The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : TRS chief justifies praise of Nizam

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Tuesday, Nov 27, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

TRS chief justifies praise of Nizam

Special Correspondent

‘Asaf Jahi rule marked by communal harmony’

Photo: G. Krishnaswamy.

TRS president K. Chandrasekhar Rao paying tribute at the Nizam’s grave at King Kothi in Hyderabad on Monday. –

HYDERABAD: Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) president K. Chandrasekhar Rao has justified his praise of the Nizam of Hyderabad as it was part of the cultures world over to recall their past glory.

Speaking to reporters after paying floral tributes at the grave of Mir Osman Ali Khan, the seventh and last Nizam of Hyderabad, on the occasion of his 41st death anniversary at King Kothi here on Monday, Mr. Rao claimed that the 450-year-old rule of the Asaf Jahis in the erstwhile Hyderabad State was marked by communal harmony. Of course, the razakars, during the Nizam’s rule, had committed atrocities on common people for some time but this did not discredit the glorious past of the State, he added.

Referring to the criticism against him for praising the Nizam despite the latter jailing noted poet from Telangana, Dasarathi, Mr. Rao contended that British ruler King George had also put Mahatma Gandhi behind bars.

Yet, a hospital in the name of King George was established in Visakhapatnam. A canal in the name of Buckingham, another autocratic British ruler, was also constructed in the State, he said, adding that the criticism was aimed at promoting communal discord.

Mr. Rao also said several roads in Delhi were named after Mughal emperors.

They included Aurangzeb road where former Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani resided and Tughlaq road where he was himself allotted a bungalow. The office of the All India Congress Committee was located on Akbar road.

The Victoria Memorial still existed in Kolkata.

The TRS chief maintained that the legendary poet from Telangana, Kaloji Narayan Rao, had also paid tributes to the Nizam despite fighting his tyranny. Narayan Rao had stated that he had opposed the political authority of the Nizam and not his authority itself.

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