ASI denies permission to hoist National Flag on Hyd Merger Day
An attempt by the Telangana BJP leaders and workers to force their way into the historic Golkonda Fort to hoist National Flag on the occasion of Hyderabad Merger Day was foiled by the State Police as the Archaeological Survey of India had refused permission for any such programme on the fort premises on Wednesday.
Marking the 66th anniversary of Hyderabad’s merger into Indian Union, the BJP leaders and workers had gathered at Bapu Ghat in langar House, from there they tried to march towards the fort.
Nearly three thousand BJP workers — led by State president G Kishan Reddy and member of Parliament Bandaru Dattatreya — tried to march into the fort but police had cordoned off the area.
The BJP, which has been demanding that the State Government should officially celebrate the day as Hyderabad liberation Day, marking the end of Nizam’s rule, this time chose the Fort to hoist the National Flag as the Telangana Chief Minister had hoisted the flag at the same place on Independence Day.
After the merger the Nizam domain was divided in to three parts and the Marahati and Kannada speaking areas were merged with Maharashtra and Karnataka.
While the two State Governments celebrate the day officially, Andhra Pradesh has always avoided any such celebrations. All the successive Congress and the Telugu Desam Government — over the last six decades — had rejected the idea of any celebrations pointing out that it was not an independence day but only a merger of Hyderabad in to the Indian Union,like many other princely States.
G Kishan Reddy, who earlier hoisted the National Flag at the party office lashed out at Telangana Government and the Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Reddy. “Their refusal to officially celebrate the day is unfortunate. let KCR decide whether he wants Razakars or the people of Telangana”, Reddy said.
Secunderabad MP Bandaru Dattatreya also led a group to pay tributes at the memorial of Telangana Martyrs near the State Assembly and demanded that the Government should celebrate the day.
All the major political parties including ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti, Congress , TDP and others hoisted the national flag at their respective offices. TDP President and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu unfurled the tri color at the party office.
Menawhile, following the protest, local police had to resort to lathi charge to disperse the crowd and took the senior leaders in to custody and shifted them to Goshamahal police station.
September 17 is always marred by tension and political bickering as the BJP always raise the demand for official celebrations. Interestingly, some Congress leaders and TDP have also joined the demand though while in power these parties were also averse to any official celebrations.