Operation Polo

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Operation Polo

The State of Hyderabad in 1909.

Date	September 12, 1948 – September 17/18, 1948
Location	Southern India
Result	Decisive Indian victory; State of Hyderabad annexed to the Union of India

Combatants

Union of India

State of Hyderabad

Commanders

Joyanto Nath Chaudhuri

S.A. El Edroos ^#,

Qasim Razvi ^#

Strength

35,000 Indian Armed Forces

40,000 Hyderabad State Forces
est. 10,000 Razakars

Casualties

10 KIA
97 wounded^[1]

Hyderabad State Forces:
807 KIA, 1,647 POWs^[1]
Razakars:
1,373 KIA, 1,911 POWs^[1]

Operation Polo, refers to the armed operation of Armed Forces of India which resulted in the integration of the State of Hyderabad and Berar into Indian Union on September 12, 1948. This Operation is often popularly referred to as the Police Action. This was the first large-scale military operation carried out by independent India .

The military operation was carried out because the Nizam of Hyderabad, Osman Ali Khan, Asif Jah VII, decided to remain independent after the Partition of India. Though backed by Qasim Razvi's armed militias, known as Razakars, and a distant moral support of Pakistan^[1], the Hyderabad State Forces were easily defeated by the Armed Forces of India within five days.

1 The dispute
2 The operation
3 Aftermath
4 References
5 External links

[edit] The dispute

Main article: Political Integration of India

Main article: Partition of India

Hyderabad State covered 82,000 square miles in the heart of India and had a population of 16 million. The area covers parts of what are currently the states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu, and most of Andhra Pradesh in India.

Its ruler was Nizam Osman Ali Khan, Asif Jah VII. Hyderabad had always enjoyed an influential relationship as the largest and most loyal ally of the British Raj.Though faced with a largely hostile section of his subjects, the Nizam sought independence for Hyderabad as a dominion in the British Commonwealth. When the British ruled out this possibility, the Nizam set his mind upon independence, and refused to sign the instrument of accession.

To Sardar Patel, Hyderabad was more important than Kashmir. Without Hyderabad, there would be a big gap in the "stomach of India", and Patel knew that Hyderabad was looking towards Pakistan for political and military support.

Sardar Patel made it clear that Hyderabad was essential for India, but agreed with Lord Mountbatten that force should not be used immediately. A Standstill Agreement was signed, maintaining a status quo - a concession made to no other princely state without an explicit assurance of eventual accession. But Patel allowed Hyderabad to only guarantee that it would not join Pakistan.

Mountbatten and K.M. Munshi, India's envoy attempted to engage the Nizam's envoys Laik Ali and Sir Walter Monckton into negotiations on an agreement. But Hyderabad continually refused to accept possible deals meted out by Mountbatten .Hyderabad also protested that India had created an armed barricade to isolate it economically. India charged that Hyderabad was receiving arms from Pakistan, and that the Nizam was allowing Qasim Razvi's volunteer movement Razakars to intimidate Hindus and attack villages in India. Hyderabad unsuccessfully also attempted to obtain the arbitration of the United Nations and the President of the United States, .

Mountbatten drafted the Heads of Agreement deal and attempted in June 1948 to obtain Patel's signature. The agreement called for:-

Disbandment of the Razakars.
Restriction of the Hyderabad State Forces.
The Nizam to hold a plebiscite and elections for a constituent assembly.

India would be empowered to control Hyderabad's foreign affairs, but the deal allowed Hyderabad to set up a parallel government structure that could have enabled it to obtain the same level of a dominion, and perhaps declare independence.

Sardar Patel signed the deal, fearing that the Nizam would renege on the plan that was seemingly favoring Hyderabad. The Nizam reneged and Mountbatten's plan fell flat.

[edit] The operation

Sardar Patel made it clear that India would take no more. He obtained the principal agreement of Governor-General Chakravarti Rajagopalachari and Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru after some contentious debate, and under Operation Polo, sent the Indian Army to annex Hyderabad. Even prior to the execution of the operation, the Indian government had blockaded food, machinery and trucks, resulting in soaring prices of essential commodities in Hyderabad. All aerial flights from Hyderabad were also suspended, making the Nizam's position vulnerable.[1]

"Operation Polo", as it was called, was launched on September 12, 1948. Between September 13th and 17th, Indian troops fought Hyderabadi troops and Razakar militants. The Indian Army backed by the Indian Air Force surrounded the Nizam's territory. The Nizam's Army and an estimated 10,000 Razakars were expected to put up fierce resistance. Razakars had famously claimed that they would not only beat the Indian Army, but hoist the Nizami flag from the ramparts of the Red Fort in Delhi^{[citation needed]}.

