Poet, Lover, Revolutionary

Legends and Anecdotes of Hyderabad --56


Poet, Lover, Revolutionary
By Narendra Luther

A multi-faceted genius became a legend in his – and my -- lifetime in Hyderabad.

Makhdoom Mohiuddin was born in 1908 in a village in Medak district of poor parents. His father died when he was an infant. His mother left him in the care of his paternal uncle and got remarried. Makhdoom did not know for forty years that his mother was alive.

Life of deprivation

The orphan boy was brought up in poverty and orthodoxy. His uncle however narrated stories to him and one of them was about the Russian Revolution. Unable to grasp the metaphor, the child’s brain strained to imagine how everybody could be equal and what the size of the spread would be from which every one ate together!

Coming to the city for schooling, he had to earn his keep by selling calendars of film stars -- and gods.

In the Osmania University he became famous for his wit and repartee. He adapted George Bernard Shaw’s play Widower’s House in Urdu and earned the distinction of staging the first play in the University. He was also the first and the only student to appear before the Nizam without the formal dress of bugloos and dastar and earned praise from the ruler for his poem on the Peela Doshala (Yellow Shawl).

Religious instruction was compulsory for Muslim students in the University. The non- Muslim students were taught Ethics. Makhdoom failed in that subject and was shunted out to Ethics. He did part-time work in papers and the Deccan Radio to complete his MA in Urdu.

Choosing a career

Thereafter, armed with a recommendatory letter from Sarojini Naidu, he prepared to go to Bangalore for a job. Qazi Muhammad Hussain, who understood Makhdoom well, advised him against the plan. He recited a couplet from the poet Iqbal to drive home his point: ‘Thou art a seeker, an eternal traveller. Don’t accept a destination. Even if thou hast Laila for a companion, don’t enter the palanquin’. It was as if this piece gave Makhdoom a glimpse of his future.

He became a lecturer in the City College. There he was often caught by the principal for reciting poetry — mostly his own on popular demand — than teaching. In 1942, he left teaching and became a full-time member of the Communist Party. He played an important part in organizing the trade union movement in the State and, after 1946, was mostly either in jail or underground.

Muslim ‘princes’

Makhdoom ridiculed the doctrine of the Majlis-e-Ittehad e Mussalmeen party according to which, in Hyderabad, every Muslim was a sovereign. By logical deduction therefrom, argued Makhdoom that every Muslim child was a prince. Once Sir Mirza Ismail, the Prime Minister, visited a factory where children were manufacturing buttons. Makhdoom taunted the premier: ‘Meet our princes. You too have a Prince in the Bella Vista’. He was referring to the luxury-loving Prince of Berar. Sir Mirza left in a huff.

Makhdoom was a romantic idealist. That is what drew him to Communism. Though not bothered too much about the fine points of the ideology, he was a faithful worker of the Party and obeyed its dictat even when he disagreed with it. That was the case regarding the withdrawal of the armed struggle of the Communists in Telangana after the integration of the State with India. Makhdoom, favouring withdrawal, bowed to the Party’s decision to continue the movement.

Tremendous popularity

Because of his views and his poetry, he was immensely popular amongst all sections of society. If a policeman apprehended him when he was underground, he would let him go after making him recite his latest poem. His poetry did a lot to spread the message of Communism in Telangana – and indeed all over the country. He was conscious of his popularity when he wrote:

Shehar mein dhoom hai ik shola nava ki Makhdoom
Tazkare raston mein hain charchen hain pari khanon mein

(The city resounds with the thunder of one,
Who is the topic on footpaths and mansions alike)

He wrote poems on diverse subjects ranging from propaganda of the Party promising the ‘Red Dawn’, to pure lyrics. His poetic tribute to Bhagmati – the beloved of the founder of the city – after whom the city got its original name of Bhagnagar is a classic of its own type. In that poem, unlike Sahir Ludhyanvi’s satire on Taj Mahal, the romantic got the better of the revolutionary. He felt Bhagmati’s presence by his side and wrote:

Whenever your name escapes my lips
A lotus blossoms and my eye drips
.... Although you aren’t here, there is your supervision. (Tranlation)

One of his poems ‘Chambeli ke mandhwe tale’ (‘Under the Chameli Bush’) was sung everywhere. Later it was became popular as a lyric in a film. His poetry extended his appeal all over India and made him one of the leading lights of the Progressive Writers’ Movement. I sat beside him while a local singer, Jamila, then a young slim girl, sang his compositions at the house of the late Abid Ali Khan, founder of the Urdu daily Siasat. He looked young for his 50 years. I then approaching thirty asked him the secret of his youth. ‘Don’t worry about yourself. Take up bigger impersonal concerns’, he advised me.

Worker’s psychology

A few days later, in the discharge of my official duties, I issued orders for his arrest for defying a ban on unlawful assembly. He chided the Chief Secretary in the presence of the Chief Minister for not understanding the human need for being together in the face of collective danger of arrest or harassment. The Chief Minister, Sanjeevaiah, himself a political worker, understood and ordered his release. He then shook hand with a crestfallen Chief Secretary – and, with a conspiratorial wink, with me.

