Afraid –neither of Nizam, nor of Indira

Legends & anecdotes of Hyderabad – 47


Afraid –neither of Nizam, nor of Indira
By Narendra Luther

As we have seen, there were many Muslims in Hyderabad who opposed the political policy of the last Nizam in the ‘40s, which were dictated largely by the razakars. These courageous men supported the demand of the majority of the population for responsible government, and accession to India.

Mir Akbar Ali Khan was one such outstanding person. He was born in 1899, to Mehboob Ali Khan, a minor jagirdar in Bidar and the commander of one of the irregular troops of the Nizam. In 1919 as a graduate student of the Aligarh Muslim University, he came under the influence of Mahatma Gandhi and gave up his studies to join the non-Cooperation Movement. Later he completed his graduation from the Osmania University. Thereafter, he went to England and became a barrister from the Middle Temple, London. He returned to Hyderabad and set up his practice in 1927.

Devout Muslim

He was a devout Muslim. Every Thursday he would get up at four in the morning and walk up to the Dargah-e- Yusufain to offer his Morning Prayer. For seventy-five years he attended without fail the annual urs at Ajmer. Yet he was without a trace of religious bias. He personified true secularism.

In 1929, as a reaction against the communal policies of the Nizam’s Government, he joined some others like Padmaja Naidu, B. Ramakrishna Rao, Baqar Ali Mirza, Madapati Hanumantha Rao, Ali Yawar Jung, M. Ramachander Rao, M.H. Jafferi and Fazalur Rehman and set up a body called ‘Society of Union and Progress’. The name and inspiration for it was derived from Mustafa Kemal Ataturk of Turkey. No one belonging to any communal party was accepted as its member. The members signed a pledge affirming their belief in responsible government. It had a small membership, was moderate in its outlook, and had a limited impact.

Legislator

Akbar was elected Mayor of Hyderabad and later, a member of the State Legislative Council. He believed that the State was conservative but not communal till the advent of the Ittehad party, particularly under Kasim Razvi. He felt that there were a number of secular persons but they were not willing to take any risk to rectify the situation. Razvi was crude and insensitive but capable of rousing mass hysteria. Mir Akbar Ali Khan met the Nizam several times. The latter listened to him, but according to Akbar, did not react.

Razvi offered him the prime ministership of Hyderabad after the departures of the Nawab of Chhattari in 1946 on condition that he join the Ittehad party. Akbar turned down the offer.

In 1948, on the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, he organized a public meeting. Razvi disrupted the meeting and his razakars assaulted Akbar. For his protest against the atrocities of the razakars he was constantly harassed. Every evening a group of ruffians used to come and chant murdabad slogans outside his residence in Saifabad. But Akbar remained firm in his resolve.

Joins Congress

After the Police Action, when Hyderabad became part of India, Mir Akbar Ali Khan joined the Congress party. He was the Vice-President of the Reception Committee of the State Congress when its session was held in Hyderabad in 1949. In 1956 he was elected to the Rajya Sabha and served for three consecutive terms spanning eighteen years. Out of that for eleven years he was its Vice-Chairman.

He was an ardent social worker and a builder of institutions. He started the Hyderabad Polytechnic by donating 15 acres of his land at Ramantapur, and 50000 rupees in cash. It was renamed after Jawaharlal Nehru after Nehru’s death. He was also one of the founder members of the Industrial Exhibition of Hyderabad. In 1975 he collected donations in cash and kind for the establishment of the ‘Yusuf Baba Ward’ in the Nampally Hospital. He also founded the ‘Old Boys Association of the Aligarh Muslim University. He used to organize help and relief for widowed women to last them for five years. He was awarded Padma Bhushan.

Strong principles

In 1972 he was appointed Governor of Uttar Pradesh. Mrs. Gandhi, the e Prime Minister felt that he was not helping her put down the then Chief Minister, Bahuguna. He was transferred to Orissa in 1974. In April 1976, his old friend and the renowned Socialist leader, Jaya Prakash Narayan visited Orissa. Akbar invited him for dinner at the Raj Bhavan. Mrs. Gandhi had clamped Emergency on the country and ‘JP’ was fiercely opposing it. Mrs. Gandhi considered him her enemy. One of her aides rang up the Akbar advising him to cancel the dinner. Akbar replied that he was inviting an old friend privately and could not cancel the dinner. He was told that the Prime Minister was not happy about it. He replied that he noted that. That evening the two friends had dinner together. The next morning Mir Akbar Ali Khan sent his resignation as the Governor of Orissa and returned to Hyderabad. He had the good grace not to give any reason.

