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West Bengal: BJP booth worker killed in scuffle with TMC miscreants during flag hoisting ceremony on Independence Day

OpIndia Staff
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West Bengal: BJP booth worker killed in scuffle with TMC miscreants during flag hoisting ceremony on Independence Day

During the flag hoisting on the event of India’s 74th Independence Day in Hooghly in West Bengal, a clash reportedly broke out between the Trinamool Congress and the BJP workers in Khanakul in the Arambagh subdivision. The scuffle between the two parties, followed by bombing, led to the death of a BJP booth worker named Sudarshan Pramanik.

As per the report, the chaos between the BJP and the TMC ensued during the flag hoisting ceremony at 9:30 am on Saturday. Both the parties had hoisted the tricolour in adjacent locations. The scuffle began after a verbal confrontation took place between the leaders of the two parties. This also led to the bombing in the area.

Sudarshan Pramanik was declared dead on arrival

During the fight, a BJP worker, Sudarshan Pramanik, was gravely injured with a sharp weapon, after which he was rushed to the Primary health centre in Natibpur block. He was declared dead on arrival by the doctors at the hospital. This led to a surcharged political environment in the Daulatchak area with the BJP supporters demanding action for the death of one of its workers. The Khanakul police have now initiated a probe into the matter.

Another BJP worker, block general secretary Smarajit Samanta was seriously injured in the attack. He has been admitted at the hospital.

Sudarshan Pramanik was a booth worker for BJP at booth number 246. BJP’s Arambagh district president Biman Ghosh said, “when our workers had assembled for hoisting the flag, they were attached by the miscreants from Trinamool. The attackers have killed our booth worker Sudarshan Pramanik. Apart from him another worker has been admitted in critical condition.

BJP condemned the ‘murder’ of its worker

The official Twitter handle of BJP Bengal uploaded a picture of the deceased Sudarshan Pramanik and wrote, “Sudarshan Pramanik, booth worker from Arambagh was brutally murdered while flag hoisting on Independence Day. Suspects are from the ruling party who is on a killing spree even on Independence Day. We must take a pledge for a MamataMuktoBengal (Bengal free from Mamata Banerjee) today.”

Why my little Haryana village celebrated Diwali on the 5th of August

Sharad Yadav
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Why my little Haryana village celebrated Diwali on the 5th of August

My roots lie in my ancestral village located in South Haryana. No matter where I go, a flash of memories of the green fields, canopies of trees, chirping of sparrows, synchronized screams of peacocks, my grandmother feeding cows and buffalos have always evoked a magically comforting effect on me. Whenever I call my family members in my village, if I hear the scream of the peacock in the background, I feel as if I have been transported back to my roots.  

Late evening on the 5th of August when I made a video call to my 17-year-old cousin residing in my village, I could see several glowing Diyas (earthen lamp) in his house. I asked him the reason for lighting the diyas and he innocently replied “Today Ram Mandir Bhoomi Pujan is there” and thus, every house in the village is lighting at least one diya.” He asked me how many diyas I had lit – one or five?

I knew very well about Bhoomi Poojan on 5th August. Here, in my flat at Bangalore, I was watching the News channels debating the issue endlessly. They discussed whether it was appropriate to conduct Bhoomi Pujan amid COVID-19, Muharat during the Rahu Kal, who is there and who should be on the invitee list, the grandness of the Pujan, the colour of clothes of Ram Lalla, secular fabric of our country and whether chants of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ was intimidating to Muslims.  

Once I was done with the call, I wondered whether were are getting a little too absorbed in this era of 24 hours news updates, live debates, questioning and cross-questioning. Are we in the bargain, distancing ourselves from simplistic and obvious reception of auspicious event like the celebration being done in my village? My mind took me to a nostalgic trip down memory lane where I could again smell the soil of my village. 

In my childhood, the trend of going on vacation to new cities was totally unheard of. For us, summer vacations meant visiting my father’s village or my mother’s village, which we eagerly looked forward to. Spending time with my grandmother was the best part of vacations – even better than a break from studies. Every time I met her, I touched her feet and greeted her with “Ram Ram”, to which she always replied back “Ram Ram Beta”.  This is the way everybody still greets each other there.

I remember walking with her in the streets of the village and enthusiastically greeting each elderly woman we met on the way with “Ram Ram Maa ji”, and the elderly men with “Ram Ram Baba”. I remember how she related everything to Ram. She used to tell me bedtime stories and when there was some incidence of a miracle in the plot of the story, she attributed it to Ram.

She thanked Ram for good rains and crop with her folded hands pointing towards the sky and saying “Ram Kripa” (Ram’s blessings). If rains were less, she used to pray “Ram Kripa Karo” (Ram please bless). If someone got a government job in the neighbourhood, she used to say “Ram ki Kripa hui uss par” (Ram blessed him). She used to take me to the village temple for Pooja where the Poojari of temple chanted “Siya-Ram, Siya-Ram, Jai Jai Ram” and each tile of temple wall had Sita-Ram written on it. 

Once on the way back home from the temple, she explained to me how in the village, most parents chose the name for their children with Ram in it – Ram Swarup, Ram Chandra, Daya Ram, Ram Kishan, Ramfal etc. so that they can recite Ram name while calling the kid! This was especially so, as the excruciating work involving their agricultural fields and cattle would not leave them much time for Bhajan and Kirtan. Every Diwali, she would not leave any corner of the house without a lit Diya.

Close relatives of my parents reside in various villages of Haryana, Rajasthan, Delhi and Western UP. I have visited them on various occasions and have never found a single village where “Ram Ram” is not the way of greeting and Ram is not ingrained in daily life events- whether good or bad. Ram resides in the heart and soul of our country and Ram Mandir Bhoomi Pujan was indeed a great and auspicious event which calls for celebrations.

Every year, India celebrates Diwali on Amavasya day of Karthik masa, when Ram returned to Ayodhya after completing Vanvasa of 14 years. But on the 5th of August Ram Lalla returned to his rightful abode after Vanvasa of more than 500 years and that is a special Diwali which is bigger than what all of us celebrate annually.    

