Nehru’s Operation Polo: The Brutal Indian Annexation of Hyderabad
Hyderabad was the largest and richest of India's princely states. It had parts of today's Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Telangana states.
Its total area spanned roughly 82,000 square miles, making it roughly the size of England, and larger than many European countries.
Its deep Islamic history can be gleamed from the New Lines piece above. Its connections to the Yemeni Hadrami Sayyids, the wealth of its rulers (the last Nizam of Hyderabad was ranked among the wealthiest men in the world), their patronage for poets and artists and ulama, and universities like the Jamia Nizamiyah (considered by some to be the Al Azhar equivalent of the Indian Subcontinent) where the likes of Shaykh al Islam Anwarullah Farooqi taught, its rich culture and cuisine, are all famous.
After the Partition of 1947, the hundreds of Princely States of the Indian subcontinent (the British let the local rulers run these as long as they got a tribute for the Crown) were given the option to accede to Pakistan or India. Most of these areas were seduced by the lure of India, some went to Pakistan, and others preferred to stay independent.
Hyderabad was one of the states that preferred independence. The great polyglot and scholar Dr Muhammad Hamidullah was appointed by the Nizam as Hyderabad's representative to the United Nations. After India annexed Hyderabad, Dr Hamidullah lived in France as a "refugee of Hyderabad" and not an Indian citizen. Even though he later received high civil awards from Pakistan, he didn't become a Pakistani citizen either. He proudly kept his Hyderabadi passport.
The story of India's annexation of Hyderabad is a dark one. And one that Nehru tried to subdue to keep his image as a clean secular leader. Citing violence against Hindus from the Nizam's irregular militias (the Razakars), the Indian military invaded Hyderabad. Operation Polo lasted from 13-17 September 1948. During these 5 days of brutal military action, mob violence also broke out. Until finally the Nizam surrendered and India announced victory. Thus ending 224 years of Nizam rule. (The current BJP wishes to designate 17 September as "Liberation Day")
The leader of Operation Polo Lt Gen JN Chaudri, then established martial law over Hyderabad for the next 18 months.
Later the Sunderlal Committee was started by the Indian govt but its findings were made public only decades later. It estimates that 27,000-40,000 Muslims were killed in the annexation by the Indian military and Hindu mobs. Locals and other analysts have put the figure as high as 200,000.