In 1957 he was elected to the State Legislative Council of Andhra Pradesh and remained the leader of his Legislature Party till his death in 1969. He had a tremendous sense of humour, which did not desert him in the most adverse circumstances. He named his first daughter ‘Asavari’- an evening raga. When his son was born during his underground days, he christened him ‘Second Front’. He is now known as Nusrat -- meaning victory.

Raj Bahadur’s daughter, Tamara, now a physician, was his particular favourite. In August 1969, V.V. Giri was contesting for Presidentship of the country. Makhdoom promised her a cone of ice cream if he was elected. Then he went away to Delhi.

On the morning of 25 August, felling uneasy, he woke up Raj Bahadur Gour. He was moved to the Pant Hospital where he passed away in the afternoon. That was the only time he did not keep his promise, says Tamara.

Hyderabad had not seen a crowd like that when his body was brought from Delhi. At the cemetery of Hazrat Shah Khamosh, the orthodox section raised an objection that a non-believer like him could not be given the honour of a burial there. But the defiant crowd of his admirers pushed on chanting zindabad and laid him to rest there. On his grave is insribed the second hemistich from a couplet of his own ghazal:

Bazm mein door woh gata raha tanha, tanha
So gaya saz par sar rakh ke sahar se pehale

(Away from the assembly, he kept singing, all by himself
Before dawn, head resting on his instrument, he went to sleep.)

No person, either before or after him has had such a hero’s farewell. Now his statue stands on the Tank Bund amongst the twenty ‘greats’ of Andhra Pradesh.

Today it seems incredible that one knew such a charismatic human phenomenon rather well.

19.5.99

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Nizam VII as a poet and a publisher

Legends and Anecdotes of Hyderabad - 55

Nizam VII as a poet and a publisher
By Narendra Luther


An ideal Muslim ruler is expected to be ‘ master of sword as well as of pen’. Four out of the seven Nizams of Hyderabad were poets. The first two wrote in Persian and the last two both in Persian as well as in Urdu. The last two had also employed poetic preceptors – ustad - well known poets to give them instruction in the art of composing poesy, and to correct their compositions. Jaleel Manikpuri was the last ustad.

The ustad had to be available at all times of the day and night. There was no knowing when the Nizam would get inspiration to compose a couplet or a ghazal. As soon as that happened, it was rushed to the teacher for necessary action. Sometimes only an idea would strike him and the ustad had to give it shape and form. The corrections and improvements in the ruler’s composition were made in a most respectful manner. If the ustad had to modify a word or a phrase, he first praised the original in superlatives, congratulated the royal pupil and then suggested that in his ‘humble opinion’ it could perhaps be put differently!

The last Nizam used often to send his poems to local newspapers. They had to be published on the front page prominently along with the modifications suggested by the ustad. By the time he was about 30, the ruler had composed a large number of poems in different genres and so decided to publish an anthology. In that connection he issued a detailed firman (royal order) on 18th February 1919. It is amusing to note some of the contents of that order:

“My ghazals which represent my random thoughts and which number 750 have been published in 6 separate volumes containing 150 ghazals each. All interested readers and critics are informed that they can obtain them at one guinea per copy. The second edition will not be published unless it becomes absolutely necessary.

Every purchaser will have to buy all the six sets. Single volumes will not be sold.

The price i.e. 6 guineas will be uniform for all buyers within the state and outside.

The purchaser will bear the postal expenses.

Every volume will carry an official seal. In the absence of that it will be deemed to have been stolen.

Printing any copy of these volumes is forbidden. Anyone found doing so would be responsible for the consequences.

The books will be sold within a month and can be had from the Nazri Bagh (Nizam’s palace).

The price is to be paid in advance.

A copy of the above order should be published in a Gazette Extraordinary.”

A guinea was one pound and one shilling and at that time was equal to 21 rupees. In those days, a book of that size in Urdu would ordinarily sell for a fraction of a rupee. At the present rate the amount would be easily over 1,000 rupees per copy.

Needless to say that the sets sold out in no time. All those who wished to demonstrate their loyalty to the young ruler purchased copies at that exorbitant price.

It’s a pity that none of those volumes is available today.

Once, some claque amongst the courtiers praised the Nizam’s poetry to the skies and suggested that it deserved to be prescribed as a text for the graduate course in the Osmania University. The Nizam approved the idea. Moulvi Abdul Haq, popularly known as the ‘Father of Urdu’ was the professor of Urdu at the University and it fell to his lot to implement the orders. He was in a fix. If he did not carry out the edict, he would attract the royal ire; on the other hand if he obeyed, he would become the laughing stock amongst the men of letters. He asked for an audience to attempt to get the orders cancelled. When he reached the Presence, he saw the Nizam sitting in his usual rickety easy chair. Manzoor Jung, Hosh Bilgrami and Zain Yar Jung were standing in front of him.

“Yes, Moulvi. Have you seen our orders?” asked the Nizam as he saw the savant.