Ram Mandir has been a hot political issue since decades but should that reduce the glory of this auspicious day? If we speak in political terms, nobody can deny the fact that no government, whatever may be the reason, could pull the Ram Mandir out of the legal labyrinth in the last 70 years. It is correct that Honorable Supreme court gave the judgment in the favor of Ram Mandir but due credit should also go to the Modi Led BJP government. The current government pursued the case in the apex court till its conclusion with a genuine intent of finding the solution, unlike previous governments which were hell-bent to protract it. 

At this august moment, grateful citizens of India are rightly thanking Modi for paving the path for Bhoomi Poojan. The opposition parties, blinded by hatred for Modi, should not demean the importance of Ram in our life by questioning the requirement of Ram Mandir.

For those, who are unable to accept and admit the contribution of the Modi led BJP govt in the reclamation of Ram Janmabhoomi, I have few questions – Had it been UPA or any govt other than BJP at the centre, would Bhoomi Pujan have been possible even after Honorable Supreme Court’s unanimous decision in favour of the Mandir? Had it been Samajwadi govt in UP, would the Bhoomi Pujan be possible even after Honorable Supreme Court ruling? If not for the remaining tenure of the Modi govt, would we hope that we would see the completion of the temple? Probably not.

As I was getting lost in the memories of my village with my phone lying near my pillow, a message alert ring on Whatsapp brought me back to my senses. I checked it – my cousin had sent me a picture of a glowing diya placed near the matka (earthen pot) on a rectangular platform in the centre of the courtyard of his house. 

The little Diya that lit up his courtyard

Almost immediately, I started searching for my diyas. I took five of them, filled them with oil, lit them up at the entrance of my flat. I could not stop myself clicking a picture of diyas and sending it with a smiley and a caption “Ram Ram” under it to my cousin in my village.

I wanted to tell him to show that photograph to my grandmother and say “Ram Ram” loudly near to her ear on my behalf as her hearing capacity was reduced. I knew that seeing glowing diyas at the entrance of my flat would have made her extremely happy. But it was wishful thinking; I could not tell him so because suddenly the reality dawned on me and tears started rolling down the cheeks. She had passed away in February after taking ill. I still regret I could not make it to my village for attending her last rites which involved chanting of “Ram Nam Satya Hai”.      

On this Independence Day, here is why the Govt of India must pledge to root out toxic ideology of Gender Identity Politics

K Bhattacharjee
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On this Independence Day, here is why the Govt of India must pledge to root out toxic ideology of Gender Identity Politics

India, today, is celebrating its 74th Independence Day. This also happens to be our first Independence Day since the reclamation of Ram Janmabhoomi. Unfortunately, some of the challenges before us are those that have persisted since the moment of our independence. At the same time, there are others that have risen anew during the course of recent years.

While India must adjust its perspectives to suit its necessities for the 21st Century, it must also recognise the changes that we ought to avoid. Wisdom is the capability to discern between courses of action that would be beneficial to us from those that will cause us harm. It is in this context that on this Independence Day, we must demand that the government undertake concrete measures to prevent the mainstreaming of the toxic ideology of Gender Identity politics in the country.

First and foremost, it needs to be made clear outright that gender identity has nothing to do with sexual orientation. The latter denotes the gender towards which a person feels sexual attraction while gender identity denotes the gender with which an individual personally identifies with. Thus, when we speak of the toxic ideology of gender identity, we are not referring to homosexuality.

However, it is also to be noted here that the Gender Identity Overlords have managed to push through their ideology by associating it with homosexual rights and gays and lesbians have been the most vocal advocates of the ideology. They have managed to mainstream a toxic ideology in the West by associating it with ‘civil rights’ and ‘human rights’.

The toxic ideology of Gender Identity Politics dictates that if a man claims to be a woman, then society must treat him as a woman even though his biological features make it abundantly clear that he is not a woman. The ideology dictates even men can menstruate and can get pregnant and give birth to children and women can have penises.

Furthermore, the core doctrine of the ideology is that the gender identity of an individual is completely independent of biological sex, a radical claim that is not backed by the flimsiest of science. It claims that there is basically an infinite number of genders and as observers have noticed, the number of approved genders keeps increasing every few months.

At OpIndia, we have documented in quite a lot of detail the manner in which Gender Identity politics irrevocably harms children. The harmful effects of the mainstreaming of such ideology are more than apparent in the West. Due to the activism of Gender Identity Overlords, gender reassignment therapy for prepubescent children is legal. Prepubescent children can now receive and do receive, puberty blockers to permanently alter the normal course of their biological development.

The consequences of it all is, predictably, terrible as many minors who undergo the procedure come to regret it later but by then, it is much too late. Moreover, there is no evidence that every child who suffers from gender dysphoria needs to undergo such therapy. Research indicates that an overwhelming majority of such individuals, over 90% of them, grow out of the feeling and go on to lead perfectly normal lives.

The ideology not only has an impact on children but also affects women terribly. Due to the mainstreaming of Gender Identity Politics, women sports is under serious threat. LGBT activists have bullied their way into having organisers admit transgender women into sports for women. The result has been that due to their masculine biological features, they have a disproportionate advantage over their female rivals.

While Gender Identity Overlords staunchly assert that transgender women have no inherent advantages over their female rivals, the results speak otherwise. Transgender women, in whichever competition they have participated, have smashed records set by top female sportsmen. It is not only female sportsmen that are impacted by this ideology, it affects all women.

Gender Identity Overlords in the West are also campaigning for transgender women to be allowed into female only spaces. One does not have to think too hard to guess how this might lead to tragedies. In the West, there have been multiple cases of transgender men raping inmates after being locked up at a female-only prison.

Thus far, such perversion has been limited to the West and hasn’t gained widespread acceptance in our society. However, as we have exposed in a series of reports, the ideology is now coming to India. And it has been happening surreptitiously for quite some time. Children in Indian schools are being brainwashed into the ideology and if this is allowed to persist, the outcome of it will not be too different than what is happening in the West.

We must remember that when Gender identity Overlords claim that they are fighting for the ‘oppressed’, they are lying. The ideology has the explicit support of American hegemony, the only superpower in the world, it has support of every single multinational corporation and enjoys complete support from the ‘civil society’ nexus.

Thus, we must reject it outright when it is claimed that it is an ideology of the oppressed. An ideology that is backed by the most powerful institutions across the world and irrevocably harms the weak, that is, our children, by definition cannot be for the oppressed. The ideology is now being questioned by prominent individuals across the world, including people such as J.K. Rowling.

