Hyderabad Movement when Arya Samajis came out against Nizam

Vinay Arya General Secretary Arya Samaj

Before 15th August 1947, two types of India existed. First, India under British and Portuguese empires, which was ruled by these foreign powers. Whereas, the second India was the India under the rule of kings and princes and local rulers or say that there were more than five hundred princely states in India at that time. Be it Bhagyanagar or Hyderabad, the country was also one of the big princely states at that time. 84 percent of the total population of this princely state was Hindus. While 11 percent were Muslims and the rest were followers of Jainism. But there was a Muslim ruler over 84 percent Hindus. Here the Asaf Jahi dynasty ruled for almost two centuries.

You understand the condition of that time, then you will understand the Satyagraha of Arya Samaj and Patel ji’s Operation Polo completely, at that time 84 percent of the people in ancient Bhagyanagar and present Hyderabad were Hindus but no one listened to them. Despite being in majority, they had become accustomed to persecution and living with their heads bowed down. They only knew that they were Hindus, but why and how were they? The pride inside them had died. When an Englishman named Sir John Law went out to see Hindu temples in Hyderabad state, he saw mosques everywhere. Then he asked someone that there are mosques everywhere, where do Hindus worship here? Then someone showed him the broken ruins on the peaks of the mountains and said that look, Hindus worship in the ruins there.

This was also true because the Nizam government there was a religious department i.e. ministry. Without taking permission from there, neither a new temple could be built nor the old one could be repaired. Permission was not given from there, so most of the temples were ruined in rain storms etc. Hindus could not celebrate their festivals with pomp and show. If Muharram or Dussehra fell together, then Hindus had to mourn. Apart from this, Hindus had to take permission for religious rituals… but see the opposite, Muslims could celebrate their festivals whenever they wanted.

This was not all, but the Nizami order was also that Hindus could not play any devotional bhajans or music within 300 meters of the mosque. But see the irony that during the time when this oppression of Hindus was happening there, no Hindu organization was ready to support and listen to them.

Or say that there was no one to protect the Hindu society of Hyderabad state. On the contrary, Khaksar Party, Nizam’s army, Ittehadul Organization, religious preacher followers of Deendar Siddique, all created a ruckus to eliminate Hindus. Nizam government was behind Khaksar Party, Deendar Siddique Party, Ittehadul Organization and Razakars. That is why they were all committing violence against Hindus without any hindrance. Hindu women were kidnapped. Hindus were living a life of hell in their own country.

This was the year 1920, when the Arya Samaj movement had reached every home in North India, during that time an Arya Samaj temple was established in Hyderabad state in 1920. Yes, I forgot to mention one thing that Deendar Siddique was converting Hindus by calling himself the incarnation of Channa Basaveshwara, he used to say that Islam religion came to spread the ideas of Lord Basaveshwara. In this way, by misleading, Deendar Siddique and his followers started converting Hindus to Islam. In their propaganda, they insulted all the great men of Hindus like Ram and Krishna ji and called Islam the best religion of the world. That is, the Nizam government was insisting on reducing the number of Hindus and increasing the number of Muslims as soon as possible. The people of Arya Samaj could not tolerate this, during that time they opened their head office in Udgir, Hyderabad and started publishing a newspaper named Vedic Sandesh from Solapur. Now arrangements were made to send Vedic Sandesh to every place in the Nizam’s state. Every Arya Samaji was ready to risk his life for these two values ​​– unflinching love for the motherland and deep devotion to his religion. People were influenced and in the next two-three years, about two hundred branches working in a systematic manner were opened. During that time, Bhai Bansilal ji and Shyamlal ji joined the Arya Samaj and started working. As a result, within a year by 1930, Arya Samaj organizations started coming up in every district of Hyderabad state. Or you can say that a legitimate war of Arya Samaj with Nizam had started. In this war, the people of Arya Samaj started writing letters peacefully with the demands of Hindus. When this news reached Muslim organizations and religious Nizam, they did not like it. After all, who are these people who are supporting the Hindus and creating self-respect and pride in them? Now the eyes of Nizam fell on Arya Samaj. On 21 May 1933, the Nizam government suddenly stopped the Arya Samaj Hallikhed festival citing that the festival was not religious. The local police and Muslim goons openly perpetrated atrocities. The Arya Samaj wrote a letter to the Prime Minister of the Nizam and sought permission for the festival but there was no response.

At that time, our Arya Samaj preacher Shiromani was Pandit Ramchandra Ji Dehlvi. His sweet arguments and speeches had already influenced the common Hindus and Muslims of Hyderabad. When the ban on the Arya Samaj Hallikhed festival reached him, Pandit Ji went to Hyderabad and gave three speeches. The Hindus of Hyderabad rose up due to these speeches. But the Nizami government issued a summons to Pandit Ji accusing him of insulting Islam. His entry into Hyderabad was banned. The accusation on Pandit Ramchandra Ji Dehlvi caused a sensation in the whole of India.

