What is operation polo?
Answers
In 1724, Nizam-ul-Mulk Asaf Jah established Hyderabad, a state that spread over most of the Deccan plateau. Not only did it become popular, it was also prosperous as it had its own army, railway and airline network, postal system and a radio network. Eighty five per cent of the Nizam’s subjects were Hindus. In 1798, the Royal state of Hyderabad was the first to agree to British protection under the policy of Subsidiary Alliance.
In 1947, when the British left India, they gave the princely states the choice to either join India or Pakistan or remain independent. Being one state not under the British rule, it opposed the idea of a merger with India after Independence.
In 1947, Home Minister Sardar Patel requested Osman Ali Khan Asaf Jah VII, the last Nizam of the princely state of Hyderabad, to join India, but he refused. Instead, he declared Hyderabad as an independent nation on August 15, 1947.
It was in June 1948 that Lord Mountbatten proposed the Heads of Agreement deal which gave Hyderabad the status of an autonomous dominion nation under India. India was ready to sign the deal and did so but the Nizam refused on the grounds that he wanted complete independence or the status of dominion under the British Commonwealth of Nations.