In Hyderabad he continued to exhibit immense energy and goodwill and immersed himself in social, cultural and educational causes.

In 1994, just short of five years of a century of a life devoted to public causes, Nawab Mir Akbar Ali Khan passed away into history. He had four children out of whom three are alive. The eldest, Riazat Ali Khan served the UN and later took up business. He is settled in Switzerland.

The second daughter, Faizunissa became Hyderabad’s second lady advocate. She tended her father with great devotion after her mother’s death in 1960 and was his constant companion and hostess. She continues her father’s tradition of social service. Her son, Ishaq Anwar is an electronics engineer and runs an ad agency. The daughter, Waseem Kabir is an architect and an interior decorator.

The third, a daughter, Nayeem is a physician and is settled in Canada.

I had the privilege of knowing this man of great courage, rectitude -- and warm affection, and I cherish the association.


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Civil Servant to Prime Minister

Legends and Anecdotes of Hyderabad

Civil Servant to Prime Minister
By Narendra Luther


Of the 40 Prime Ministers who served the Nizams of Hyderabad, only three were from outside the State. Out of them only one – Akbar Hydari -- was a civil servant in British India.

He was born in 1869 to Seth Nazar Ali Hydari, a Suleimani Bohra businessman of Bombay. His mother was the sister of Badruddin Tayabji, a judge of the Bombay High Court, who later became the president of the Indian National Congress at its third session in Madras in 1887.

Appointment in Hyderabad

After his graduation, Akbar joined the Finance Department of the Government of India and served at Nagpur, Lahore, Alahabad, Bombay, and Madras. In 1905 he was deputed to Hyderabad as Accountant General. Two years later, he was promoted as Finance Secretary. In 1911 he became Home Secretary.

He stayed in what is now called Dilkusha Guest House and is located next to the Raj Bhavan. This building overlooked the Hussain Sagar Lake and had a beautiful rock garden at the back.

Akbar Hydari was responsible for the establishment of the Osmania University in 1918. It was the first university in which the medium of instruction was an Indian language -- Urdu. Beside the University he also had the High Court building constructed. He also established the State Archeology Department which undertook the preservation of many archaeological remains in the State.

He became a Minister in 1921 and held successively the portfolios of Finance, Home and Railways. A landmark reform — first in India -- the separation of judiciary from the executive was effected in Hyderabad in 1922. The Hyderabad Civil Service was established on the pattern of the Indian Civil Service in British India. An Industrial Trust Fund was created for the industrialization of the State. The first public sector unit – Road Transport -- was established in Hyderabad. In 1928 he was knighted and was thereafter known as Sir Akbar Hydari. He was also made a Privy Councilor He represented Hyderabad in three Round Table Conferences in London from 1930 onwards.

The Nizam’s two sons, the Prince of Barar and the Junior Prince were married to the daughter and niece respectively of the deposed Caliph of Turkey on 12th November, 1931 in Nice in France. The Nizam did not attend the joint wedding. Sir Akbar led the delegation comprising the grooms’ party.

As Premier

Sir Akbar Hydari succeeded Maharaja Kishen Pershad as Prime Minister in 1936. The decade of 30’s was a difficult period in the history of Hyderabad. As in the rest of India, political consciousness had risen to new heights. There was demand for responsible and representative government by the people at large. The Arya Samaj and the Hindu Maha Sabha had started agitation against the Nizam. The Indian National Congress was banned even before its establishment in 1938. That led to a good deal of correspondence between Sir Akbar Hydari and Mahatma Gandhi on the subject of political reforms in the State. In spite of their different political standpoints, which could not be reconciled, their correspondence was polite and charming. In one of his letters Mahatma Gandhi enquired about the health of Lady Hydari. In reply, Sir Akbar informed him that Jagadguru Shankaracharya was treating her. In the issue of 17 September 1938 of the Harijan, Mahatma Gandhi referred to Sir Akbar as ‘a great educationist.... and a philosopher...’

The Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Musalmeen declared in 1938 that in Hyderabad sovereignty belonged to the Muslims community. The Nizam was merely its symbol.

Sir Akbar naturally did not feel at ease in the atmosphere of clashing views and aggressive declarations.

After five years as Prime Minister, his relations with the Nizam seemed to have cooled off. One reason for that was that Akbar could not get the Berar back to the Nizam. In 1941 he was appointed a member of the Executive Council of the Viceroy. The Nizam gave him the title of Hyder Nawaz Jung and relieved him. He was not very happy at going to Delhi. Soon after going to Delhi, he passed away in 1942. His body was brought back to Hyderabad and buried in the Bohra graveyard in Hussaini Alam.

