This city became independent 13 months after the country became independent, now every 17th September will be celebrated as 'Liberation Day' – News India Live

Hyderabad Liberation Day: Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, the Union Home Ministry on Tuesday announced that now September 17 every year will be celebrated as 'Hyderabad Liberation Day'. “To remember the martyrs who liberated Hyderabad and to kindle the flame of patriotism in the minds of the youth, the Central Government has decided to observe September 17 every year as Hyderabad Liberation Day,” the ministry said in a gazette notification.

Hyderabad was liberated from Nizam rule

Citing the dates of independence, the ministry said that the country became independent on 15 August 1947, but after 15 August 1947, Hyderabad did not get independence from the Nizam rule for 13 months. Hyderabad was finally liberated from the Nizam's rule on 17 September 1948 after 'Operation Polo'. Many soldiers were martyred in this war. Hyderabad Liberation Day will now be celebrated every year on 17 September in the memory of those martyrs. The people of this area were demanding this for a long time.

What was 'Operation Polo'?

Mir Osman Ali Shah, Nizam of Hyderabad, did not want to merge his princely state with India but wanted to keep it a separate independent country. For this reason, after independence, Nizam did not include Hyderabad in India or Pakistan. Indeed, the Nizam took advantage of the situation when, soon after independence, the Indian government was embroiled in the Kashmir War and all attention and resources were focused on countering the Pakistani threat to Jammu and Kashmir.

'Operation Polo' was the 'code name' of the military operation launched by the Indian Army on 13 September 1948 to unify the princely state of Hyderabad. When the country became independent on 15 August 1947, the Nizams of Hyderabad were not willing to join India. About a year after independence, the then Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel launched a military attack on the Nizam's princely state in what was termed a 'police action' to annex Hyderabad to India. Just five days after this attack, on September 17, the Nizam's army surrendered to the Indian Army.