Therefore, on this Independence Day, it is of paramount importance that the Indian Government take a pledge to root out this toxic ideology from Indian society hook, line and sinker and prevent it from gaining ground ever again. There will be great opposition from usual suspects but it is something that must be done to secure the safety of our children.

Did Indian scientists make space bricks with ‘urine’ as claimed by NDTV? Not really: Here are the facts

OpIndia Staff
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Did Indian scientists make space bricks with ‘urine’ as claimed by NDTV? Not really: Here are the facts

Propagandists at the NDTV were called out once again, this time, by an assistant professor at the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru for spreading deliberately mischievous misinformation to cast aspersions on the efforts made by Indian scientists. In the headline of its report, NDTV claimed that Indian scientists were using urine to make space bricks when the scientists were, in fact, using urea.

NDTV spreads deliberate misinformation

Soon, hatemonger Ashok Swain jumped on to the scene to take a dig at India and claimed that “India’s Obsession with Urine has reached the Moon”.

Tweet by Ashok Swain

Responding to NDTV’s fake news, Aloke Kumar made it clear that urine was not used. Visibly irritated, he advised the ‘news’ network to change their headline and “pay your people enough so that they properly read press releases”. NDTV does appear to have taken at least the first part of his advice seriously and rectified its headline.

Commenting on the chain of events where NDTV first spread fake news and then Ashok Swain used that fake news to mock the researchers, Kumar compared the whole affair to a circus.

Aloke Kumar told OpIndia, “We used urea in our study. Urea can come from many sources, and in our case it was an artificial additive. Some research labs are working on the use of urine as a urea source for such work, so that future moon colonies can exploit human waste in a constructive fashion.”

The IISc-ISRO Space Bricks Research

The press release by IISC makes it clear that urea is only one of the key components. It says, “In what could be a significant step forward in space exploration, a team of researchers from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has developed a sustainable process for making brick-like structures on the moon. It exploits lunar soil, and uses bacteria and guar beans to consolidate the soil into possible load-bearing structures.”

The press release further said, “The process developed by the IISc and ISRO team uses urea — which can be sourced from human urine — and lunar soil as raw materials for construction on the moon’s surface. This decreases the overall expenditure considerably. The process also has a lower carbon footprint because it uses guar gum instead of cement for support. This could also be exploited to make sustainable bricks on Earth.”

The researchers “first mixed the bacteria (Sporosarcina pasteurii) with a simulant of lunar soil. Then, they added the required urea and calcium sources along with gum extracted from locally-sourced guar beans. The guar gum was added to increase the strength of the material by serving as a scaffold for carbonate precipitation. The final product obtained after a few days of incubation was found to possess significant strength and machinability.”

NDTV went out of its way to malign the research

As it turns out, the NDTV had only reproduced a report by PTI but it appears that they went out of their way to use a headline that would give people the impression that urine was being used. For instance, Economic Times which reproduced the PTI report did not use such a misleading headline. The headline ET used was, “Indian scientists develop sustainable process for making brick-like structures on the moon”.

Headline of ET report on space bricks

A casual glance at the headlines used by some of the other media networks reveals quite clearly the extent of the maliciousness of the NDTV headline.

Headlines of media reports on the matter

Thus, quite clearly, it was extremely mischievous of NDTV to claim that the scientists at ISRO and IISc were using urine for making space bricks. The breakthrough made by Indian scientists is indeed worthy of great praise and appreciation, however, consistent with its track record, NDTV chose to spread misinformation about it instead.

Bengaluru Riots: ‘Just because I’m from Congress, should I not speak about Dharma’, Naveen tells police

OpIndia Staff
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Bengaluru Riots: ‘Just because I’m from Congress, should I not speak about Dharma’, Naveen tells police

P Naveen, the nephew of Congress MLA Akhanda Srinivas Murthy, whose social media post is alleged to have triggered the Muslim mobs to unleash violence on the streets of Bengaluru, on Friday asserted his links with the Congress party. According to a report by Kannada daily Vijayavani, Naveen, who is currently in police custody for his alleged Facebook post, has openly affirmed his association with the Congress party during the course of a police investigation into the Bengaluru riots case.

“Just because I am from Congress, should I not speak about Dharma,” the young Congress leader has reportedly quipped the Bengaluru police.

Reportedly, the nephew of the Congress MLA has revealed sensational information pertaining to Bengaluru riots to the police officials during his investigation. The Bengaluru police have registered a case against Naveen under IPC sections 153A and 295.

Naveen denies any wrongdoing, says his life is under threat

During the investigation, Naveen has also denied any wrongdoing or posting any derogatory content against any religion or faith. The arrested Congress party worker has also said that he has time-and-again responded to the anti-Hindu comments on social media platforms and alleged that few people are conspiring against him for protecting the interests of Hindus on social media platforms.

Naveen has also pointed out to the police that he has been receiving a lot of threats to his life following the incident.

It is pertinent to note that following the Bengaluru riots, Naveen has been receiving threats from Islamists, Muslim mobs for allegedly making derogatory comments against Islam. We had reported on how Islamists had descended on social media platforms to wish death for Naveen following riots in Bengaluru.

Earlier, Former Samajwadi Party leader and ‘social worker’ Shahzeb Rizvi had also announced a bounty of Rs 51 lakh on the head of a Karnataka Congress MLA’s nephew for blasphemy.

Even the FIR filed by the Bengaluru police in connection with riots had also made shocking revelations stating that the Muslim mob wanted to kill Naveen for the alleged posts and resorted to torching down two police stations after police tried to protect him.

War of words between Congress and BJP over his political affiliation

Days, after Muslim mob had unleashed riots on KG Halli and DJ Halli police station in Bengaluru over an alleged Facebook post made by Naveen, a war of words had broken out between the BJP and the opposition Congress in the state over the political links of Naveen.

The Congress party, holding on to its minority appeasement card, had disowned Naveen and had attacked him for allegedly making derogatory comments against Islam rather than condemning the Muslim mobs for unleashing violence. In doing so, the Congress party chief in the state DK Shivakumar had claimed that Naveen was a supporter of the BJP.