He was a kind person and very simple in his habits. He made people feel at ease with him. On the death of his brother, he adopted his three children and brought them up as his own.

He was a devout Muslim but many people have testified to his broad, liberal outlook. His house was somewhat of a cultural centre and artists and writers used to visit it frequently. Ravi Shankar’s elder brother, Uday Shankar came and stayed with him.

He offered his farmland in Shamsabad for housing the Aurobindo Ashram, which was later established at Pondicherry

In order to facilitate instruction in Urdu in the Osmania University, a Bureau of Translation was established and many men of letters from all over India were appointed to translate important books from other languages into Urdu. One such person was the great poet Josh Malihabadi. Josh records in his autobiography that when he was presented to Hydari, Josh made an insolent remark about him. However, later when Josh was dismissed from service due to Nizam’s displeasure, Sir Akbar, ignoring the incident, sanctioned a pension of 1000 rupees a month to him.

Once, when the agitating students of the University marched to his residence, he arranged refreshments for them and thus cooled their tempers.

Lady Hydari was a woman of substance. She was involved n social service and was awarded the Kaiser e- Hind medal for her work during the Floods of the Musi in 1908. The Lady Hydari Club for women commemorates her. She passed away in 1940.

His Hobbies

Sir Akbar had two interests. He used to have boxing sessions with an American physical instructor Weber and the children found it quite amusing to see the burly American with the somewhat puny minister punching each other. His other hobby was collection of miniature paintings. He willed them to the Prince Albert Museum in Bombay, and the State Archaeological Museum at Hyderabad, which he had himself founded. Such of those as were not taken by either of these were given to his children.

He had four sons and two daughters. One of his sons -- his namesake -- rose to be the Governor of Assam. His adoptive daughter, Laila’s son, I.H. Latif became successively, Chief of Staff of the Indian Air Force, governor, and ambassador. His wife Bilkees, stepdaughter of Sir Akbar’s son, Ali has some of the miniature paintings and pieces of exquisitely carved furniture – mementos from a bygone era. And of course lots of fond memories.


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The Legendary Kotwal

Legends and Anecdotes of Hyderabad -44

The Legendary Kotwal
By Narendra Luther

The Commissioner of Police of the City of Hyderabad used to be called the ‘Kotwal’. It is one of the oldest offices and used to be the most powerful job in the Government. A number of foreign travelers to the city have made references to this office in their accounts.

The last Kotwal was also the first Hindu holder of this office. He served in this job for over 14 years and became a legend even during his life-time.

Venkatram Reddy was born in August 1869 in Rayanipet village of Wanaparthy estate in Mehboob Nagar district. His father was a Patel of some eight villages and was well off. He was a grand nephew of the then Raja of Wanaparthy. His mother died three days after his birth, and the father, when he was about five. His maternal uncle, William Wahab, then took care of him. (The name might suggest that he was Christian. That was not so. The Raja of Wanaparthy had employed a Catholic teacher to educate some of his boys. So the boys were given Christian names, and in deference to the Muslim ruler, Muslim surnames). He was educated in his village and then at Wanaparthy where he became a class-fellow of Raja Rameshwar Rao II.

Wahab was in the Police and he brought up Venkatram till his sixteenth year when, while serving at Raichur, Wahab died suddenly.

Venkatram stayed on at Raichur and became a ward of Wahab’s successor, a Pathan named Nazar Muhammad Khan. By now the young man had acquired some rudimentary education. Khan got him the job of Grade IV Amin ( ) in the Police. He was so puny and short that he stuffed his dress with cotton for the interview with the Chief of Police. The Chief saw through the trick, smiled, and took him in.

He served in various districts and because of his diligence rose gradually. While working at Nizamabad, he helped trace a British deserter from the army and was given a reward of eleven rupees. Hemkin, the Chief of State Police, adjudged him as the best officer in the state He was appointed head of the district police in 1901 and served in a number of districts including the Atraf-e-Balda – area around the city. His old class fellow who was now the Raja of Wanaparthy asked for his services as Secretary of the Estate, on promotion.

When Nawab Imadat Jung became the Kotwal of Hyderabad, he asked Venkatram to be appointed as his First Assistant. He worked in that capacity for six years and instituted many reforms in the city Police. Imadat Jung died in harness in 1920.

Suddenly, Venkatram was asked to see the Nizam. Although, he had worked in the Nizam’s Private Estate, he had never met the ruler before. He was therefore naturally very jittery. It was a Friday and when the Assistant Kotwal presented himself at the King Kothi. After his prayers, the Nizam looked up the nervous officer four or five times and then said, ‘Well, you can go’. The next day he was appointed the Kotwal. From then on he would see the Nizam not every day, but sometimes several times a day.

