If evil ever had a face it was Qasim Razvi, the founder of the Razakars. Who was this man who at one stage was even more powerful than the Nizam? Who was this monster in a human form, who unleashed terror on the hapless Hindus of Hyderabad through the Razakars?
Razvi was basically from Lucknow, and studied law at Aligarh Muslim University. He migrated to Hyderabad state, and settled down at Latur, as a lawyer. His father in law, Abdul Hai, being a former DSP, he managed to cultivate a good network on contacts in the Government. When Bahadur Jung passed away in 1944, the Majlis party fell into disarray with many factions fighting for control. With his contacts and strategy, Razvi managed to gain control over the MIM.
He was the one who built the Razakars into a deadly terror organization, his goal was not just Hyderabad State, he wanted the Asaf Jahi flag to fly on the Red Fort. He started around 52 military training centers for the Razakars. Basically Razakars is a Persian term meaning volunteers, it would later be used for those in East Pakistan too in 1971. It was under Razvi, that the Razakars strength shot up to one lakh, his target was actually 5 lakhs. Their head quarters was at Dar-Us-Salaam in Hyderabad, and many officers of the Nizam’s army, police helped to train them.
“Hyderabad is an Islamic state, remember that there are four crore Muslims in the Dominion, looking towards us to raise the banner. Quran in one hand, sword in another hand, march forward, cut our enemies to pieces, establish Islamic supremacy. A Hindu who is a Kafir, who worships a stone and a monkey, drinks cow urine, eats Gobar, is a barbarian in every sense of the world, wants to rule us”
Later he explicitly stated
“We are the grandsons of Mahmud Ghaznavi, sons of Babar, when determined we shall fly the Asaf Jahi flag on the Red Fort”
Officially around 1431 villages were raided by the Razakars, property worth Rs 103 million looted, 921 persons murdered, 1150 women raped. The unofficial estimates would be even more. Just one incident, at Wadlakonda in Warangal dt, 9 villages were burnt to ashes, all the men killed, numerous women raped, homes looted.
The Razakars worked in active connivance with the Govt officials, Nizam’s police and army. After the raids, blood stained bundles of gold earrings, mangalsutras, nose rings were opened, and the loot shared amongst them. The Razakars became a law unto themselves, aided completely by the Nizam’s government.
The Government officers not just supported the Razakars, they took active part in the crimes. In Bhairavunpalli village of Warangal dt, 92 men were bound and lined up, and there was a contest of sorts to see how many one could kill with a single bullet. The Dy Collector of Bhuvanagiri, Iqbal Hasim, shot through 8 men at a stretch. Though this was the more merciful form of killing, at Kodakandla village in Medak dt, five brahmins were hung upside down from a tree and roasted alive.
The Nizam made a show of appearing concerned, and formed “peace comitees” of Hindus and Muslims for the benefit of foreign media, and his admirers. The Hindu members in these comitees were mere rubber stamps. When one of the members Shata Gopalacharya, complained about the atrocities he was shot dead, and this silenced other Hindu members.
The Razakars would carry out processions in Hyderabad and the countryside brandishing weapons swearing to make Nehru bow at the Nizam’s feet, and bury Patel, Munshi in their graves. Even Muslims who stood up to this reign of terror were not spared. Shoaibullah Khan, the editor of Imroze, who exposed the Razakars and the Nizam’s support, was attacked at Kacheguda, his hands chopped off and killed. Not even prisons were safe, in Nizamabad prison around 123 Hindu inmates were murdered by fellow Muslim prisoners and the active support of the wardens.
The Nizam later would claim he was heplessly manipulated by Razvi and the Razakars,but the hard fact is he actively funded them, used them as a secret tool for negotiations with the Central Government. Without the Nizam’s support, neither Razvi nor the Razakars would have had such a free run.
Later when he tried to reign in both Razvi and Laik Ali, the Nizam was warned about stepping out of line. When Operation Polo began and it was apparent that the Nizam’s days were numbered, Razvi tried to flee first with the help of an Australian pilot John Cotton, who supplied the arms to the Nizam. However under orders, the flight took off from Hakimpet airport leaving Razvi stranded.
He was finally arrested after Operation Polo in 1948, and was in prison till 1957, after which he was released with an undertaking that he would be migrating to Pakistan immediately, which he did and passed away in 1970. After being released from prison, he tried to restart the MIM again, no one volunteered out of fear. It was a young lawyer by the name of Abdul Wahed Owaisi who took up the charge, and that is how the MIM in it’s current form was started again.
Honestly what Razvi got was just a slap on the wrist, when he should actually have been hanged as a war criminal. It was not just that, he ensured that his Razakar legacy would still continue.
Sources
https://telugu.samayam.com/telangana/news/do-you-know-kasim-razvi-how-become-razakars-leader/articleshow/94238336.cms
https://thewire.in/politics/asadudding-owaisi-nizam-history-mim-disown
https://www.deccanchronicle.com/nation/in-other-news/150423/nehru-shot-down-militarys-plan-for-kasim-razvi-trial-in-delhi.html
https://indiankanoon.org/doc/1063853/