Responding to DK Shivakumar’s political tirade, Deputy Chief Minister CN Ashwath Narayan had provided proofs, including posters featuring DK Shivakumar and Naveen together to declare that the ‘blasphemy’ accused was a Congress worker.

Nevertheless, with Naveen himself confessing about his links with the Congress party, controversies surrounding his political affiliations seem to have now reached an end.

Outrage grows in Somalia as bill legitimising child marriage tabled in Parliament, UN and other international bodies criticise the move

OpIndia Staff
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Outrage grows in Somalia as bill legitimising child marriage tabled in Parliament, UN and other international bodies criticise the move

The parliament of Somalia is mulling over bringing in a contentious new bill that would legitimise child marriages once sexual organs of girls mature and the family of the girl gives their consent for the marriage. The Sexual Intercourse Related Crimes Bill will pave the way for forced marriages of girls if their parents give their consent.

The controversial new bill is in stark contrast to the years of efforts of the civil groups, fighting for securing protection for women in one of the world’s most traditionalist countries.

The United Nations special representative on sexual violence in conflict, Pramila Patten, raised alarm over the development in Somalia, saying the bill ‘would represent a major setback in the fight against sexual violence in Somalia and across the globe’. The bill also undermines the protection for victims of sexual violence, she said.

United Nations Human Rights chief warns the new bill might set a precedent for other states to follow

The passage of the Sexual Intercourse Related Crimes Bill could prove disastrous for the young Somalian women as about 45 per cent of them were married or ‘in union’ before age 18, according to a United Nations analysis in 2014-15.

Somalia in 2013 agreed with the United Nations to improve its sexual violence laws, and after five years of efforts, a sexual offenses bill was passed by the Council of the Ministers and sent to parliament. However, the bill was sent back by the speaker of the House last year reasoning that the process may have been deviated from established law and asked “substantive amendments” in the law.

The United Nations Human Rights chief Michelle Bachelet cautioned that the new bill floated by the Somalia risked legitimising child marriage, among other alarming practices and asked for stopping it from being passed into law. She also warned that the passage of the bill might send worrying signals to other states in the region.

Outrage against the contentious new bill in Somalia

Outrage has swept across Somalia against the proposed bill and thousands of people in the country have signed a petition against it, including Ilwad Elman with the Mogadishu-based Elman Peace organisation.

Furthermore, the UN mission in Somalia issued a separate statement, calling the new bill “deeply flawed” and urged parliament to re-introduce the original one. “The new bill be crucial in preventing and criminalising all sexual offences,” the Somalia representative for the U.N. Population Fund, Anders Thomsen, said.

The women’s rights group have also expressed their anxiety over the contentious new bill, adding that the coronavirus pandemic and the travel related restrictions have exacerbated violence against women and female genital mutilation. Almost all Somali women and girls have been subjected to that practice.

The Communist betrayal of the Hindus on Direct Action Day and support for the Pakistan Demand

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The Communist betrayal of the Hindus on Direct Action Day and support for the Pakistan Demand

The movement for India’s independence was a protracted struggle that encapsulated varying ideologies and walks working towards attaining total deliverance from British rule. It was neither led by a single leader nor did it overhaul a single ideological hegemony. The Communist Party of India (CPI) was one such organisation that left an obtrusive footprint upon the history of the mass independence movement, for reasons good and bad.

In this article, we shall revisit the nefarious role played by the Communist Party in the Pakistan movement which culminated in the horrific Direct Action Day of 1946, also known as ‘The Bengali Hindu Holocaust’.

Based on historical and anecdotal evidence one can decipher that the CPI for most of the time between 1942 and 1947, advanced a collaborationist attitude towards the British Raj and the Muslim League alike.

The CPI was opposed to India’s independence movement from day one. In the first World Congress of the Communist International held in Moscow in 1920, the Programme of the International called Gandhiism a philosophy that was fast emerging as a stumbling block in the way of a people’s revolution.

A motion in the sixth International held in 1928, also in Moscow, pointed out that it was the duty of all communists in India to expose the Congress in India, and to resist the efforts of Swarajists, Gandhians and Congressmen of all hues.

The clamour for Pakistan: Decoding the Gangadhar Adhikari Thesis

The communists implied independence as the deliverance of the working classes from bourgeois exploitation which could be attained by overthrowing of the capitalist order through a socialist revolution and substituting it with the ‘dictatorship of the proletariat’.

The Congress and the communists were always at ideological loggerheads with each other. The communists perceived the Gandhian movement as a bourgeois struggle and transfer of power as replacement of colonialism with that of neo-colonialism, where imperialist interests would be served better.

When the clamour for Pakistan by the Muslim League, on the basis of Jinnah’s two-nation theory was warming up, and Congress leaders were in jail following the uprising of August 1942, the CPI released a ‘thesis’, drafted by Gangadhar Adhikari. 

The substance of the thesis was that there was no such nation as India, that India was really a conglomeration of as many as eighteen different ‘nationalities’ and that each one of these nationalities had the right to secede from the conglomeration. The communist understanding was that Muslims would be oppressed by the Hindus in united India and that the League had become ‘progressive’.

Supporting Jinnah’s demand for Pakistan, the communists argued that secession, far from dismembering the country, would “lead to still greater and more glorious unity of India, the like of which India has not seen in her history.”

The Communist participation in the Direct Action Day

The Pakistan Resolution was passed in the Lahore Convention of the Muslim League in 1940. At this point, it is necessary to take a look at the role played by the Communist Party of India at this juncture and later. This is because, as will be seen, the Indian Communists, in order to secure political gains, wholeheartedly supported the demand for Pakistan voiced by the Muslim League.

When every street and corner of Bengal echoed with the cries of ‘Ladke Lenge Pakistan’, the Communist Party extended its full support to the Pakistan Movement and even betrayed Hindus during the ghastly Direct Action Day. They were adamant on maintaining that the demand for Pakistan was a precondition for the transfer of power. The maiden meeting of the Muslim League that was held in the Ochterlony Monument Ground in Calcutta on the Direct Action Day of 16 August 1946 resounded with inflammatory anti-Hindu sloganeering and speeches.