“Yes, Ala Hazrat,” submitted the professor as he made the customary seven bows, “I am here in that connection. Your compositions are royal amongst verses. What can be a greater honour for me than to explicate them to our students. But my humble submission is that this worthless creature lacks the necessary depth of scholarship to be able to explain it adequately to students. Your Lordship’s slave thought of presenting himself before His Master many times in order to obtain adequate understanding of the subtle points in the royal verses but I couldn’t gather enough courage for fear that if in spite of the expostulation of His Exalted Highness, my limited brains could not grasp them, then what would I do?”

The Nizam looked at his acolyte, Hosh Bilgrami and chuckled: “Do you hear what he says?” Hosh stepped forward with folded hands. “Yes, Ala Hazrat, the royal composition is indeed royal amongst the common compositions. It is not easy to explain it.”

“You are right,” observed the Nizam, “if the teacher himself can’t understand, what will he explain to the students? That’s right. But,” he added after a pause, “how long do you think it will take for the University to get such teachers who can appreciate my poetry adequately?”

“Exalted Highness,” submitted Hosh, “it depends not on the poetry but on the intelligence of the reader.”

“Right you are. It is the intelligence that matters. I can give them my poems, but I can’t invest them the intelligence necessary to grasp them. Cancel the orders for teaching my poems in the University. Let the teachers understand them first.”

So the ‘mad’ Maulvi, as the Nizam used to call Professor Abdul Haq, saved the students from the imposition – and his own face amongst the academia.
Some of the Nizam’s poems were translated into English by Sir Nizamat Jung, a Cantabrian and a former judge and a minister of Hyderabad who himself was a very good poet in English. Some of them were reproduced in D.F. Karaka’s biographical book on the Nizam: “ The Fabulous Mogul”

Such was the urge of the Nizam for writing poetry, that after India became a republic on 26th January, 1950, and he became the Raj Pramukh of Hyderabad, he composed a poem in Persian to mark the event. He had it translated into English by Sir Nizamat and sent the original along with its English translation to the chief minister of Hyderabad, M.K.Vellodi. Addressing him as ‘My dear Friend’, in his covering letter marked ‘Personal’, he wrote: “I shall be grateful if you kindly forward this to the high authorities in Delhi, on my behalf, and ask them that if they have no objection, I would like this poem to published in English papers in India, in commemoration of that historic declaration as it was an unique event in the annals of India”. He signed it as ‘Nizam VII (MOAK)’. The initials stood for Mir Osman Ali Khan.

The chief minister wrote to V.P. Menon who was secretary of the ministry of states of India. Menon showed the letter to Prime Minister Nehru. He felt that it would be better if both the original and the translation were published together. When this view was conveyed to the Nizam, he sent both the versions with a letter to say that the translation could never convey the original sense fully. The 16-line poem concluded:
The New Dawn’s greetings, “OSMAN”, rich and strange,
And the four quarters hail the promised change!
However, it is not known whether any paper published the poem.

The number of his poem was indeed very large. He had established a trust and appointed a committee for the purpose of publishing his poems in Persian and Urdu. The Trustees thought it would take a long time to sift through the whole body of his outpourings and so decided to publish two volumes in the first instance. Accordingly, in 1975 the Trust published one volume of three hundred poems in Urdu and Persian covering four different genres. The second volume is yet to come. Ironically, the volume does not indicate any price!

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Visvesvaraya- the Hyderabad Connection

Visvesvaraya- the Hyderabad Connection
By Narendra Luther

Mokshagundam Visvesaraya was one of those rare persons who dazzle the world by their versatility, vision and integrity. From the Sindh river (now in Pakistan) in the west to the Mahanadi river in the east; from the Ganga in the north to the Kaveri in the south he tapped many a river to quench human thirst, to irrigate parched tracts of land, and to supply energy to homes and to industries. From Aden to Hyderabad, he left the imprint of his giant strides in urban planning and renewal.

Born in 1962 to a Telugu family settled in Mysore, he lost his father at an early age and was brought up by an uncle. A topper in the University, he joined as an engineer in the Bombay Presidency. His technical knowledge, innovativeness, dedication and integrity were recognized and he earned out-of-turn promotions even over Europeans. However, realizing that he wouldn’t become chief engineer – a post reserved for the British -- he resigned two years before he was due to retire and proceeded to Europe for a tour.

The Musi Flood of 1908:

Meanwhile Hyderabad had its worst flood in history in 1908.
It occurred on Monday, the 28th September and was caused by a cyclonic storm in the Bay of Bengal. A cloud-burst developed at mid-night over an extensive area. Rain descended in sheets flooding small tanks and overburdening their weirs. Resultantly, 221 of the 788 tanks in the catchment area breached. In one day the rainfall recorded was 32.5 centimeters, which was more than double the maximum ever recorded earlier.

The flood rose about 16 feet in less than three-and-a-half hours. All the four bridges were over-topped and their parapet walls were carried away. The approaches to the oldest bridge, the Purana Pul were damaged but the bridge itself did not suffer any damage. The newest, that is, the Afzal Bridge suffered most.

More than two-and-a-half square kilometers of thickly populated area were devastated on the north bank and about half of that on the south bank. Nearly, 19,000 houses collapsed and about 80,000 people, roughly one quarter of the entire population of the city, were left homeless. About 15,000 lives were lost and property worth 3 crore rupees was destroyed.

