Telangana during the 1946-48 peasant uprising, with critics accusing Modi of distorting history for political gain.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s claim that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) made “several sacrifices” in the fight against the Nizam’s rule in Hyderabad has ignited fierce backlash.
Historians and locals call it a “blatant lie” that distorts the legacy of Telangana’s liberation struggle which began in 1946 in Nalgonda district, led by the Communist Party of India (CPI).
Speaking at the RSS’ centenary event in Delhi on 1 October, Modi portrayed the Sangh as a key force in ending the Nizam’s oppression. Yet, historical records tell a different story.
The struggle against the Nizam of Hyderabad, Osman Ali Khan, was rooted in the Telangana Armed Struggle. This peasant uprising, led by the CPI, challenged the feudal regime’s brutal exploitation.
Villagers faced the Nizam’s Razakar militia, a private army enforcing the ruler’s will. Thousands died in massacres, forced labour, and land seizures. The CPI organised guerrilla squads, arming peasants to resist Razakar atrocities. Women, too, joined the fight, defending villages against raids.
The Nizam’s rule was a grim era. His feudal system enriched landlords while impoverishing peasants. The Razakars, loyal to the Nizam, targeted Telangana’s rural poor. In 1947, they massacred 22 people in Parkal.
A year later, on 27 August, 1948, they killed 48 villagers in Bairanpalli as retribution for resisting the Nizam’s rule. The murder of journalist Shoebullah Khan by the Nizam’s forces in 1948 further galvanised the rebellion. These acts of defiance came from peasants and Communists, not the RSS.
The struggle’s turning point was Operation Polo in September 1948. Orchestrated by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the Indian Army annexed Hyderabad in a swift five-day campaign. This military action, coupled with years of Communist-led resistance, ended the Nizam’s rule. The RSS, however, had no documented presence in Hyderabad state during this period.
Narendra Modi’s claim that the RSS had made significant sacrifices in the fight against the Nizam thus is a distortion of history.
Writer and policy analyst Mohan Guruswamy said Narendra Modi and the Telangana BJP want the state government should celebrate the “liberation” of Hyderabad from the Nizam’s yoke, something in which the RSS had no role to play.
He said that at the time of India’s Independence, Hyderabad was the largest Indian princely state in terms of population. Its territory of 82,698 sq miles and the 1941 census had estimated its population to be 16.34 million of which over 85 percent were Hindus and Muslims accounting for about 12 percent.
The Hyderabad State Congress agitation coincided with a parallel agitation led by the Arya Samaj and Hindu Mahasabha of VD Savarkar on Hindu civil rights.
“To a large extent the interests of the Congress and Hindu organisations coincided. This put them squarely against the Majlis, who were now led by Bahadur Yar Jung, who was also the founder of the Anjumani Tablighi Islam, a proselytising Muslim organisation whose prime activity was the conversion of Hindus,” he said.
The Congress leadership took more nationalist overtones after the arrival of Swami Ramanand Tirtha on the scene. Tirtha hailed from Gulbarga, and as a young man became a sadhu. He became Hyderabad Congress president in 1946.
“Accession brought in its wake the changes that were sought ever since political activity began in the state. The Muslim elite soon found themselves marginalised and many migrated to Pakistan. A new bureaucratic elite was quickly installed. The Muslim feudal regime was replaced by a government that enjoyed the people’s mandate. RSS had nothing to do with it,” Mohan Guruswamy said.
Political commentator and former professor G Haragopal said: “The RSS would lose its legitimacy if it tries to appropriate as its legacy something in which it had no stake. The struggle against the Nizam was never a religious one. It was the fight of the people against the feudal elements in those days. It was a fight against exploitation and violence let loose by these feudal forces, who were the representatives of the Nizam.”
Professor Haragopal said the RSS was not present in Telangana at that time. It was the Communists who waged the battle on behalf of the people against the atrocities during the Nizam’s rule, like Chakali Ilamma, a peasant farmer who inspired thousands to take up arms against feudal forces. He also pointed out that the Congress too at that time fought against the tyranny.
“Where did RSS come into the picture?” he asked.
He deplored the attempts to derive political mileage by giving a colour to the struggle against feudal elements in those days as one between Hindus and Muslims, and that the RSS had led the struggle.
“The Telangana armed struggle had nothing to do with religion, though Arya Samaj too fought against the oppression. There is no historical evidence that RSS had any role in the struggle,” he said.
“Modi’s claim is a lie,” said Hyderabad-based political analyst N Venugopal.
“RSS had no presence in Telangana at that time. It played no role in the armed struggle. This is an attempt to erase the sacrifices of peasants and Communists who bore the Nizam’s brutality.”
Historical records support this. RSS, founded in 1925, focused on Hindu cultural nationalism elsewhere in India. It avoided direct anti-colonial or anti-feudal battles, including the 1942 Quit India Movement.
Venugopal said the RSS’ absence is further evidenced by the Nizam’s policies. In 1936, he banned six organisations deemed communal—two Hindu and four Muslim.
The RSS was not among them, as it had no foothold in Hyderabad state. During this time, the All India Majlis-e-Ittehad Muslimeen (AIMIM) emerged, pushing aggressive proselytisation of Hindus.
The Arya Samaj, not the RSS, countered this by reconverting those forcibly converted to Islam. By 1938, when the State Congress formed, many Arya Samaj members joined it, and the group’s influence waned, he said.
The closest link to RSS claims involves Arya Samaj leader Narayan Rao Pawar.
Venugopal said: “On 4 December, 1947, Pawar threw a bomb at the Nizam near King Kothi Palace. This solitary act, however, was not tied to the RSS. Only after 1948, when the Nizam’s rule ended, did the RSS enter Telangana. It later claimed the Arya Samaj’s legacy as its own. The RSS arrived late and began rewriting history. They had no part in fighting Razakars or the Nizam’s army.”
Social media, particularly X, has fueled the debate.
TelanganaTruth posted: “RSS fighting the Nizam? Complete fiction. Ask any elder here—it was the CPI and villagers who bled for freedom.”
Another X handle, @HistoryUnraveled, cited declassified documents showing the Hindu Mahasabha, not the RSS, led minor protests.
(Edited by Amit Vasudev)