The meeting was attended by Jyoti Basu, Leader of the CPI in Bengal Legislative Assembly and two other communist MLAs. The communists adopted a uniquely dialectical position with regard to the Direct Action Day. The Muslim League gave a call for a bandh on that day in Calcutta and the League Chief Minister of Bengal, H S Suhrawardy declared a holiday in the State with the obvious intent of facilitating the bandh and all that comes with it. 

But the communists displayed a reverse sagacity that was hard to match, as the leader of the CPI in the Bengal Assembly, Jyoti Basu, in a press release declared — displaying the quintessential dialectical vision that eventually succeeded in duping many for decades — that “the CPI would try to keep the state peaceful on that day, with a strike where necessary and without a strike where necessary”. He appealed not to precipitate any clash between the ‘brothers’ (Hindu and Muslim workers) and ‘make a common stand against the common foe’ (Britishers and their ‘bourgeois collaborators’).

According to eye witness accounts, as the zealous Muslim fundamentalists resorted to arson, loot and all sorts of mayhem in the name of Muslim separatism, Jyoti Basu fled the meeting as the situation had by then gone out of control.  The protagonists of Pakistan pounced upon the Hindu citizens as they were presumed to be the votaries of undivided India.

The riot continued in full swing for five days – from the 16th to the 20th August 1946. According to The Statesman, over 4000 people were killed and over 15000 injured during the riots, and over 270 killed and 1600 injured in two days since the riots started.

As the Hindus of Calcutta started organising themselves and put up a gallant resistance to the Muslim rioters, Premier Suhrawardy was forced to call in the military on 17 August. The communist leaders were left aghast at the Hindu retaliation, and momentarily switched sides. To be on the safer side, few communist leaders including Jyoti Basu contributed to the ‘peace committees that took the work of restoring communal harmony. 

This was an ‘eyewash’ for many while for some this was sheer ‘damage control’. There was a feeling among the upper rungs of the CPI that further passivity would push the communists to the margins of political untouchability and alienation. It would have taken no longer to turn the repulsive Hindu tide against the vulnerable communists. Though the damage had already been done yet better late than never!

Communist trade unions’support to Muslim League

The non-League Trade Union that did join the Muslim League’s call for Direct Action Day was the CPI-controlled Tramway Workers’Union. The workers of this union had a four-hour-long session at the University Institute Hall with its Muslim comrade, Mohammed Ismail presiding. 

During the 1946 election campaign in Raipur, Central Provinces, the same Mohammed Ismail had drawn the mass attention to the Pakistan demand of the League and explained the stance of his party vis-a-vis the League demand. For Ismail, Pakistan demand was a ‘natural outcome of the freedom urge of the Muslims’.

Under him, the CPI decided to observe 16August as a strike to maintain Hindu-Muslim workers’solidarity. The communist trade union observed complete bandh in several petroleum, steel, iron and jute factories of Bengal. 

Communist leadership had advocated for Pakistan and handing over the entire Bengal to Pakistan, however, the grassroots workers were realising the folly of this stand. The industrialised localities of Calcutta had a strong presence of communist trade unions. 

Dr Kalyan Dutta, a communist ideologue and professor, noted in his autobiography that in the Khidirpur the Hindu communist workers were attacked by their Muslim party-comrades on the fateful day of 17 August 1946. The communist textile union leader Syed Abdullah Farooqui along with Muslim hardliner Elian Mistry led an armed Muslim band into the Kesoram Cotton Mills in the slums of Lichubagan, near Khidirpur in Calcutta. 

The Hindu workers were utterly perplexed. They did show their party membership card to their Muslim comrades and begged for their own lives. Their lives, however, were not spared. According to conservative estimates, not less than 400 (500-600 according to other reports) Hindu labourers, mostly Oriyas, were killed. This is the largest reported anti-Hindu massacre in the whole series of Great Calcutta Killings. 

It goes without saying that the Hindu members of communist trade unions had to face the brunt of Muslim fundamentalist fury that was offered a free hand by their party barons. The Khidirpur incident was a sordid chapter enunciating the totalizing effect of the Direct Action Day. The communist determinism of ‘class struggle’ could not restrain their Muslim members from taking up the cause of Pakistan- a call for ‘religious struggle’.

CPI’s support to the League Ministry in the No-Confidence Motion 

In 1946, the composition of the Bengal Legislative Assembly was as follows: Muslim League: 116; Congress: 62; Hindu Mahasabha: 1; Depressed Castes: 30 (including 24 Congress members) and; Communist Party: 3. 

The three communist MLAs were- Jyoti Basu from Syedpur; Rupnarayan Roy from Dinajpur and Ratanlal Brahman from Darjeeling. The communist legislators defied the united Hindu call for Suhrawardy’s resignation in the Bengal Legislative Assembly and voted in an unprincipled manner that facilitated the League. 

On 19 September 1946, the Congress moved two no-confidence motions against the Muslim League in the Bengal Legislative Assembly. One was against the ministry in general and another against Premier Suhrawardy in particular. 

Participating in this debate Syama Prasad Mookerjee, the Hindu Mahasabha Leader, gave the longest speech in the House on 20 September 1946 wherein he strongly attacked both the Government and the Premier. However, the role played by the Communist Party during the two-day long debate in the Assembly exposed the nefarious nexus between the communists and Leaguers.

Jyoti Basu, the CPI Leader who later became the Chief Minister of West Bengal, said before the House that the British Imperialists, who were looking after Indian administration, were the main criminals for the communal riots and pointed out the fact that while the Sindh Governor disallowed the declaration of holiday on 16 August, the Bengal Governor did the contrary in Calcutta. 

Basu and his party unquestionably played the role of a League collaborationist and a genocide apologist within the Assembly. In the guise of attacking the British Governor of Bengal for inciting Leaguers to riot freely, he preserved silence on the flagitious role played by Suhrawardy in orchestrating the anti-Hindu pogrom in the heart of the provincial capital. CPI legislator Rupnarayan Roy went to the extent of proposing a resolution to condemn the stridently anti-League stand Syama Prasad Mukherjee took in the floor of the House.

Both the motions were put to vote on 20 September 1946. The motion against the Premier was defeated by 130 to 85 votes, while the motion against the government was also defeated by 131 to 87. 