The Nizam’s Gesture

An interesting sidelight of the tragedy was that the sixth Nizam, Mir Mehboob Ali Khan willingly performed the arti of goddess Bhawani to placate her since she was believed to have caused the flood. He also threw open his palaces to the victims and official feeding was organized for them.

Against the British move to send an English expert, it was decided to seek Visvesvarya’s advice on measures to prevent the recurrence of such a tragedy. A cable was sent to him in Italy to return to India.

He came on two conditions -- that he would be paid the same salary as an Englishman, and that he would be given full freedom to employ anyone he liked. Those conceded, he got down to the job with his customary thoroughness. He collected the data of rainfall in the neighbouring Bombay and Madras provinces and studied the figures of heavy rainfall in different parts of the world.

Visvesvaraya stayed in Hyderabad only seven months – one of the briefest stays anywhere.

Osman Sagar & Himayat Sagar

He submitted his report on 1st October 1909. In it he recommended permanent flood prevention works which included the bunding of the river. He also suggested the establishment of a City Improvement Board and recommended an allocation of 2 million rupees per year for the next six years for flood prevention and city improvement works. It was the first time since the founding of the city in 1591 that any scheme of urban renewal was undertaken. Most of the city walls were damaged in the floods were not reconstructed. Hyderabad, therefore, ceased to be a walled city and emerged into the open. The area between the Char Minar and the Musi was reconstructed. A wide bazar was planned and one can see the contrast, which the Pathargatti Bazar offers to the narrow 16th-century Lad Bazar standing perpendicular to it. A City Improvement Board was established in 1912 and that inaugurated the era of modern town planning.

From Hyderabad, Visvesvaraya went to Mysore where he was appointed chief engineer. After three years as chief engineer, he became the Dewan of Mysore and served the State in that capacity for six years – till 1918.

Reforms in Mysore

As Dewan he inaugurated an era of reforms and all-round development in Mysore. He established the Mysore University, the first in any Indian state, and the Mysore State Bank. He constructed the Krishnaraja Sagar dam -- then biggest in India. He initiated the scheme of free and compulsory primary education in 68 centres with the aim of doubling the number in five years. He advocated the concept of five-year planning with the objective of doubling the national income every decade. For India to progress, he suggested reduced dependence on agriculture and advocated industrialization of the country. To that end he prepared a scheme for the establishment of an automobile factory. The British thwarted this proposal. He protested. The aircraft industry in Bangalore owes its existence to his proposal. He organized the first Economic Conference in 1911, which became an annual feature thereafter. His crusade for development suffered a setback when he had to resign in 1918 due to differences with the Maharaja.

However, that did not end his career; on the other hand, it only expanded it. Now the whole country began to call upon his services from time to time. And he responded – without any fees or honorarium.

Visvesvarayya and Gandhi:

He differed with Mahatma Gandhi on the question of industrialization. He also advised the Mahatma to wear a better dress than his langoti. That led Rajaji to quip that tVisveswarayya’s clothes were so well ironed that one couldn’t say whether they were ironed before or after he got into them!

‘A Rough Guide to Wants’:

In 1930 submitted a comprehensive city development plan for Hyderabad. It covered an area of about 2/3rd of the present area of the Municipal Corporation. Unfamiliar with the latter-day jargon of town planners, he called it ‘ a rough guide to the wants that should be provided for’.

That report ushered in an era of comprehensive urban planning for the city. His ‘rough guide’ can be considered a precursor of the Master Plan of Hyderabad promulgated in 1975. It is interesting to note that most of the features of the statutory Master Plan and some of the schemes of the Mega City were forestalled by Visvesvaraya more than 60 years ago -- including ring roads, zoning plans and even the circular railway and the ‘necklace road’ around Hussain Sagar, though he did not used that term.

Salar Jung I modernized the administration of Hyderabad in the 19th Century. He was, however, not allowed even to blacktop the roads inside the walled city because of Nizam’s fear that it would facilitate the entry of the British into the city. It therefore fell to Visvesvaraya’s lot to herald the era of urban planning at the beginning of the 20th Century. Any one interested in the problems of the city can not but marvel at the insights and the farsight that he brought to bear upon his proposals to improve the prevailing urban situation. His signal contributions in various fields serve to underline the point that one doesn’t have to be an ‘expert’ to devise solutions to human problems.

India’s highest civilian honour, ‘Bharat Ratna’ was conferred upon him in 1955. It is one of the few instances in which the honour was fully deserved.

Loaded with honours, Visvsvesaraya lived to cross the Vedic span of 100 years. He died in 1962 at the age of 102. Very few people can boast of so much achievement and more fulfilled life.

Freedom from the cycle of birth and death is the ultimate aim of every Hindu. Once when Visvesavaya was asked if he would like to be reborn, he replied: “Yes, with pleasure”.

The pleasure would indeed be of the country and the community in which he is reborn. For, according, to the theory of rebirth, he would start from the level at which he left off in his previous birth.

It is not given to us to know when and where he would take his new birth. It doesn’t seem to have happened so far. Not in India at least!

