Union Minister for Coal and Mines and state BJP president G Kishan Reddy has slammed Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy for yielding to the “politics of appeasement” by celebrating 17 September as “Praja Palana Dinotsavam” (People’s Governance Day) instead of Hyderabad Liberation Day. The Union minister wrote a letter to the Chief Minister turning down his invitation to attend the state government’s programme on 17 September. The central government had recently issued an order to commemorate 17 September as Hyderabad Liberation Day.

In 1948, a year after the country’s Independence, the erstwhile Nizam of Hyderabad signed the instrument of accession to merge his princely state into the Union of India after Operation Polo by the Indian Army defeated the Razakars. This year, the Congress government chose to mark the day by celebrating Praja Palana Dinotsavam to celebrate the ushering in of democracy in Telangana. Incidentally, the Congress also refers to its current government as a “Praja Palana” to distinguish it from the ten years of BRS rule, which it deems feudal.

Chief Minister Revanth Reddy had invited Union Minister for Home Affairs Amit Shah to attend the programme of the state government as a special guest. He also invited Union Ministers Gajendra Singh Sekhawat, G Kishan Reddy, and Bandi Sanjay Kumar to attend the occasion. While thanking him for the invitation, Kishan Reddy criticised the move of the Congress government as appeasement towards the substantial Muslim population in the state. He wrote, “Your intent seems to be to deflect the attention of the people from the core aspects of the struggle which is evident in the very name given to the day. To describe the Liberation of Hyderabad, as just another transition of power from a monarchy to a democracy not only subverts the heroic struggle but also propagates further the politics of appeasement.”

Turning down the invitation, he said, “I cannot be a party to an insincere ritual that blatantly attempts to erase the truth from the people. I sincerely believe though that acknowledging September 17th as a day of immense significance is the first step in your journey to eventually understanding and accepting the truth of liberation.”

BRS leader Dasoju Sravan Kumar accused Revanth Reddy of distorting Telangana’s history for political gain and echoing BJP’s approach that the rule of the Nizam was feudal and tyrannical.