86 Congress members and 1 Hindu Mahasabha member voted in bloc against the Suhrawardy government. All the 3 communist members (Basu, Roy and Brahman) remained ‘neutral’; voting neither for nor against the Muslim League.

In spite of their failure in the face of the brute majority of the Muslims in the Bengal Legislative Assembly gifted by the Communal Award of 1932, the most striking thing about the no-confidence motion was how the opposition, irrespective of their political affiliations, spoke in one voice. Whether the Congress or Mahasabha, they all criticised the ministry in one voice for their failure to adequately police pickets and delay in calling the military. 

However, when the whole spectrum of Hindu opinion was consolidated against the League, the communist legislators played a dismal role by adopting ‘neutrality’. What was to be deciphered was that neutrality at all costs in such an abysmal situation implied silence and, silence inferred acquiescence to the ruthlessness of the League Ministry.

Needless to say, the communist members in the Assembly were not ignorant to the atrocious designs of the League government as its direct role in the masterminding of the communal pogrom was ascertained and revealed. Yet the communist neutrality during the voting and its despicable inaction to take a stand against the Muslim League in itself proved its commitment to the pro-Pakistan effort. 

Contrary to the Hindu opinion which was united against the League, the Communists backstabbed not only their electors who were largely Hindu but also quite notoriously jeopardized the unity and integrity of undivided India. The Communist Party posited the farcical excuse of ‘working-class unity’ to defend its position. In the veneer of class struggle, the communists did not dither to push the Hindu masses into the jaws of the League and henceforth jeopardise the national integrity of India.

Justifying their ‘neutral’ stand, the Communist Party’s General Secretary Puran Chand Joshi wrote to his fellow Bengali comrades on 27 August 1947, “We can vote against the Muslim League Ministry provided it does not affect our working-class base and we can carry it with ourselves through our extensive explanatory campaign… If we cannot keep up even our hold on existing organised working class, everything is lost, even for the future. Thus the best way possible to keep all in good humour was to stay neutral. Voting against the Muslim League will have other serious implications”.

Support to League’s observance of Rashid Ali Day

With the fall of Japan and subsequent Indian National Army’s surrender before the Allied Forces, the British government put Netaji’s men to trial. While three of the INA heroes: G.S. Dhillon, Prem Sehgal and Shah Nawaz (a patriotic Muslim who was taunted as ‘Pandit’ by Muslim League) were let off completely while another compatriot, Captain Abdul Rashid was sentenced to seven years.

This created a tremendous stir among the Muslims. This was the same Rashid who stated that the reason for his joining the INA was to arm himself sufficiently so as to safeguard Muslim interests in the event of a future INA invasion in India. He despised the ‘non-Muslim soldiers’ who were the moving spirits of the INA.

The Communist Party and its students’ wing immediately joined the Muslim cause and extended support to the Muslim League’s strike on 9 February 1946, observing it as ‘Captain Rashid Ali Day’. The communists hailed that day as ‘an anti-Imperialist expression of Muslim masses’. Jyoti Basu defended the communist position by arguing that they were with the anti-imperialist Muslim masses in general, rather than with the Muslim League in particular.

Assessing the CPI’s contribution in Pakistan Movement and their betrayal of Hindus during Direct Action Day

The communists rubbing shoulders with the Muslim fundamentalists can be aptly compared with Gandhi’s support to the Khilafat Movement. Justifying the anti-British stance of the Khilafat agitators, Gandhi did not hesitate to strike a Hindu-Muslim alliance. It was a Himalayan Blunder on Gandhi’s part as the Hindus had nothing to gain from this mischievous alliance. 

The deadly anti-Hindu genocide in Malabar exhibits the subtlety of the alliance. Gandhi had justified the massacre and blamed Hindus for the rise of Muslim fanaticism! Direct Action Day was nothing but the highest culmination of fanatical expression of the Muslim masses arising out of the Pakistan movement. 

The Hindus were the worst sufferers of the Pakistan movement. Henceforth, the Communist Party’s justification of a common Hindu-Muslim alliance was wholly inefficacious and only pushed the Hindus into the horrid dregs of Islamist frenzy.

The lame excuses of the communists for endorsing the Pakistan movement swarmed between ‘anti-imperialism’ and ‘workers’ unity’. They believed that Pakistan was a rightful demand of the Muslim working classes. Clinging on to the principle of ‘international unity of working classes’, they argued that the Hindu working classes should concur to the political bargaining of the Muslim working classes, even at the cost of their own existence.

The communists ardently believed that the Hindu and Muslim working classes were working for a common objective i.e., a socialist revolution. They further argued that the nature of the bourgeoisie was the same everywhere and that the Muslims would be worse off in a united India as they would be compressed between neoimperialist interests on one hand and Hindu repression on the other.

Even after independence, communist ideologues like Jyoti Basu and Manikuntala Sen left no stone unturned to whitewash Muslim League’s crimes. The CPI’s espousal of Pakistan did not stop here. CPI leaders, such as Sajjad Zaheer, B.T. Ranadive, P.C. Joshi and others, actively wrote and otherwise propagandized in favour of the ‘right of secession of the Muslims of India’. 

This was all before the partition actually took place. Probably the Communists expected that in the fledgling state of Pakistan they would be much better off as a party than they were in undivided India. Alas, this was not to be. 

The atheist Communists with Hindu names were treated no differently from their God-fearing Hindu brethren, and with the exception of very few like Moni Singh, they had all to leave their beloved Pakistan for which they had done so much clamouring. 

Acclaimed Bengali communists like Ganesh Ghosh and Kalpana Dutta- the two revolutionaries of the Chittagong Armoury Raid, and Ramen Mitra and Ilaa Mitra (organisers of the Nachole Tebhaga Uprising) had to flee Pakistan after independence. History bears testimony to the fact that the fallacious Hindu-Muslim worker’s unity was driven by a ploy to relegate Hindus into pawns at hands of Islamic fundamentalism.