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A Living Legend

Legends and anecdotes of Hyderabad-52

A Living Legend
By Narendra Luther

Raj Bahadur Gour belongs to a Kayasth family which had settled here some generations ago. Born in 1918, he was a very bright student who always stood first and earned scholarships in every class. Out of his scholarship money he started a reading room and a library in 1934. In 1939, he joined the Communist Party wen it was established in Hyderabad. The next year he became a member of the Comrades' Association. In 1941, when he was studying medicine, he was elected vice-president of the students' union and editor of his college magazine.

Medicine to politics

In October 1946, Raj Bahadur Gour participated in the Anti-Repression Day. Resultantly, along with many of his colleagues, he was arrested on November, 15, 1946.

Restless and impatient, he could not submit to the confines of the prison. A conspiracy was hatched. He and Jawad Razvi started complaining of recurrent fever. They were examined by Dr. Bankat Chander, who found apparently nothing wrong with them. However, he suggested that their teeth might be checked. Dr. Morris, the dentist at the Osmania Hospital, was asked to treat them. He said the equipment could not be brought to the jail and that the patient would have to be sent to the hospital. The dental clinic was on the ground floor and it opened onto the Begum Bazar from the back. They were taken to the clinic on 7th May, 1947.

That was the day Jaya Prakash Narayan was visiting Hyderabad and so most of the police were busy in that connection. A number of comrades in disguise stood in a queue as patients outside the clinic. When the escorting policemen tried to accompany the two detainees inside the clinic, those standing in the queue objected to their breaking the line. They also said the patients could go in but not the police men. The two patients were sent alone inside, and after the treatment, they escaped through the back door to Begum Bazar. There a car stood waiting for them. From there they were driven to Asif Nagar where the car was changed. There the two separated. From that day Raj remained underground for four years.

Escape and arrest

On 24 April, 1951 while drinking water from a pond in a jungle at Devarkonda, Raj was captured and he spent the next thirteen months in jail. During that period he was subjected to torture and was placed in the condemned prisoner's cell. For some times he was in the company of some of the officers who had been detained in the Central Jail after the Police Action. Raj, with some of them who were literary-minded, set up a 'Shaw's Corner' in the jail. There they used to discuss literary topics.

Raj was also one of those who were in favour of the withdrawal of the armed struggle after the Police Action, but once the Party decided otherwise, he scrupulously followed the line.

It was during the Telangana Armed Struggle that he met and married Brij Rani who was also a bold Party worker.

His house

A slum had developed in Chikkadpalli near the big drain. The authorities planned to evict the squatters when Brij Rani stepped in and stopped it. The grateful people offered one of the huts to Brij Rani and Raj, and that is how they got a roof over their head. In 1982, their daughter , Tamara, who is a Russia-trained physician, built a small pucca house there. Raj called it "Chambeli Ka Mandwa" after the famous poem of his friend and colleague, Makhdoom Mohiuddin. Once when communal riots broke out, Raj jumped between the two factions and said they could cross that point only over his dead body. Since then no incident has taken place there.
Trade unionism and literature are his two loves and when he is not settling labour disputes, he is either reading or writing. Since 1970, he has been vice-president of All India Trade Union Congress. Alongside, he has written three books of literacy criticism in Urdu. Raj rose to be a member of the Politbureau of the Party and was a member of the Rajya Sabha for a decade. But he remains rooted to his original slum and his people. Like Makhdoom, he has lead a very clean political life. He has no love for money.

Member of Parliament

When he was a member of Parliament, a visitor had come to offer him some money. At that point , Tamara, a child of eight, came asking for some money. Raj said he did not have any and asked her brusquely to go away. The visitor felt that there was an opening and gave her a rupee. "That was the only time that he ever slapped me " recollects Tamara. She adds that financially the family was in bad shape, but she did not miss money because 'Makhdoom uncle' always brought her whatever she needed. And she seldom needed anything costlier than a copy book or indulged in a greater a luxury than an ice-cream.

Raj got the Bahadur Shah Zafar Award in 1991 for his outstanding service to the cause of Urdu. He found that it carried a cash award of Rs. 25, 000 with it. Perplexed, he asked Tamara what he'd do with so much money!

She discreetly suggested that he could discharge some of his debts. That reminded him that he owned her some amount -- a loan which he had not been able to repay. There were other creditors too. He discharged all his debts and was still left with about Rs. 10, 000. That amount went to the Makhdoom Trust.

Makhdoom, ten years his senior, was his mentor and his bosom friend. They drank and sang and agitated together. There is not an occasion when Raj does not remember him till today. Like him he also loves to tease people and to dominate the company. He has a quick wit. He is blunt his words do not leave any bitterness even after he has said the harshest thing. He immediately cancels the hurt with a charming remark.

Raj looks back at his life and says, " How strange and stupid we were in so many situations." But that does not mean he has any regrets. He believes that the Telangana Armed Struggle was the confluence of three streams: economics, politics and cultural; and it was inevitable in those circumstance for it to come about and for young men and women to join it. He is still involved in his mission - of ameliorating the conditions of the working class. That struggle will never end for him.