Venkatram Reddy handled his delicate job adroitly. Not only the Nizam, but also members of both the leading communities were very happy with them. That was a time when the Freedom Struggle was gaining strength. Hyderabad was engulfed by the Khilafat Movement. A group of agitators came from Ahmedabad and joined the local leaders in demonstration. The demonstration became violent and the doors and windows of the Residency court were smashed. Venkatram Reddy himself went to the site and persuaded the leaders to adopt peaceful means.

He also ensured peace at the Ganesh procession by making four policemen the bearers of the palanquin carrying the idol.

Venkatram did not know English. When the Prince of Wales was to visit Hyderabad, he started learning English. He use to practise speaking words and sentences loudly in his room. His orderly, not knowing the meaning, feared that his master had probably become insane. He rushed to the Police station to inform the officer there. On the second day of the Prince’s stay there was a banquet given by the Nizam. The Kotwal reached the palace ahead of the Prince, but was refused entry by the military, which was incharge of the security inside the palace. When the Prince arrived, there was no one who could guide his party to the right block. That caused acute embarrassment to the host and the guest. The Nizam then asked Venkatram to take total charge of the arrangements.


The Nizam gave him the title of Raja Bahadur on his birthday. A year later the British Government awarded him the Order of the British Empire.

After many extensions of service, he finally retired in 1934. In relaxation of rules for pension, instead of half his salary, he was given a pension of 1,000 rupees a month. Immrdiately thereafter, he was appointed Special Officer of the Nizam’s private estate. He was also made chairman of the Commission for Inquiry into the Indebtedness of the Sahibzadas.

Venkatram was one of those rare officials who get involved in social work. He persuaded the Reddy community to get educated and take up Government jobs. To facilitate their stay in Hyderabad, he established the Reddy Hostel through donations raised from the Rajas and leading landlords and businessmen. He also established the Reddy Women’s School. Since the
Osmania University did not grant recognition to a Telugu medium school; he got it affiliated to the Karve institute at Pune. Now the school has become a college. He also established a number of other educational and philanthropic institutions. As a member of the State Legislature, he supported the bills for the eradication of child marriage and for widow remarriage.

When he died in 1956, he had only thirty rupees in cash on his person. His first wife died a few months after the birth of his son, Ranga Reddy. His second wife had already two children. The daughter, Narsamma was married to a contractor who built Pathergatti. The son, Laxma Reddy did Bar-at Law, married two English ladies one after another and became a judge of the High Court. He had three sons and a daughter who are no more.

His own son became commissioner of excise and because of the job, was known as Abkari Ranga Reddy. A bachelor, he adopted Madhusudan Reddy as his son. Now going on seventy, this charming gentleman, lives in Banjara Hills. He is the sole surviving descendant of the last and great Kotwal of the city.

A statue of Vekatram Reddy stands in the circle opposite the YMCA at Narayanguda. He had given the institution the land.

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Vande Mataram and Hyderabad

Vande Mataram and Hyderabad
By Narendra Luther


Vande Mataram is in news these days. It has figured in Hyderabad’s history – in the thirties. It literally means ‘Salute to the Mother (land)’. It is a song written by the Bengali novelist, Bankim Chandra Chatterjee (1838-1894) in his novel: ‘Ananda Math’ in 1882. It consists of twenty-six lines in four stanzas. Aurobindo translated it into English verse in fifty lines, and Suresh Pant into Hindi in 27 lines. The first political occasion when Vande Mataram was sung was at the 1896 session of the Indian National Congress. Rabindranath Tagore scored the music for it.

The partition of Bengal in 1905 marked the beginning of the national awakening. Since then this song became very popular and has been sung at most political gatherings. The British authorities banned its singing in public. That however, did not prove very effective. The Congress Working Committee resolved that its first two stanzas could be sung in any public function. In 1937 a sub-committee consisting of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Jawahar Lal Nehru, Subhash Chandra Bose and Acharya Narendra Dev was constituted to examine in consultation with Rabindranath Tagore its suitability for the national anthem.

Mahatma Gandhi, writing in the Harijan of July 1, 1931, said that the song ‘enthralled’ him. He considered it as “Bengal’s gift amongst many others to the whole nation”. Nehru, speaking in the Constituent Assembly on August 25, 1948 said that the song “was intimately connected with our struggle for freedom. That position it is bound to retain and no other song can displace it. It represents the passions and poignancy of that struggle” and that “no other song can displace it.” The title of the song along with slogan ‘Inquilab Zindabad’ became the war cry of freedom fighters of India.

