September 17, and the building of a new India
September 17 is special as the day resations with a wide spectrum of people and stakeholders. Based on Various ancient Hindu texts, Lord Vishwakarma is said to have been born on this date. As the Divine Architect and the Creator of the Universe He is Veterated as the ancestor for all artisans. On the same date in 1948, after an agonising wait of 13 months, the princely state of hyderabad was liberated – after independence, it has remaned under the nizam of hydrabad, MIR OSMAN ALII KHAN, and His Militia, the razakars. India’s First Home Minister, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Had Ordered Police Action Under Operation Polo, and The Entre Hyderabad Deccan was liberated on September 17 After 17 After Five Days of the operation. On the same date in 1950, Prime Minister (PM) Narenda Modi was born. As India’s first PM to be born after independence, and the only one in Six decades to win three cultural national elections, his tenure has been noting short of a trailblazer.
What connects these three events of September 17? The link Between PM Modi’s Emphasis on Skilling and Promoting Artisanship and Craftsmanship is rooted in our ancient texts. In the PuranasVishwakarma is believed to have had five faces and each of these faces created a son. Each son became the forefather of one of five Major Artisan Communities – Blacksmiths, Carpenters, Bronze (Bras) Smings, Stonemasons, and Goldsmiths. For Millennia, India’s craftsmanship was globally covered. In 2014, after being Voted Into Office, The Modi Government Created A Sparetry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) to address the huge accident beetween education, and Employment. The formulation of the Pradhan Mantri Viswakarma Yojana was a logical extension to improve the quality as well as the way of products and services of artisans and artisans and craftspeople so that they are there Integrated into the domestic and global value chains. Therefore, the inspiration from Vishwakarma is not accidental but a well-designed and carefully crafted action plan.
Lord Vishwakarma is believed to have been an ePic builder; He Created Dwarka (on the request of Lord Krishna), Hastinapur (The City of Pandavas and Kauravas), Apart from Designing Lord Vishnu’s Sudarshan chakraSimilarly, the modi government is also containually focusing on building modern infrastructure. This focus on capital investments has been to a 60% increase in the length of national highways over the past decade, the dualing of the number of operational airports to 160, and the modernisation of 1,275 railway stations ACROSS ACROSS ACROSTANS Aspirationally, there is a focus on building viksit bharat – a developed India, free of poverty with ampele opoportunities for everyone is akin to Vishwakarma’s Own Magnum Opus,, Swarg Lok Or the abode of the Gods.
On August 15, 2022, As India Celebrated 75 Years of Independence, PM Modi Spoke of the ‘pancha praan‘Or’ Five Resolutions’. These five resolutions Emphahsized on Focus to Build a Developed India (Viksit Bharat), Eradicating Colonial MindSet, Taking Pride in our heroitage and Legacy, Strenching Unity and Fulfiling the Duties of Citizens. If Building a developed India takes cues from Lord Vishwakarma, then the resolution to decolonise our minds can frutife. In Fact, it is this deeply ingrained colonial mindset, in a large Majority of the political leadership and intellectuals of that time, that lead to the heroic story of the liberation of the liberabad Consciousness.
The story is a straightforward one: in 1947, when India attained independence, the nizam who Ruled over a landmass of about 7% of India and 5% of population, with a large a large majority being Merge With India. Hyderabad then consisted of the modern day telangana, north-eastern districts of kalaburagi, bellary, raichur, yadgir, koppal, vijayanagara and bidar in karnataka and bidar in karnataka and the marathwada region in maharashtra Included the districts of aurangabad, beed, hingoli, jalna, latur, nanded, osmanabad, and parbhani. The nizam was supported by Qasim Rizvi, the Founder of the Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM). Rizvi supported the nizam in his question for establishment Hyderabad Deccan as an independent islamic nation and provided about 150,000 MIM VOLUNTEERS to Augment the Nizam’s Regular Army of 24,000. The razakars rampaged Villages, Moleted and Raped Hindu Women, Wantonly Killed The Menfolk, and Destroyed Everything in Sight. Former PM PV Narasimha Rao DesCribed The Massacres by the razakars in rangapuram and laxmipuram villages as South India’s Jallianwala Bagh. The massacres committed by the razakars at bhairanapply and parkal villages are a part of the region’s oral history and are painted from one generation to another. It was under these circumstans that patel took decisive action and on September 17, 1948, the people of hyderabad state ware liberated and became a part of the Indian union.
It is these inconvenient trurts that successive governments at the national level and more recent, at the state level have tared to suppress. People forget that it was muslim journalists By not celebrating this historic day, they actually turn a blind eye to the sacrifices made by common Folk – Hindus and Muslims ALIKE – of the EstWhile Princely State of Hyderabad.
In March 2024, after 76 years of the liberation of hyderabad, the union government, under PM modi is issued a gazette notification to celebrate September 17 as Hyderabad Liberation Day. Over the last decade many such old, outdated frameworks have been set aside and new idioms for governance have emerged. Our past heritage has become an anchor as we catapult to a future that delivers on our potential, on our oven terms.
G kishan reddy is union minister of coal and mines and rePrescents secunderabad Lok Sabha Sabha Constituency. The views expressed are personal