He is now the Vice Chairman of the National Council for the Promotion of Urdu Language established by the Government of India. He travels extensively for various causes still dear to his heart

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Two Courageous Journalists

Legends and Anecdotes of Hyderabad-48

Two Courageous Journalists
By Narendra Luther

We have talked about a cross-section of Muslims who had the courage to oppose the razakars in the Hyderabad of 1940’s. Mention must be made of two prominent journalists who voiced their opposition boldly.

Qazi Abdul Gaffar

One of them was Qazi Muhammad Abdul Gaffar. He was born in a well-to-do family of Muradabad in UP in 1889. His ancestors were qazis under the Mughals. In 1857, for giving refuge to a Mughal prince his grand father was executed and his property was confiscated. Later, he was exonerated posthumously and the property was restored to the family.
Abdul Gaffar’s father was in the good books of the British and was awarded the title of Khan Bahadur. However, Abdul Gaffar did not like the British. After his studies, he took a job but fell out with his British superior and left it. Thereafter he took up import and export work but lost money in it. He then turned to journalism. In 1931 he came to Hyderabad and started an Urdu daily Payam. It was a progressive paper and was opposed both to the prevalent feudal system and the communalism of the Ittehad Party. Because of that he earned the enmity of the reactionary and communal elements in the State. But he remained steadfast in his views.
When Sir Mirza Ismail became the Prime Minister of Hyderabad in 1947, Qazi Abdul Gaffar was appointed Director of Information. But after the exit o Sir Mirza, he lost that job.

Warning to [Nizam]

He left Hyderabad in 1947. At the time of his departure, he wrote a letter to the Nizam running into in to twenty-one foolscap pages. In that he warned the Nizam against what he called the ‘dictatorship of the political charlatans’ who, under the guise of protecting the rights of their co-religionists were in fact trying to establish a Fascist domination over the Nizam. They were exploiting the Nizam as a pawn in their game of power politics. He said that his corrupt bureaucracy, was aligned with communal elements. Everything happening had the alleged backing and support of the Nizam. He recalled that he had pleaded with him for a fair and just government, but in vain. If the Nizam favoured one community, the Qazi warned, it would lead to civil war. Nothing less than responsible government could save the Nizam’s position .His refusal to do so would ‘mean utter disregard of public welfare’.

Referring to the fire-eating leader of the razakars, Kasim Razvi, he charged that his ‘constant provocation drenched in angry threats and dripping with humiliating ridicule and contempt has served as nothing else could have done to rouse the complaisant Hindu...The Hindu majority of the State has been goaded into action by constant pinpricks and reckless shouting of the Majlis leaders, who encouraged by Your Exalted Highness’s support and much advertised patronage and the deplorable inactivity of the Government, have gone too far to recede.’ He deplored the treatment meted out successively to Sir Akbar Hydari, the Nawab of Chhattari, and Sir Mirza Ismail. He prophesied ‘that the final outcome of the negotiations is not going to be much different from what Sir Mirza envisages.’
He concluded his forceful and brilliant analysis by advising the Nizam to adopt ‘the self-evident maxim that no ruler can rule without the support of the public opinion representing the majority of his subjects’.

It is easy to guess what would have happened to the author of such a letter if he were still in Hyderabad. But by the time the letter was delivered to the Nizam the redoubtable journalist was out of his reach. The Nizam fretted and fumed, but paid no heed to the contents of the letter. The consequence of that is now a part of history.

Shoebullah Khan

Amongst the journalists who did honour to their calling, and even went to the extent of laying down in his life for the cause that he espoused, was a young handsome journalist.
Shoebullah Khan, born in Hyderabad in 1920, was a fierce opponent of communal fanaticism. He had worked successively in the Urdu Taj weekly and the Rayyat daily, both of which were banned for championing the cause of responsible government in Hyderabad. He then started a daily, the Imroz through which he exposed the atrocities of the razakars and the police. Through his bold writings, he maintained the tempo of popular struggle against the government. He thus earned the ire of the Ittehad Party and the Razakars. In a speech on 19 August 1948 Kasim Razvi warned that any hand raised against the honour of Muslims would be cut off. Defying that threat, on 21 August 1948, Shoeb wrote an editorial criticizing the stand of the Ittehad and advocating the accession of the State with India. That night, when he and his brother-in-law, Isamil Khan were going home after work, some razakars accosted them. While two men engaged Shoebullah in conversation, another shot Shoebullah from behind with a revolver. Ismail was attacked with swords. Shoeb fell on the ground. Then, as if in fulfillment of Razvi’s threat, Shoebullah’s right hand was cut off.
That was the last great offering made in the struggle for the accession of Hyderabad to India. Less than a month later, Hyderabad became a part of India.
Till recently, his death anniversary was observed as the Martyr’s Day. But now he is forgotten.

Gaffar’s Frustration

Gaffar returned to Hyderabad after the Police Action. He then saw that the erstwhile underdogs had become got the upper hand. Some of them turned upon not only the earlier perpetrators of excesses but also on some innocent members of the minority community. They now sought protection. Some fled to safer places, and some migrated to Pakistan. Qazi Abdul Gaffar and Pandit Sunder Lal toured the State and conducted an inquiry into the alleged excesses committed against the minority community. Their report was submitted to the Government of India.