When the Congress launched its agitation in Hyderabad in 1938, ‘Vande Mataram’ became a popular slogan. Gradually the unrest spread to students. The lead came from Aurangabad where instead of the official anthem ‘God Preserve Osman’, sung compulsorily in schools, students began to sing Vande Mataram.

The Osmania University had three hostels. Each had two prayer halls – one for the Hindu students and the other for Muslims. In September 1938, the Hindu students started reciting the Vande Mataram song in their prayer halls. The authorities forbade it saying it was not a religious song and it offended the susceptibilities of the Muslim students. On their refusal to comply with the orders, the boarders were expelled from the hostels. They were evicted forcibly after 9'o clock in the evening. Police was posted in the university campus. The next morning, on learning about the expulsion of the boarders, the Hindu day-scholars went on strike. This crystallized their grievances. The protest now covered also the orders regarding compulsory official dress for the students, namely, the sherwani and pajama. Further, in the Ethics class for the Hindus, the books prescribed were written by non-Hindus, while for the Muslim students, the books were written by the Muslims. Another point for agitation was that while there were post-graduate classes in Arabic, Persian and Urdu, there were none for Sanskrit, Telugu, Marathi and Kannada. Objection was also taken to the derogatory reference to Hindus by the professor of religion, Mazhar-ul-Hassan Gilani on the occasion of the birthday of the Prophet in 1937. When Jinnah addressed the Students' Union of the University, he started by saying ‘My Muslim Students’.

When a delegation of the expelled students waited upon the then Prime Minister of the State, Sir Akbar Hydari, he admitted that there was nothing in the song that could hurt the Muslims, but advised that the song might be sung at social functions and not in the prayer hall. The students did not relent.

The University then rusticated the recalcitrant students. Some colleges both in the city and the districts followed suit. In all 850 students were rusticated, out of which 420 belonged to the city.

Sarojini Naidu’s son, Dr. Jaisoorya took the case to the Congress High Command and secured messages of support from Nehru and Subhash Chandra Bose. The latter said, “Don’t yield under any circumstances; the Government will come to terms. At least for six months the struggle should continue”. Mahatma Gandhi told the students: “You have every right to sing this national song in the Prayer Hall”

The Inter-University Board passed a resolution against the admission of the rusticated students to any university. Whereas the Andhra, Annamalai and the Benaras universities complied, the Vice Chancellor of the Nagpur University, Justice Kedar, offered to take all the rusticated students into his University by relaxing the rules of admission. He was accused of communal bias in that step. He replied, “ If Muslim students had been harassed on such imaginary grounds in a Hindu State, I would have admitted them unto the University. My support to genuine students’ cause is always there”.

Quite a number of the rusticated students later made a name in politics. The most prominent of them turned out to be P.V.Narasimha Rao from Warangal where he was born to a well-to-do agriculturist in 1921. He too went and joined the Nagpur University where he completed his graduation. Later, he took a degree in law from Poona. During his stay in Maharashtra, he also acquired a high degree of proficiency in Marathi. He became the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh and later the Prime Minister of India.

The song is now given equal importance with the national anthem- ‘Jana Gana Mana’ and is sung at most functions.

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A Swami in Politics

Legends & Anecdotes of Hyderabad – 42

A Swami in Politics
By Narendra Luther

The original name of Swami Ramananda Tirtha was Venkatesh Bhavu Rao Khedgikar. He was born on 3rd October, 1903 in a jagir village of Gulbarga district. His father led a wandering life as an ascetic and so Venkatesh was educated on the charities of relatives. He had to do menial work in the school mess to earn his keep. His ambition at an early age was to renounce the world become a sanyasi.

As a schoolboy he came under the influence of Lokmanya Tilak. On the day of the latter's death, he resolved to remain a celibate and to dedicate his life to the service of the nation. He defied the ban on the wearing of the Gandhi cap in the school and left his studies during Mahatma Gandhi's non-cooperation movement. Then he joined the Congress in the then Bombay state (now Maharashtra) and toured many villages.

At the age of 21 he resumed his interrupted education and finished his M.A. from Poona. He thesis was on the evolution of democracy. When other students played games, he either read books or meditated.

Thereafter he joined the trade union movement under the renowned labour leader, N.M.Joshi at Bombay. That enabled him to study at close quarters the living conditions of the poor in the slums of Bombay. Thus he acquired first-hand acquaintance with poverty and exploitation, both in rural as well as urban areas. While on a visit to Delhi in connection with his trade union work in the winter of 1926, he was struck by paraplegia –paralysis of the lower part of the body. It took him 18 months to make a reasonable recovery to regain his body movements.