A meeting of the then officials of the Arya Samaj was held and some demands were peacefully placed on behalf of the Universal Assembly. Among them were that just as Muslims were allowed to take out processions, Hindus should also be allowed to celebrate religious festivals, restrictions on public meetings and discussions should be lifted, Hindu temples should also be considered as sacred as mosques and churches. All the restrictions imposed on Arya Samaj preachers for Hindu religion should be lifted. The ban imposed on Pandit Ramchandra Ji Dehlvi should also be withdrawn.

When nothing was received in response to these demands except verbal assurances, the big Arya leaders also decided to go to Hyderabad. Many of our Arya leaders including Mahatma Narayan Swami, Swami Swatantrananda Ji and Acharya Ramdev Ji went to Hyderabad. But they were sent back after being assured with great love.

That is, the more Arya Samaj people wanted to resolve the dispute peacefully, the more strict Nizam was becoming. Suddenly, Havan Kunds started being broken in Bidar district, Arya Samaj started occupying the land of temples. The matter reached a point that considering the Havan Kund as the complete temple, a ban was imposed on them too. Apart from this, in Khatgaon, many Muslims broke the sacred thread of people wearing sacred thread. People participating in temple festivals started getting attacked. False cases started being filed against Arya Samaj people. Even on seeing Satyarth Prakash book in the hands of any Hindu, Nizami police would arrest him. That is, this was a new problem for the then Arya Samaj workers working peacefully.

Before taking the matter further, it is very important to understand one thing here that why was this happening in a state with 85 percent Hindu population, there was only one reason for it that from the point of view of faith, the then Hindu society there, under Muslim rulers for centuries, had become a victim of the weakness and inferiority complex spread in their society. So, first of all it was decided that the weakness and inferiority complex prevalent in the Hindu society will have to be eradicated and they will have to be taught to live with full self-respect and pride. For this, programmes were conducted at different levels. People started joining the Arya Samaj. The then Arya Samaj leaders Bhai Bansilal Ji, Shyam Lal Ji, Sheshrao Ji, Dattatreya Prasad, Gopal Dev Shastri and many other Arya Samaj activists went from village to village and started collecting weapons from the Hindus under the banner of Vedic religion. Arya Samaj temples were established in countless villages. If there was any possibility of an attack from the Ittehadul Party or Razakars, people would start gathering in the Arya Samaj temple. Men and boys of 18-20 years of age would run towards the Arya Samaj temple with sticks, axes, spears, lances, swords, guns etc. in every house within 5-10 minutes. The entire Hindu army would be ready for the fight in a disciplined manner. It is very difficult to explain each and every thing in a video, for this all the information is given in the book ‘Hyderabad Mukti Sangram Ka Itihaas’ and ‘Balidaani Itihaas Humara’. Then we will tell you that you see how and on which fronts the people of Arya Samaj fought this battle. During that time the army of Nizam and Razakars and the Maulvis kept on salary were converting poor and backward caste Hindus to Islam to increase their numbers very fast. They started getting scared of this movement of Arya Samaj, as a result Arya Samaj workers started getting arrested. They were given severe torture inside the jail. Every possible way was adopted to crush the movement but in response to that the branches of Arya Samaj started doubling. It is written in the Marathi book “Hyderabad Swatantrata Sangharsh” that the people of Arya Samaj became more organized due to the incidents of atrocities on Hindus.

You can guess the level of organization from the fact that the movement for freedom of Hyderabad had become a question of prestige not only for the Arya Samaj workers of Nizam’s state but also for the Arya Samaj workers spread all over India. Arya Samaj workers from all over the country came out to fight against the Nizam’s army and Razakars in Hyderabad. I will list the names of some great men who sacrificed their lives fighting for the freedom of Hyderabad during that time. Parmanand Ji from Haridwar, Sunhara Singh Ji from Rohtak Haryana, Vaijnath Prasad Ji from Narkatiaganj, Bihar, Fakirchand Ji from Karnal Haryana, Malkhan Singh Ji from Roorkee, Kalyannand Ji from Muzaffarnagar, Shantiprakash Ji from Gurdaspur, Chaudhary Maturam Ji from Hisar, Bhakt Prerudhamal Ji from Sargodha Punjab, Badan Singh Ji from Saharanpur, Ratiram Ji from Sampla Rohtak, Tarachand Ji from Baghpat, some from Hardoi and some from Gurukul Kangri Haridwar, Arya Samaj workers sacrificed their lives there. The names of countless workers from Hyderabad state are present in this martyrdom chain.

Just think that when so many people from other parts of the country sacrificed their lives in this freedom struggle in Hyderabad, then how many people must have reached there. In such a situation, the question in your mind will be that how did these great men sacrifice their lives for Hyderabad and Hindu society in the Nizam state?