In poll-bound Karnataka, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday hit out at the Congress alleging that it never remembered those who fought and sacrificed their lives for the liberation of Hyderabad from the ‘brutal’ Nizam rule.
Addressing a public gathering after inaugurating the Gorata Martyrs’ Memorial and statue of the country's first Home Minister late Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel at Gorata village in this district, Shah also slammed the K Chandrasekhar Rao-led Telangana government for "hesitating" to celebrate the Hyderabad Liberation Day.
Shah also hoisted a 103 ft high national flag at Gorata, called "Jallianwala Bagh of South India"
Recalling the horror of Gorata on May 9, 1948, the Union Minister recalled that 200 people were massacred by the ‘brutal" Nizam even though the country had become independent.
Shah said it was the most important day for an emotional person like him, because on that day the ruthless army of Nizam butchered hundreds of people for hoisting a 2.5 ft tricolour.
Today, he can proudly proclaim that he hoisted the 103 ft tricolour, which no one can ever reach.
Shah recalled that eight years ago he had visited the place as the BJP national president and laid the foundation for the Gorata Martyr’s Memorial with direction to the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha workers to build a memorial that should be remembered throughout the country for hundreds of years.
He said he is pleased that eight years later, he got the opportunity to inaugurate it.
“More than 200 people were massacred here in Gorata by the brutal Nizam, but due to its appeasement policy, the Congress never remembered those who fought and sacrificed their lives for Hyderabad liberation only for its greed for vote bank,” he added.
Paying his obeisance to Sardar Patel, he said had there not been Patel, Hyderabad would not have been liberated.
Hitting out at the Telangana government, the Union Minister said, “The Telangana government is hesitating to celebrate the Hyderabad Liberation Day (September 17) but the BJP under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has decided to celebrate the day in a grand manner.”
He pointed out that the BJP had celebrated it last year in Telangana and this year too they will celebrate the day.
Shah appealed to the people to form a BJP government in Karnataka so that it can build a grand martyrs’ memorial at Gorata at a cost of Rs 50 crore which will attract tourists not only from Karnataka but also from across the country who will be told about the story of the people of Gorata.
Once the BJP government returns to power in Karnataka and the grand memorial is built, the party would celebrate the next Hyderabad Liberation Day at Gorata, he affirmed.
Noting that the BJP never believed in ‘appeasement’, Shah said B S Yediyurappa led BJP government had renamed the erstwhile Hyderabad-Karnataka region as Kalyana Karnataka.
“Because Hyderabad Nizam ruled the region, it was called Hyderabad-Karnataka region. It is the Congress which allowed the symbols of India’s slavery to continue here, but Yediyurappa renamed it as Kalyana Karnataka,” the Minister said.
He added that the Yediyurappa government had also given Rs 3,000 crore for the Kalyana Karnataka region while Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai allocated Rs 5,000 for this area.
