New Delhi (The Hawk): Without a doubt, Hyderabad was one of India's top states, just as Kashmir. Despite being viewed as archaic and backward, it was anachronistic since it had an ambitious industrial and economic programme together with a diverse population of almost a crore and a half.
As the emperor was reputed to be a devout recluse who enjoyed writing couplets in the seclusion of his not very ostentatious palace, the state was ruled by a succession of British India statesmen. One of the greatest hoarders of his day and widely regarded as the richest man in the East, it was stated that his unimaginable wealth was stored in dust-filled bags.
The state's population was a diverse mix of social classes and groups, with obvious disparities in perspective and behaviour. A strange fusion of the old and new worlds, with a parasitic class of lazy nobles and jagirdars who behaved politely but had feudal attitudes, and a huge population of semi-starving people bound to the land for the benefit of their masters. Then there was a small but cohesive class of officials and public servants, a sort of new aristocracy superimposed as the rulers, and a disgruntled but poorly organised mass of educated middle class; loitering Arabs with naked swords strolling in the parks and streets with no clear purpose in life, as well as dispersed groups of idlers and hangers-on cramming the tea shops and cafes to discuss the yarn that one of them had spun around
At first glance, Hyderabad appeared to be this, but closer inspection revealed a more intense feeling of tension, roiling discontent, and a fierce internal fight. It served as a group tinderbox. The gap between Hindus and Muslims began took shape under Lord Minto's viceroyalty. It gained popularity in Hyderabad in the 1920s primarily as a result of the militantly confrontational behaviour of the Muslim communal leadership, which claimed the authority to speak not just on behalf of Hyderabad's Muslims but also on behalf of the reclusive Nizam.
In terms of geography and language, Hyderabad at the time was divided into three distinct regions that were components of the three major provinces nearby: Andhra, Maharashtra, and Karnataka. At the time, there were roughly 25 lakh Kanarese, 50 lakh Maharashtrians, and 70 lakh Andhraites. Hindus made up around 85% of the population, while Muslims, the largest minority group, made up roughly 10%. The Hindus felt disregarded and offended because it was believed that an odious distinction had been upheld regarding the recruiting to the services.
The government's justification that Muslims are naturally driven to public service because of their disposition and historical tradition did not hold any attraction for the Hindus. The state's education policy, which mandated Persianized Urdu as the official language and the primary medium of instruction in secondary education, did not get support from the vast majority of the populace, resulting in the widening gap. There was also a perception that people's regular religious and social activities were being completely suppressed as a result of the numerous rules and directives issued by the government and the Ecclesiastical Department.
Hindus and Muslims both made numerous attempts to create shared political and social organisations, but each attempt was swiftly crushed with the typical cruelty and violence. The Hindu Mahasabha in Hyderabad's equivalent, the Hindu Praja Mandal, was the Hindu community's organisation. Other religious groups like the Arya Samaj, Hindu Civil Liberties Union, and Hindu Praja Mandal rose to prominence following the 1938 upheavals and were subsequently trusted by Hindus for their clear-cut political and social agendas. However, at the time, these organisations were controlled by the Hindu Mahasabha and were hostile to the politics of the Indian National Congress, which was attempting to take hold in the state.
Muslim politics were totally dominated by a communal leadership in a highly divisive community. Muslim communalism thrived immensely on the exaggerated worries and suspicions of the community in the lack of civil liberties and as a result, popular political organisations. Thus, there were two main streams of Muslim politics in Hyderabad: the King Kothi Group, which was the first and most influential and was represented by the Majlis Ithad-ul-Muselmeen, and the New Aristocracy Group, which, for lack of a better term, was made up of Nationalist Muslims but lacked a formal organisation.
The King Kothi Group stood up for the violently extremist and communally aggressive segment of Hyderabadi Muslims who saw the Nizam as the emblem of Muslim supremacy and Hyderabad as a Muslim State with Muslims as the governing elite. Therefore, the total control that Muslims had over the executive and legislative branches of government was not only seen as a political ploy but also as a privilege and entitlement of the ruling elite. The assumption that Hyderabad might maintain its sovereign position either through an alliance with other strong Indian states like Travancore or as an independent member of the British Commonwealth of Nations resulted from this in the years leading up to independence.