The Indian Army attacked from all fronts encircling the Hyderabad State forces and the rebellious Razakars. Within five days the Indian Army secured Hyderabad. The Indian Army suffered 22 soldiers dead and 97 injured. Indian government claimed that Razakars and the Nizam's army suffered 882 dead and thousands injured.Civilian casualties that are estimated to be in the tens of thousands were not reported. Major General (later General) Joyanto Nath Chaudhuri, who led the whole Operation Polo, was appointed the Military Governor of Hyderabad (1948-1949) to restore law and order.

[edit] Aftermath

The annexation of Hyderabad was allegedly followed by communal violence between Muslims and Hindus in the Hyderabad. Specifically, suspected Razakar members were targeted as traitors. Allegations were made that the Indian Army aided Hindu mobs against Muslims in Hyderabad.As reports of the violence reached Delhi, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru commissioned an unofficial report from a group of veteran Congressmen which included two Hyderabadi Muslims who had prominently opposed the Nizam's rule.^{[citation needed]} The goodwill mission was chaired by Pandit Sunderlal, a Hindu, and had as its members Kazi Abdul Ghaffar and Moulana Abdulla Misri, both Muslims.

After extensively touring the state, the committee presented its report, known as the "Sunderlal Report", to Nehru and Patel in January 1949. The report untimately found fault with the Razakars for aggrandizing communal differences and fomenting suspicion and violence between the Hindus and Muslims:

The Razakars had sown wind and reaped not only storm but a hurricane which in a few days cost the lives of one-tenth to one-fifth of the male Muslim population primarily in the countryside and provincial towers.

The report also catalogued a large number of incidents of murder and mass rape committed by Hindu mobs, often after troops had disarmed the Muslim population.

"The perpetrators of these atrocities were not limited to those who had suffered at the hands of Razakars, not to the non-Muslims of Hyderabad state. These latter were aided and abetted by individuals and bands of people, with and without arms, from across the border, who had infiltrated through in the wake of the Indian Army. We found definite indications that a number of armed and trained men belonging to a well known Hindu communal organisation from Sholapur and other Indian towns as also some local and outside communists participated in these riots and in some cases actually led the rioters." ^[2]

The report also mentions several incidents where the soldiers were involved in looting and rape. The report was suppressed and never made public, possibly because it cast the Indian Army in an unfavourable light. Excerpts from the report were published in the Indian news magazine Frontline after having been published in 'Hyderabad: After the Fall' by Omar Khalidi and in Margrit Pernau's book 'The Passing of Patrimonalism'. The report places a conservative estimate of the number of deaths to between 27,000 and 40,000. Nehru was deeply disturbed to hear of the scale of violence, which was far more than he had been led to believe. Sardar Vallabhai Patel, however was very critical of the report for it's partisanship as it allegedly "completely ignored the magnitude of the atrocities inflicted by the Razakars on the state population"^[3]

"I notice that your report is and your activities were, restricted to making inquiries about what happened during and after the police action. There is nothing in it about the extent and consequences of Razakar atrocities. Probably that was out of the terms of reference which you had set for yourselves. At the same time, you have covered in your reports matters which could by no stretch of imagination, have formed the purview of your enquiry"

The Communist Party of India was already leading an armed peasant struggle against the Nizam and the feudal Zamindari system which was policy in the Nizamate. After annexation, there was a difference of opinion within the party. While hardliners argued that the fight should go on till the rights of people on the land were established, there was a significant section which advised against the continuation of resistance. Finally the party decided to go ahead with the fight. But the peasants were no match for the Indian Army. Many guerilla fighters were caught and killed. The Army quickly quelled all opposition, sometimes with draconian measures.

Afterwards, the Telugu speaking area was joined to Andhra to form an unified Andhra Pradesh and the western part was joined to Karnataka state. The Army's success here paved the way for further acquisitions by force against any other pockets of resistance like Goa. Patel however kept the Nizam as the head of state, and Maj. General J.N. Chaudhari became the military governor. Qasim Razvi was placed under house arrest. Years later, he immigrated to Pakistan as part of a general exodus of the Hyderabadi Muslim elite after its annexation.