In 1928 he was arrested for the first time for his trade union activities in Mumbai. After his release he found that his lingering physical disability affected his arduous trade union work. So in 1929, with Joshi's permission he left that field and became a headmaster of a school in Osmanbad. There, he says in his memoirs, he became aware of the repression of Hindus in the Hyderabad state. The Hindus wanted to start a high school. That required the permission of the government and it was not given. Then somebody found a loophole. A middle school existed there and no permission was needed to upgrade it. So donations were collected and, despite opposition from the government, a high school came into being with Tirtha as the headmaster.

On 14th January, 1930 he formally took sanyas and took the name and appellation of Swami Ramananda Tirtha by which he became famous. He started subsisting only on alms and devoted himself fully to the cause of education.

In 1937, he was invited to the State Educational Conference in Hyderabad. Here he analysed the prevailing political conditions and came to the conclusion that what seemed to be a communal situation was in reality a two-fold phenomenon. It was a combination of feudal autocracy and British imperialism. He found that people were not yet prepared for waging a battle for freedom. When he was invited to address the Osmania University students on the occasion of the birthday of Lord Krishna, he found seething discontent amongst the Hindu students there.

The same year at the Maharashtra Conference held at Latur, he was urged to leave the field of education to join active politics. He did so on 9th June, 1938. The leaders felt the need of a statewide organization. Tirtha found that adequate popular enthusiasm was lacking in urban though it existed in rural areas. He felt that the members of the Provisional Committee of the banned State Congress going round in circles in their fruitless negotiations with the government.

Leaders of the banned State Congress under Mahatma Gandhi’s advice started Satyagraha on 24th October, 1938. It was conceived not as a mass agitation; but was to be conducted in small batches. Four to five determined and tested political workers were handpicked for each batch with a leader who was called a ‘dictator’. Two or three such satyagrahas were organized every week from different localities. Swami Ramananda Tirtha was appointed the dictator of the second batch of satyagrahis on 27th October.

Before embarking on the satyagraha he notified the Commissioner of Police of his intention to do so in the afternoon near the Putli Bowli Police Station. He addressed the Commissioner as "Dear Sweet Self" and closed his letter with "In Lord, with best regards".

In a long statement before undertaking the satyagraha, Ramananda Tirtha stated that “opposition to tyranny is the worship of God.” He and his colleagues were promptly arrested and sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for 18 months. In jail, they were given three times the prescribed work-load for prisoners and because they could not complete it, were subjected to further punishment. During this spell in jail, he spent 111 days in solitary confinement.

The satyagraha continued for exactly two months. There were eighteen batches in all. The selected place was notified in advance. A crowd gathered there. If he could, the dictator made a speech before his arrest. The members carried the Congress flags, which were promptly snatched by the police, and the agitators were arrested. The Araya Samaj and the Hindu Mahasabha were also doing satyagraha at that time and the Congress leaders felt that their satyagraha was getting mixed up with them and was thus acquiring a communal tinge. If it continued, the allegation of communalism levelled by the government would start appearing to be correct. So the Congress decided to withdraw the agitation on 24th December, 1938.

Swami Ramananda Tirtha dominated the political scene in the State thereafter. With all his worldly possessions handy – a bowl, a blanket, a copy of the Gita and a staff -- he was ever ready for arrest and it did not seem to matter to him whether he was inside the jail or outside. Finally, he was able to achieve all his political and socio-economic goals. After the integration of Hyderabad with India, he fought the Communist hold over Telangana, got elected to the Parliament for two terms, was instrumental in introducing the tenancy and land reforms and the establishment of the new State of Andhra Pradesh. Thereafter he retired to his Ashram and devoted himself to education and meditation in the village of Tottapalle. He lived there till 1972 when, having been taken ill, he was brought to Hyderabad to breathe his last.

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A Tahsildar and a Prime Minister

A Tahsildar and a Prime Minister
By Narendra Luther

From 1914 to 1919 the seventh Nizam did not have a prime minister or a ministry. He ruled all by himself. In 1919 he set up an executive council with a president who was equivalent to prime minister.

For that post he selected Sir Ali Imam who was a prominent barrister of Bihar. He had served as a member of the executive council of the Viceroy. At that time he was a member of the executive council of Bihar and Orissa.

A year before his appointment, as a barrister, Sir Ali Imam had occasion to visit Hyderabad in connection with a court case. When his train stopped at Veyjapur station he saw a huge fawning crowd gathered around a bulky, pompous fellow at the platform. While people were paying their respects to him, liveried servants were rushing in and out of the train loading the first-class compartment with suitcases, trunks, bedrolls, tiffin-carriers, fruit baskets, bouquets, spittoons, silver tumblers, towels and a small carpet for prayers and numerous other oddments.

