- The wealthiest in the world would borrow cigarettes from his guests!
- Maharaja Kishen installed Osman Ali and Vallabhbhai uninstalled!
Normally the story of His Exalted Highness(H.E.H.) Nizam of Hyderabad Osman Ali Khan- Asaf Jah VII (6 April 1886- 24 February 1967) can be summed up in just four lines: “ He was the last ruler of the British Indian State of Hyderabad. His State was the largest one. Though the seventh Nizam was one of the wealthiest persons in the world worth $ 230 Billion, he knitted his own socks, patched clothes for months and cadged cigarettes from his guests. He wanted to have an independent Hyderabad after his close friends British were to leave India.” Of course if one wants to introduce the Nizam of Hyderabad, one requires volumes to throw light on him as an individual, his large family, his largest collection of diamonds and pearls including one 185 jacob carrot diamond worth $ 200 million used as paperweight and more than ₤ 35 million( Rs. 2,934 crore) lying with a London-based Bank almost seven decades now !
The last Nizam surrendered on 17 September 1948 following the police action “Operation Polo” by the then Deputy Prime Minister Sardar Patel despite objections put forward by Lord Mountbatten, C. Rajgopalachari and PM Jawaharlal Nehru. Though the Nizam saw “a class of Hitler” in Patel, the Sardar appointed “the communal minded” Nizam as the Raj Pramukh of Hyderabad ! The Nizam had virtually become a puppet in the hands of Qashim Razvi who ran an army of fanatic Muslim Razakars and threatening bloodshed . The Prime Minister Laik Ali consulted the Pakistan authorities all the time. Even Mohammed Ali Jinnah instigated the Nizam against signing an Instrument of Accession to Indian Union. Hyderabad had signed the Standstill Agreement with Delhi.In contravention, the Nizam had already given a loan worth Rs.20 Crore to Pakistan.
The Sardar could not be a silent spectator to butchering of Hindus by Razakars. Hence under his instructions, the police action was launched. Indian forces were commanded by Major-General J. N. Chaudhari under the direction of Lt. General Maharaj Rajendrasinghji. It lasted barely 108 hours. Since solid groundwork was done by Army in consultation with K. M. Munshi, the Agent General of India in Hyderabad. Unfortunately, the Sundarlal Report, which never got released officially by the Government of India, calculates “at least 27,000 to 40,000 people (main ly Hindus) loosing their lives during and after the police action.”
Mir Osman Ali Khan succeeded as Nizam of Hyderabad and Berar upon the death of his father, Mir Mahbub Ali Khan Siddiqi Bayafandi- Asaf Jah VI, in 1911. He had command over six languages including English. During his 37-year reigned as Nizam, the development of electricity, railways, roads and airways in Hyderabad evolved, the Nizam Sagar lake in the state was excavated and some irrigation projects on the Tungabhadra river were undertaken. Nizam’s budget focused on education. He donated to a lot of educational institution such as Jamia Nizamia, the Darul Uloom Deoband, Banaras Hindu University(BHU) and Aligarh Muslim University(AMU). The seventh Nizam, also known as Ala Hazarat, established the Osmania University in 1918. The Nizam’s eldest son, by his first wife, Azam Jeh Sahebzada Mir Himayath Ali Khan(1907-1970) married Princess Durru Shehvar, daughter of Abdul Mejid II, the last Ottoman Caliph and cousin and heir to the last Sultan of Ottoman Empire. The marriage did not go well but they had two sons, Prince Mukarram Jah, presently the titular Nizam of Hyderabad and Prince Muffarakham Jah.
Nobody knows how many Begums Nizam had and how many times he married and when. He had reportedly married seven wives. The dates of his first marriage also vary. But in a report to the Viceroy, the Resident of Hyderabad wrote that he married Azim Unnisa Begum (Dulhan Pasha, daughter of Nawab Jahangir Jung Bahadur), on 19 April 1906, at Eden Bagh now known as Eden Garden at King Kothi, Hyderabad. When the Nizam was suggested that there should be some public rejoicing for the benefit of his subjects, H.E.H. conveyed that this was not customary in his family. The marriage was a simple ceremony as the Nizam disliked ceremonial pomp, according to the book “The Legacy of the Nizam’s” published by H.E.H. The Nizam’s Urdu Trust, headed by Prince Muffarakham Jah. This very book records, “On 29 August 1911, Mir Mahbub Ali Khan died and Mir Osman Ali Khan was proclaimed as the Nizam. The credit for the smooth transition was due entirely to a compact group of officials headed by Maharaja Sir Kishen Pershad…At that time Maharaja Kishen Pershad was the Dewan(Prime Minister).” Sir Kishen was one of the closest and most loyal ministers of Mir Mahbub Ali Khan. “Then suddenly matters changed ..within a year of his accession, Kishen Pershad was obliged to go on long leave.”
In July 1912, Maharaja Kishen was relieved of the post of Prime Minister and Mir Yousuf Ali Khan Salar Jung was appointed in his place. Salar Jung was also relieved from his post in August 1914. A. G. Noorani in “The Destruction of Hyderabad” does indicate that Maharaja Kishen who was relieved of his post of Dewan in 1912 was again installed as the Dewan of Hyderabad during 1925-36. “He was highly literate and versatile and an accomplished administrator. He chose Shaad(happy) as his takhallus. One of his poems reads : “kafir hun ke momin hun, khuda jaane main kya hun/ main bandah hun unka jo hain sultan-e-madina”( Be I infidel or true believer-God alone knows, what I am ! / But I know : I am the Prophet’s servant, who Madina’s ruler is). Noorani states, “ Administrators built the State of Hyderabad; poets, artists and intellectuals moulded its society.”
The seventh Nizam Osman Ali Khan was survived by five wives including one former Miss Turkey. Before he died, he sired children from 86 mistresses in his harem and had more than 100 illegitimate children. The women in zenana(Harem) and their children had numbered badges ! The Nizam left behind a legacy of legal disputes with hundreds of descendants fighting over money and real estate. By the 1990s, claimants to his wealth had gone up to 400 legal heirs. The most helpless of all of them is Prince Mukarram Jah who was nominated by his grandfather, the seventh Nizam, to succeed him: he didn’t think his sons deserved to be ruler after his death. Patel frustrated the evil design of the Nizam of converting the Hindu majority(80 % ) State Hyderabad to an Islamic State. V.P. Menon, ICS, records : “ If, in August 1947, the Nizam had acceded and had introduced responsible government, he would have won the affection of his subjects.”
Next Column: Orissa States like Ulcer, be Cured or Eliminated !
( The writer is a Socio-political Historian. E-mail : [email protected] )