Sources:

  1. Roy, Tathagata; Chapter 2 THE COUNTDOWN: POLITICS OF BENGAL BETWEEN THE TWO PARTITIONS, 1905-1947; My People Uprooted: The Exodus of Hindus from East Pakistan and Bangladesh; Published: 1 January 2015
  2. Chatterjee, Chhanda; Syama Prasad Mookerjee, the Hindu Dissent and the Partition of Bengal, 1932-1947; Publisher: Routledge; Published: 14 June 2020
  3. Fazlul Huq and Bengal Politics in the years before the Second Partition of Bengal (1947); https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/227519/18/18_chapter%206.pdf
  4. Sanyal, Sunanda and Basu, Soumya; The Sickle and the Crescent: Communists, Muslim League and India’s Partition; Published: 1 December 2011
  5. Ghosh, Amitabha; An eye-witness account of the ‘Great Calcutta Killing’ of august 1946; https://www.opindia.com/2018/08/eye-witness-account-of-direct-action-day-great-calcutta-killing-of-16-august-1946/; Published: 22 August 2018
  6. Gangopadhyay, Kausik; The Partition of Bengal: Supported by all sections of Bengali Hindus to protect their own lives and identity; https://www.opindia.com/2019/06/the-partition-of-bengal-supported-by-all-sections-of-bengali-hindus-to-protect-their-own-lives-and-identity/; Published: 20 June 2019
  7. Chaudhari, K.K.; The Quit India Revolution: The Ethos of Its Central Direction; Publisher: Popular Prakashan; Published: 1996
  8. Mahapatra, Sandeep; OPINION | Pride of Being Bharatiya Has Been Ridiculed by the Communists; https://www.news18.com/news/opinion/pride-of-being-bharatiya-has-been-ridiculed-by-the-communists-1799575.html; Published: 3 July 2018

PM Narendra Modi announces National Digital Health Mission, citizens to be provided with Digital Health ID: Read details

OpIndia Staff
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PM Narendra Modi announces National Digital Health Mission, citizens to be provided with Digital Health ID: Read details

During his speech on the eve of India’s 74th Independence Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the National Digital Health Mission (NDHM) in the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic. The blueprint of the flagship scheme was laid last year and the scheme is likely to be at par with the Ayushman Bharat scheme.

PM Modi informed that a unique ID will be issued to citizens under a ‘One Nation One Health Card’ scheme. Individuals can use it to gain access to the system. For this purpose, a digital database will be created that will contain an individual’s medical history such as tests, diagnosis, and treatment. The information can be accessed from anywhere in India only by doctors and other authorised individuals.

National Digital Health Mission promises hassle-free medical treatment

Following the implementation of the scheme, individuals do not need to carry their medical records around, even if they need to travel to other parts of the country for treatment. Hospitals will also benefit from the scheme, apart from cardholders. The scheme will also be extended to medical stores and pharmacies in the future. There will also be an optional service to link hospitals, clinics, and doctors to a central server.

NDHM to be an optional service

As per reports, the scheme will be implemented in several phases and the patient data will be kept safe and secured. While the health card will bear a unique ID just like Aadhar, it will, however, be an optional service available to the public. The card will be in the form of a website or mobile app. The National Digital Health Mission will improve the transparency, effectiveness, and efficiency of the health service. Dr. Harshvardhan, Union Health Minister, stated that the Centre revolutionised the health sector through the introduction of schemes such as Ayushman Bharat, NISHAY, Reproductive Child Healthcare, etc.

NDHM to employ AI and machine learning

Speaking to Times Now, Dr. Harshit Jain said that NDHM will be a step towards digitisation in the Indian healthcare system. He stated that Electronic Health Records (EHR) can help transform the sector through the use of machine learning and artificial intelligence techniques. He added that such techniques can help in predicting seasonal outbreaks and learning about disease patterns. Jain emphasised that the scheme will help bridge the divide between rural and urban India.

Punjab: Pro-Khalistani elements hoist Khalistani flag on administrative building in Moga amid Independence Day celebrations

OpIndia Staff
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Punjab: Pro-Khalistani elements hoist Khalistani flag on administrative building in Moga amid Independence Day celebrations

Amid Independence Day celebrations, two pro-Khalistani miscreants hoisted a Khalistani flag on the top of the administrative building in Moga in Punjab. They also removed the tricolour raised on the building. The Chief Minister of Punjab Amrinder Singh has ordered the state police to arrest the people behind the incident.

Rs.50,000 reward announced

The Punjab Police has announced a reward of Rs.50,000 for providing valid information that leads to the arrest of the duo behind hoisting the Khalistani flag. Chief Minister Singh has promised to teach a lesson to the anti-India pro-Khalistani elements like US-based Khalistani group “Sikhs for Justice” and terrorists like Gorpatwant Singh Panni. CM Singh warned Pannu and said, “You try to come to Punjab, and I will teach you a lesson.” He promised that any attempt to disturb peace in Punjab would be dealt with strong action. He also urged the youth to be careful and not to be misled by anti-India elements.

Miscearents entered with employees to avoid suspicion

Harmanbir Singh Gill, Superintendent of Police, Moga, said that the two youth entered the Moga administrative complex with the employees who were reporting for duty in the morning. They sneaked to the terrace of the building and hoisted a Khalistani flag. They removed the tricolour as well. He added that they have the photos of the accused captured by CCTV.

Case registered under several sections

Police have registered a case against the two under various sections of the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act. Gill said that they would arrest the miscreants soon. Sandeep Hans, Deputy Commissioner, Moga called it an act of cowardice. He said they entered with the employees so that no one suspects them.

CM warns pro-Khalistani elements

CM Singh has directed DGP Dinkar Gupta to make sure the duo behind the incident are identified and arrested at the earliest. He also directed DGP to take strict action against them as per the law. CM Singh, in his official statement, said,” Some get emotionally swayed by such vicious propaganda.” He urged youngsters not to pay any attention to anti-India elements like Pannu and SFJ.

Pannu recently published a video in which he called for raising black flags on India’s Independence Day. CM Singh said every Punjabi in India are living in prosperity and they are not interested in indulging in any activity that is anti-India. He said, “Why should they (the people of Punjab) do it? If you have the guts, you come here and do it.” He added that Pannu does not even look like a Punjabi, and he is indulging in anti-India activities to extract money from anti-India elements.

Operation Polo: When India annexed Hyderabad from the Nizam and Razakars, the suppression of Hindus and the role of Nehru

Nivan
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Operation Polo: When India annexed Hyderabad from the Nizam and Razakars, the suppression of Hindus and the role of Nehru

On the midnight of August 15th 1947, India gained its independence from the British and was partitioned into two countries- Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan. The partition was created on the basis of religion, with the Muslim League demanding an independent Pakistan for India’s Muslim population.