When the train started the beefy official looked at Sir Ali Imam condescendingly and introduced himself. “I am Zain-ul-Abidin, tahsildar of the taluk. I am popularly known as ‘Chunnu Nawab’. I am going to Hyderabad on leave”. He then asked Sir Ali his name. Ali Imam? He had never heard of the name before and concluded that obviously he was a man of no consequence. “ What he did for a living? Sir Ali Imam, not too keen to engage in a conversation replied matter of factly that he was a barrister.

“What is a balishter?”
“It is a sort of an advocate – a vakil.”
“Oh, vakil! Many vakils appear in my court? Have you ever appeared in the court of a tahsildar?”

On receiving a negative reply, he invited Sir Ali Imam to witness the glory of his court and to appear there someday. While jabbering away without a pause, he was chewing pan and using the spittoon.

Chunnu Nawab then asked Ali Imam how much he earned. Sir Ali Imam replied modestly that he earned well enough to provide for his daal and roti. Chunnu Nawab remarked contemptuously that dal and roti were for the poor poor. He should have higher ambitions – for chicken and fish, which are the proper meal for the well to do. He then proceeded to advise him to give up barristership and take up the job of tahsildar. He told him proudly that though his salary was only 200 rupees a month, it was just his pocket money. He earned a lot ‘from above’. “A tahsildar is the uncrowned king of the taluk, you know. He had to have the knack for making money.

At the next station a bearer of the Brandon Catering Company came to take orders for lunch. Sir Ali Imam was about to order when the tahsildar prevented him from doing so and said that he had enough to feed the whole compartment and he would take it as an insult if the ‘balishter saab’ did not break bread with him. However, he asked the bearer to bring half-a-dozen lemonades and sodas. Sir Ali Imam asked him why he was ordering so many sodas and lemonades for just the two of them. Chunnu Nawab said that it was a matter of status. A tahsildar could not order just one or two sodas. Whatever was left would be consumed by the servants. At every station wherever the train stopped, some people came and made their offerings to the worthy official. It was very amusing and educative for Sir Ali Imam to see the fuss which people made about the tahsildar and how tahsildars battened themselves on the people.

A year later Sir Ali Imam came to Hyderabad as president of the Nizam’s executive council. The memory of his earlier encounter with the great tahsildar was etched in his mind and so he sent for him. The tahsildar, ‘the uncrowned king of the taluk’ was produced before him. He came dressed formally in sherwani and bugloos. He made four nervous floor- salaams and stood erect before the Prime Minister like a statue, his eyes riveted on the carpet.

Sir Ali Imam tried to put him at ease by asking him how he was doing. The tahsildar replied very stiffly that by the grace of Almighty and the kindness of His Excellency he was doing well. Sir Ali then referred to their meeting the previous year in the train. The tahsildar feigned surprise and promptly denied that he had ever had the great honour of meeting the dignitary before. Inspite of Sir Ali Imam’s numerous attempts at refreshing his memory; the flunkey resolutely refused to admit that they had ever met before. He said respectfully that it might have been a mix-up. However, it was his good luck to have the unique honour to have had an audience with the Prime Minister. He would never forget that rare privilege and would recount to his progeny his great luck

He then asked obsequiously if there were any orders for that speck of dust, that is, himself. Sir Ali Imam understood the reason for the tahsildar not to be identified. After all he was the tahsildar of the old school and had acquired a ‘knack’ of which he had boasted in the train. He had dealt with many rogues and to dispose of a mere prime minister was no big deal for him. Sir Ali Imam gave up in despair and wished him well.

Zain-ul-Abeddin alias Chunnu Nawab came out of the exalted office, wiped his perspiration, loosened his bugloos and sherwani and scooted for his life. After sometime and much thought, he decided to apply for premature retirement. It was prudent to forego a year of service than to risk confrontation with the Prime Minister. After all it would not be easy even for the ‘uncrowned king of a taluk’ to bluff a Prime Minister and survive.

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A ‘LIVING CORPSE’

Legends and Anecdotes of Hyderabad- 40

A ‘LIVING CORPSE’
By Narendra Luther

Hyderabad has always attracted Men of letters in Urdu who wanted to make a decent living—and a name. Amongst the famous ones is Shaukat Ali Khan ‘Fani’.

He was born in U.P. in 1879 in a well-to-do family and graduating in law, started practice half-heartedly. Spendthrift by nature, he lavished his patrimony on fair-weather friends and consequently was reduced to dire circumstances. Then, like many other men of letters before and after him, he looked towards Hyderabad in search of fortune. He visited the city first in 1926 and again in 1927. Maharaja Kishen Pershad, prime minister of the State gave him some financial help.

