Police foils BJP from hoisting national flag at Golconda

HYDERABAD: Tension prevailed at the Golconda Fort here Wednesday as police arrested some activists of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) trying to hoist the national flag to celebrate Telangana Liberation Day.

Police prevented BJP workers from entering the fort with the national flag. The arrested workers were shifted to a police station.

However, another group of BJP leaders and activists have gathered at Bapu Ghat in Langar Houz to march towards the fort. Police have mobilized additional forces to stop them.

The Telangana government has denied permission to the BJP to unfurl the national flag at the fort. The police have barred entry into the fort and erected barricades to foil any attempt by the BJP workers.

BJP's Telangana unit president G. Kishan Reddy wanted to unfurl the national flag at the fort, where Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao hoisted the tricolor on Independence Day.

Kishan Reddy, who hoisted the national flag at the BJP office in the morning, said it was unfortunate that he was denied permission for doing the same at the Golconda Fort.

The BJP leader alleged that TRS has gone back on its promise to officially celebrate Telangana Liberation Day out of fear of hurting its ally Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM).

"KCR should decide whether he wants razakars or people of Telangana," said Kishan Reddy.

It was on this day in 1948 that then princely state of Hyderabad merged with the Indian Union following the police action, as the Indian military operation against Nizam's army and his razakars' (volunteers) is called.

This is the first Telangana Liberation Day after formation of separate Telangana state. The TRS government, however, has rejected the demand of the BJP and the communist parties to officially celebrate the day.

The BJP and the left parties point out that the day is celebrated officially in some districts of Karnataka and Maharashtra which were part of the Hyderabad State.

The chief minister pointed out that no government in the past celebrated the day officially. He, however, said the TRS would celebrate the day.

As in the past, TRS leader N. Narasimha Reddy, who is now the home minister, hoisted the national flag in Telangana Bhavan, the party headquarters.

The Congress, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), the Communist Party of India (CPI) and the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) also celebrate the day at the party level.

Telangana Joint Action Committee (TJAC), which fought for separate Telangana state, has called upon people to observe it as merger day and not to see it in a communal angle.

MIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi said some forces were trying to distort the Deccan history and make Sep 17 an issue to spread communal hatred.

The Hyderabad MP said Nizam VII was a secular ruler who extended financial aid to many Hindu temples.