Several parts of India such as North-West Frontier Province, Sindh, West Punjab and East Bengal were given to Pakistan while United Province, Bombay Presidency, North and Deccan India, Malabar, Madras, West Bengal, etc. were given to India due to them having a Hindu-majority.

Map of Princely states in India (1937)

While leaving, the British permitted the princely states (who acted as agents of the British during the British Raj) to choose whether they’d like to remain independent or join either country’s territory. Raja Hari Singh of Jammu and Kashmir decided to accede his territory to India after he received aggressive hostility from the Pakistan side of the border, and signed the instrument of accession on 26th October 1947 with the Republic of India.

Like Hari Singh, the Nizam of Hyderabad Mir Osman Ali Khan was in a dilemma to choose which union he’d like his country to merge with and initially agreed to the ‘standstill agreement’ where the Republic of India would handle the external affairs and defence of Hyderabad but won’t interfere in the internal affairs. This was however violated by the state of Hyderabad when it secretly loaned 15 million pounds to Pakistan and raised a semi-private military (Razakars) in the country.

Suppression of Hindus

Under the rule of Nizams, Hindus were brutally suppressed by the rulers. Hindus were routinely discriminated due to their religion during their appointment to government posts and the state army. Of 1765 officers in the State Army, 1268 were Muslims, 421 were Hindus, and 121 others were Christians, Parsis and Sikhs. Of the officials drawing a salary between Rs. 600 and 1200 per month, 59 were Muslims, 5 were Hindus and 38 were of other religions. The Nizam and his nobles, who were mostly Muslims, owned 40% of the total land in the state, showing the vast inequality in the distribution of wealth.

In 1936, the Arya Samaj, Hindu Mahasabha and Hyderabad State Conference staged agitations against the Nizam and his nobles for the discrimination against Hindus while employment to government posts and social boycott by the Muslim population.

The Razakars, a merciless army that murdered hundreds of Hindus in Telangana

Frightened by the growing awareness amongst the Hindu population in Hyderabad, Nizam Khan ordered the formation of a semi-private army called ‘Razakars’ to suppress the agitations. The Razakars were a wing of the Majlis-e-Itihadul Muslimeen (MIM, or AIMIM as it is presently known). The Razakars managed to raise 1 lakh Jihadis in their army within a span of days. The army managed to suppress the Hindus by mass-murdering and abducting Hindus in urban Telangana.

Formation of Razakars

The Razakars were intended to be the armed wing of the MIM (which is a present day political party that goes by the name “AIMIM”), and upheld the Islamic domination of Hyderabad. By 1948, the Nizam didn’t want the growing public opinion of Hindus that Hyderabad should accede to India grow roots in the state, and ordered the Razakars to brutally suppress the Hindu population. Qasim Razvi was made the chief of the Jihadi force.

Qasim Razvi, the chief of Razakars, planning the strategy of Razakars during Operation Polo

The Razakars raised 2 lakh Jihadis in their force and raided Hindu-majority villages in Telangana.

Historian Frank Moraes records, “From the beginning of 1948 the Razakars had extended their activities from Hyderabad city into the towns and rural areas, murdering Hindus, abducting women, pillaging houses and fields, and looting non-Muslim property in a widespread reign of terror.”

In the book ‘Marathwada Under the Nizams’, historian P.V Kate records, “Some women became victims of rape and kidnapping by Razakars. Thousands went to jail and braved the cruelties perpetrated by the oppressive administration. Due to the activities of the Razakars, thousands of Hindus had to flee from the state and take shelter in various camps”.

Over 150 villages in rural Telangana were pushed to Islamic brutality, and over 40,000 civilians fled to the Central Provinces of India from Telangana for refuge. These refugees then proceeded to retaliate against the murderous Razakars through frequent raids to reclaim their land in the bordering areas of Central Provinces and Telangana.

Toothless-ness of Nehru and the wrath of Patel

After receiving the details of the exodus of Hindus by the Nizam of Hyderabad, India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was afraid that any attack on the princely state would attract retaliation from West and East Pakistan. Nehru was hesitant to take the decision of storming into the state and annexing it.

On the insistence of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Nehru hesitantly agreed to the annexure of Hyderabad and ordered the Indian Army to annexe the state of Hyderabad and storm into the state from all fronts.

On 13th September 1948, the Indian Army launched an attack on Hyderabad; this operation was named ‘Operation Polo’. The Indian Army, in a 5-day battle, annexed Hyderabad from the Nizam and integrated it into the territory of India.

The route from which Indian army entered the princely state of Hyderabad

Despite the Indian Army having only 35,000 soldiers dispatched for this operation, it suffered only 35 casualties whereas the Hyderabad State suffered 5,738 casualties despite having an army of 2,20,000 soldiers. The Indian Army had a sweeping victory over the Nizam and annexed the state.

Aftermath and surrender of Nizam to India

After the embarrassing defeat, the Nizam of Hyderabad surrendered to the Indian Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and agreed to accede Hyderabad to India. Qasim Razvi was jailed from 1948-1957 after which he took asylum in Pakistan.

Nizam surrendering to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel

Razvi gave the responsibility of the MIM to Abdul Wahed Owaisi, thus letting the Owaisi family run what remained of the MIM. The MIM was banned for a brief period in 1948, after which it changed its name to AIMIM (All India Majlis-e-Itihadul Muslimeen) and contests elections to this day.

References:

  1. Press Communique” (PDF). Press Information Bureau of India
  2. RIAF in Hyderabad” (PDF). Press Information Bureau of India
  3. Sherman, Taylor C. (2007). “The integration of the princely state of Hyderabad and the making of the postcolonial state in India (PDF)
  4. Official Indian army website complete Roll of Honor of Indian KIA”. Indianarmy.nic.in.
  5. Guruswamy, Mohan (May 2008). “There once was a Hyderabad!”. Seminar Magazine
  6. “Hyderabad Police Action”. Indian Army. Retrieved 13 September 2014.
  7. B. Cohen (2007). Kingship and Colonialism in India’s Deccan
  8. Mehrotra, S.R. (1979). Towards Indias Freedom And Partition
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