Several auxiliary organisations, such the Anjuman-i-Tabligh, Anjuman-i-Khaksaran, and Muslim Volunteer Corps, were affiliated with the Majlis and operated under its direction and control. The Nizam's continued authority and the superiority of the ruling race were upheld by the Majlis. The Majlis adopted a very forceful stance in opposition to the widely denounced constitutional revisions that weren't implemented six years after they were announced.
The Majlis stated that neither the political system nor the administrative framework in Hyderabad need modification. When changes were being considered to the position of the monarch or the percentage of Muslims in the administrative structure, they frequently rioted and even threatened to use force. The Majlis was similarly hostile toward the Hyderabad State Congress. The government was openly threatened with the outbreak of civil war if the restriction on the State Congress was relaxed. The Congress continued to be irrelevant. Despite being progressive, the Nationalist Muslims lacked a unified following and lacked an organised structure.
In their opinion, Hyderabad needed to change, but their desire for security outweighed any genuine desire to move the state closer to the objective of fully accountable administration. While the Nizam was in charge, the jagirdars held a privileged status in society merely because of their fidelity to the Nizam. The majority of the official class, which always played it safe, was composed of Muslim middle class and intellectuals. Thus, Hyderabad was the meeting point of the revolutionary nature of the mass movement and the reactionary upper class attitudes, which only made the racial tensions on the ground worse for the majority community, in this case the Hindus.
The Muslim revivalist movement also attracted a lot of attention, and Hyderabad was becoming as India's cultural hub for Islam, according to Sir William Pell Barton, a former British Resident (1925–30). Naturally, the creation of Usmania (Osmania, named after the Nizam) University and the adoption of personalised Urdu as the state's official language and medium of instruction fulfilled this objective.
The Nizam, who took a personal interest in Muslim politics in India, was at the epicentre of this area of power. He asserted that his son had wed the daughter of the most recent Caliph and that he was a descendant of Abu Bakr, the first Caliph of Islam. 4,000 pounds sterling were paid as a pension to the former sultan of Turkey.
It is evident why the Muslim elite in British India preferred the Nizam and Hyderabad. Anytime a severe confrontation between Muslim communalists and the government seemed imminent, Jinnah personally intervened to prevent it. Particularly after the 1939 constitutional revisions, when Jinnah travelled to Hyderabad on behalf of the Majlis to personally assure the Nizam of the Muslims' legal standing in the state.
In keeping with this mindset, the administration mercilessly repressed any and all efforts made by the general population to create a vibrant and forward-thinking public life in the state. Although the State Congress was defeated, communalism was covertly promoted. Probably the first formal pronouncement to refer to Hyderabad as an Islamic State was The Firman from April 1909.
However, this view gained further attention following the First Round Table Conference, when Sir William said that despite their small numbers, Hyderabad's Muslims could not be regarded as a minority because they were the city's ruling race. Later British officials made this justification more widely known.
According to reports, Samuel Thomas Hollins, the State Congress inmates' guardian at the time, said to them: "Given that this is an Islamic state, Hindus must recognise Muslims as the dominant race. You are free to leave Hyderabad if you don't want to." This is just one of many instances of racial animosity and intergroup strife that British officers in the state have preached and encouraged.
The Nizam further exacerbated this chaos by referring to Hyderabad as the "Muslim State" in his Firman-i-Mubarak of July 1939. Sir Akbar Hydari, the Nizam's prime minister, finally reiterated this position in his Arzdasht of July 15, 1939, writing that "the importance of the Muslim community in the State, by virtue of its historical position and its status in the body politic, is so obvious that it cannot be reduced to the status of a (Sandeep Bamzai is the Editor-in-Chief of IANS and the author of "Princestan: How Nehru, Patel, and Mountbatten Made India," published by Rupa, which received the Kalinga Literary Festival (KLF) Book Award 2020–21 in the non-fiction category.)
(Inputs from Agencies)
