Make Sept 17 liberation day of Hyderabad: BJP

HYDERABAD: The state unit of the BJP has reiterated its demand to declare September 17 as liberation day on par with the country''s independence day to commemorate freedom for Telangana region from the erstwhile Nizam''s rule on the day in 1948.
The Karnataka government issued an order releasing Rs two lakh to celebrate "Vimochana day" on the same day in four districts - Gulbarga, Bider, Raichur and Koppal on par with the independence day celebrations, according to junior minister for commerce Ch Vidyasagar Rao.
Along with Telangana, Marathwada and some districts in Karnataka were under the control of Nizam rulers even after the country gained independence. In 1948 the province was liberated and integrated with the Indian union.
The minister said that the party wanted to commemorate the sacrifices made by the people against the Nizam rulers in a big way by hoisting the tri-colour at important spots in all the villages in the Telangana region. Rao demanded that the government should compile and publish the entire phase of freedom struggle and declare September 17 as a public holiday besides installing the idol of the freedom fighter Komaram Bheem in the state capital.
Asked whether the party had taken up the movement to contain the influence of the TRS, he said that the BJP had organised a mass movement in 1998 focussing on the same issue. The party would celebrate September 17 as the liberation day of Hyderabad in a grand style and deputy prime minister L K Advani would attend the public meeting.
Rao said that he had built a monument at Parakal in the memory of the freedom fighters and from that place the party would initially launch the movement on September 2 as a prelude to Sept 17.