“#Gorata Incidence is also known as the Jallianwala Bagh of the South India”
Freedom was not achieved for free by India. Indeed it took tons of lives even after we were declared a free nation on 15th August 1947. When on one hand most of the fellow Indians were rejoicing and celebrating the occasion, there were others who were paying the price of being part of one of the most diverse cultures of the world. Yet there were others like Sardar Patel who were working relentlessly for a unified India.
While we have attributed many of the freedom fighters like Chandrashekhar Azaad, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and Bhagat Singh, there have been many who have been almost forgotten or whose reference is hardly found anywhere. One such group which is not found much is that of Gorata Martyrs.
This incident dates back to May 1948. India got independence almost a year back and a few youths from a place called Gorata, a village in Bidar district of Karnataka, decided to hoist the flag of India. This place was under the Nizam of Hyderabad who was reluctant to be a part of India although the majority of the population thought the other way. During this time Qasim Razvi had organized a militia named “Razakars” which supported Nizam’s stand to not be a part of India. Razakars were known for their brutal ways of killing, raping and looting the people who favored India.
When Razakars came to know about the Gorata flag hoisting, they decided to take revenge. On the morning of 9th May 1948 as people of Gorata started leaving their houses for their work, they found the village surrounded by armed razakars who started killing people brutally. The colossal of the massacre was so immense that the inspector of the place was not able to file the panchnama as he was not able to find 5 people needed to fill it!!! This is described in the book by K M Munshi titled “The End of an Era”.
This incidence created outrage in the region and when Sardar Patel came to know about this incidence and a few others which show how brutally Indians were killed by the razakars with the support of Nizam, he started Operation Polo. Operation Polo was aimed to invade the state Hyderabad(comprising parts of Andhra, Telengana, Maharastra and Karnataka), overthrow the Nizam and annexing the state to India. Started on 13th Sept 1948, it took the Indian Army just 5 days to achieve the target. Thus, Hyderabad got freedom 13 months after the independence of India on 17th September 1948.
After demands from many leaders from the BJP, Gorata Memorial is planned to be built. The work on the same is planned to start on 17th September 2014 as a mark of independence of Hyderabad from the Nizam. BJP President Mr. Amit Shah will be coming for the ground breaking ceremony and PM Narendra Modi will be coming for inauguration on 17th September 2015.
Those interested to join can do so by adding badges on their Facebook profile (http://www.picbadges.com/badge/3702712/) . Also by commenting on twitter with hashtag Gorata.
AboutAnkur Mehta