Qazi Abdul Gaffar expired in 1956 at Aligarh. None of his male offspring survived. Of his two daughters, one Fatima and her husband Alam Ali Khan, in their seventies, stay in Banjara Hills. Their three children are in Canada.
It is a different world today.

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The Tables Turned

Legends and Anecdotes of Hyderabad-50

The Tables Turned
By Narendra Luther

B.P.R. Vithal, an I.A.S officer who retired as principal secretary of the Finance Department of the Government of Andhra Pradesh and then served as a member of the 10th Finance Commission was, at the time of Police Action, a young man of 21, studying at Madras (now Chennai).

Arbitrary Removal

His father, Ram Narsu was an assistant professor in the Nizam College. He was an outspoken non-conformist and did not hesitate to utilize his lecture on British history to underline the justification of the aspiration for freedom amongst Indians. The principal, an Englishman called Turner, did not like him and terminated his service one day on the plea that post had ceased to exist.

Narsu’s wife was a good veena player and that had brought her close to Laila, wife of Hasan Latif, a chief engineer in the Hyderabad State. He was and father of Air Chief Marshall I.H. Latif, who became the Chief of Staff of the Indian Air Force, and later served as governor of Maharashtra, and ambassador to France. She was the niece of Sir Akbar Hydari and, on the death of her father, had been brought up by him. She sought Sir Akbar’s intercession in the case of the termination of Narsu’s services. Seeing the injustice and arbitrariness on the part of the principal, Sir Akbar ordered Narsu’s immediate reinstatement.
Father or son

Vithal, meanwhile, had finished his schooling at the Aliya, and joined the Nizam College. A keen, sensitive student, Vithal became interested in politics and took part in the ‘Quit India’ Movement launched by Mahatma Gandhi in 1942. He also used to wear khadi. The new principal of the college, Khader Hussain Khan did not approve of his conduct. His warning to Vithal having failed, he called Narsu and told him about his son’s ‘undesirable’ activities. He then gave him an ultimatum: ”One of you will have to leave the college -- you or your son.”

The father mentioned this to the son. Vithal said that the father needed to stay in Hyderabad to provide for the family. Therefore, he would go away. He then went and joined the Christian College at Madras. He found comparatively greater freedom to indulge in his innocent politics in the then British Indian Presidency of Madras.

Like some sensitive young people, Vithal started maintaining a private journal in which he recorded what seemed to be important incidents to him and his observation on various matters.

Safe-keeping

In Hyderabad and around, tension had started mounting in 1948. Razakars began to pose a threat to citizens who did not share their ideology of establishing an independent Islamic state in Hyderabad. Ram Narsu, anticipating the danger ahead, called a student of his, Makhdoom Ali Khan. He was an active member of the Razakar Party – the Majlis–e-Ittehad-ul-Mussalmeem. At that time he was its treasurer. Narsu asked him whether he would keep his jewelry and valuable in safe custody, just in case...

Makhdoom readily agreed. Narsu then gave him a packet.

“Don’t worry, Sir", replied Makhdoom respectfully, as he took the packet, "Insha Allah, everything will be alright."

From the newspapers in Madras in September 1948, Vithal gathered that something serious was in the offing. He therefore decided to pay a visit to his parents. He took the train from Madras on 11 September and found that train services from Vijayawada to Secunderabad had been cancelled. The train was diverted via Wadi. On the early morning of the 12th, three Razakars with third class tickets got into Vithal’s second class compartment at Wadi. No one objected. Vithal heard them say that Jinnah had died that day. Vithal reached home on the evening of the 12th to the mild surprise of his family.

The Police Action

The Indian forces moved into the State early next morning. Vithal was lucky. Now he wondered what would happen and how long he would be stuck in Hyderabad.
On the 17th when the Nizam read his surrender speech over the radio, Vithal noted in his journal that he tried to sound innocent as if he had been misled. ‘The Nizam is the villain of the piece, though Seshu (his cousin whom he later married) and Indu don’t agree.’

The next day Vithal went to the telegraph office to send a telegram to his relatives in Vijayawada to inform them that the family was safe. As he stood in a queue, a Muslim youth walked in nonchalantly to the head of the line. Vithal told him that there was a queue and that he should not break it. The young man quietly withdrew and stood behind Vithal. That night Vithal recorded the incident in his journal and added a comment: ‘Can you imagine my doing such a thing a few days ago!’

Return of the Trust

The same afternoon Makhdoom Ali Khan came to Ram Narsu. He returned the packet of jewellry, which had been in his safekeeping to his teacher. Then, rather sheepishly he handed Ram Narsu another packet.
“What is this?” the teacher asked in wonder.

“Sir, now it is my turn to request you to keep our jewellry in safe custody with you. If you don’t mind...”.

The gentle teacher’s voice choked as he accepted the packet and absorbed the implications of changed circumstances. He patted the young man reassuringly and said, ‘Don’t worry. With God’s grace things will be alright.’
In due course, the packet was returned to the owner in tact.