The famous poet Josh Malihabadi who was serving in the Bureau of Translation of the Osmania University at Hyderabad in 1925 was fond of summoning souls of deceased poets and others on planchette. Once he summoned the great Persian poet Hafiz Shirazi, and asked him if he should call his friend Fani who was in straitened circumstances, to Hyderabad? The planchette scribbled: "Yes. He will get a job here but will have to wait." Emboldened by that advice, Josh met Maharaja Kishen Pershad and with his blessings asked Fani to come to Hyderabad. On his arrival in 1932, the Maharaja sanctioned him a stipend of Rs.200 a month. Considering his background, it was proposed that he could be appointed in the judicial service. There were two hitches in that: firstly, he was a "non-mulki", that is, an outsider and there was a ban on the appointment of outsiders to jobs which did not call for a special qualification not locally available.

Secondly, he was over 50 while the maximum age for recruitment to government service was 30. Fani also did not want to join the judicial service, because that entailed an appointment outside the city which he did not relish. The Maharaja therefore proposed that he should be appointed as headmaster in the City High School. However, while the appointment was within his powers, a relaxation had to be obtained from the Nizam for the appointment of a `non-mulki'.

The Nizam rejected the proposal for the relaxation of the rule. After sometime, the Maharaja resubmitted the proposal dwelling on the poetic talents and attainments of Fani and recommended that the Nizam also might consider hearing his compositions. This time the Nizam relented as a special case and Fani was appointed headmaster of the Dar-ul-Shiffa High School on a salary scale of Rs.250-500 per month.

With that salary and the stipend of Rs.200 from the Maharaja, Fani was now well-off. But the spendthrift that he was, he took a loan for the purchase of a car. Because of the deduction for the repayment of the loan, expenses on petrol and the salary of the driver, his take-home income was not adequate for him.

At this point another incident took place. He became a courtier of the Junior Prince Moazzam Jah. According to some, Josh pushed him into that while others say he himself was keen about it. Moazzam Jah used to hold his court at night and so all his courtiers had to keep awake the whole night. Fani attended the ‘nocturnal court’, went home at the crack of dawn, tried to make up for his lost sleep and then go to school. In the circumstances, he was not able to do justice to his duties in the school. But since he was a known favourite of the Maharaja, he could not be pulled up. However, his life-style was not only injurious to Fani's health, it also resulted in the neglect of his family, particularly his wife.

On his reaching the age of retirement, the Maharaja gave him an extension for five years. But after the latter ceased to be the prime minister in 1936, the authorities also became strict with Fani. He was transferred to a remote place in Nanded district. He went there for a week but came back and applied for sick leave on half-pay. The sanction took time and the disbursement of the amount was irregular. The courtiership of the Prince did not mean any monetary benefit for him. So his sole source of income was the stipend from the Maharaja.

Fani enjoyed his association with the mighty and the great in the State. But this was a hollow relationship. When his wife died, very few of them came to attend the funeral or sent any message of condolences. Fani did not even have enough money for her treatment and for her funeral.

Fani was a pessimist and fatalist all his life and the events of his life strengthened his belief that man was helpless and that the Fate determined everything. Man was free only outwardly. In reality he was a slave of circumstances. All his poetry is permeated by this dark mood of pessimism, morbidity and excessive self-pity. However, in portraying that he was unmatched. His style is firm and concentrated combining scholarship with austere simplicity. In one of his well known poems he says:

"Meri hayat hai mehroom-e-muddaai-e-hayat
Woh rahguzar hoon jise koi naqsh-e-pa na mila"

(I have no aim or object in life;
I am a wayfarer who could find no footsteps to guide me.)

Again, he says:
"Diyar-e-umr mein ab qahat-e-mehr hai Fani
koi ajal ke siva mehrban na mila"

"In the land of life there is a dearth of kindness,
I can't find any friend except death"

Fani also translated some of his own poems into English but they are not many and his command of English doesn't match that of Urdu.

His most famous and oft-quoted couplet is:

"Fani hum to jeete ji woh mayyat hain be gor-o-kafan
Ghurbat jis ko ras na aai aur watan bhi chhoot gaya"

(I am a living corpse sans coffin or grave
Exiled from native land it gained nothing from its new abode).

The late Prof. Sadiq Mohammad, and Prof. Mughani Tabassum, who did a doctoral thesis on Fani, categorize him with Ghalib. The latter extols him as a genius.

Heavily indebted, heart-broken and in poor health, Fani died in utter penury in 1941 and was laid to rest in Hyderabad. To-day the city is proud that he stayed and died here.

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