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Rival of the Seventh Nizam

Legend and anecdotes of Hyderabad - 49


Rival of the Seventh Nizam
By Narendra Luther

If the sixth Nizam of Hyderabad, Mir Mehboob Ali Khan had not died at the comparatively young age of 43 in 1911, the history of Hyderabad would have been entirely different. Instead of Mir Osman Ali Khan, probably his half-brother, Mir Ahmed Mohiuddin, later known as Salabat Jah would have become the seventh Nizam.

The Ninth Son

The prince was born in 907 to Ujjala Begum, the favourite wife of the sixth Nizam. He had eight sons before Mohiuddin, but all of them except Mir Osman Ali Khan had died in their infancy. Mohiudddin also had a sister, Ahmedunissa Begum who was four years junior to him.

Mir Osman Ali Khan was born in 1886 and thus was 21 years older than his half-brother. It was widely held that Mir Osman Ali Khan was not the son of the sixth Nizam. since his mother was already carrying when the sixth Nizam took her into his harem. So when a son was born to the Begum, it was expected that he would be made the heir- apparent. Ujjala Begum demanded that from her husband. He put her off saying where was the hurry. She kept up her demand and one day was so insistent the decision be made without delay that the harassed husband stomped out of the Purani Haveli and drove off to the Falak Numa Palace. There he went into a drinking binge for three days. That resulted in a coma from which he never recovered. His death the age of 43 sealed the issue and the infant prince lost whatever chance he had of inheriting the gaddi.

Controversy about succession

Many nobles of the State also believed that Salabat Jah and not Mir Osman Ali Khan was entitled to succeed Nizam VI. On the latter’s death in 1911, a plea was made to the Viceroy that Salabat Jah was the rightful heir. Some signatures of nobles, including that of Maharaja Kishen Pershad were forged and appended to the petition. It was because of the alleged involvement of Maharaja Kishen Pershad in that ‘conspiracy’ that he lost his prime ministership on the accession of Mir Osman Ali Khan as the seventh Nizam.

Later, however, an inquiry revealed that the Maharaja and some others were not a party to the conspiracy. It was all the mischief of a junior police officer who wanted to curry favour with the new dispensation by vilifying some of the nobles. It took the Maharaja a quarter of a century to reestablish his credentials and regain his old job.

We have earlier seen how Nawab Shahab Jung helped the new Nizam establish his authority over the nobility. In that process the redoubtable Nawab himself became a victim and had to withdraw into a shell till his death.

Nizam’s treatment of the prince

The new Nizam then proceeded to strengthen his position. He was 25 and the pretender was an innocent infant of four. The Nizam ordered his step mother Ujjala Begum and her two children to move to a building in the compound of the King Kothi which was his residence so that he could keep a close watch over them.

The Nizam conferred the title of Salbat Jah on his infant half-brother and made arrangements for his education. The prince grew in a very restricted and ‘protected’ atmosphere. His visitors were screened and his mail was subjected to censor.

Prince’s girl friend

He grew into a handsome young man given to brooding and writing poetry. In his early youth a young Bengali girl, Leila Wellinker, charmed the prince. She was junior to him by eleven years. They were engaged, but the Nizam was opposed to the match and so the marriage had to be called off. The dejected prince then left on a trip to Europe.

Later, Salar Jung III, the founder of the Museum named after him fell in love with her. The chivalrous prince wrote: 'Never mind, I shall compose a sehra on the marriage!' However, that marriage also did not take place and Salar Jung too died a bachelor.

The prince was a dandy, a poet, and a singer with a weakness for the bottle. As a poet he sported the pen name of ‘Nashad’ Asifi- which means ‘the unhappy Asif Jah’.

Friendship with Mirza

The introvert prince found s friend in Aga Hyder Hasan Mirza, a man of regal bearing, and a professor of Urdu. He was descended from the royal Mughal family and could easily pass off as the last Mughal emperor. The prince used to pour out his heart to him in person and in letters. The Nizam did not approve of his meeting many people including the professor. They therefore had to be discreet. In order to be able to meet his friend more frequently and openly, once he had it proposed to the Nizam that the Mirza be appointed his tutor. The Nizam did not approve the proposal and instead advised the prince that he should meet him less often. The prince had therefore to resort to letter writing. Mirza kept those letters in safe custody . After his death, 78 letters were found amongst his papers. Of these, seventy were from the prince and six from Ujjala Begum to Mirza. Eleven of them are in English and the rest in Urdu. Mirza’s daughter, Mehrunissa Hussain has compiled these letters. That makes a good a portrait of the Prince and his times.

Sense of humour

The Prince had a good sense of humour. He derived comfort from the fact that his frustrations were not as great as those of the Nizam at not getting the Berars back from the British or of Mahatma Gandhi in not getting ‘Swaraj’. When he got an attack of piles in Europe, he wrote to Mirza that he had a visit from Nawab Bawaseer Jung. About his neglect by the Nizam, he wrote rather bitterly that, ‘Every dog is the tiger of his lane. If he is the Shah of his palace, this humble being too is the fakir of his hovel.’

The unhappy prince who might have been the Nizam of Hyderabad died at the age of 27 in 1934. His only sister died fifteen days later and that extinguished one line completely.

We are left wondering at the ironies of fate.

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