Muslim men and women undergoing military Razakar training to kill their Hindu neighbours in Telangana (1940s)

Five times a day, the Muezzin climbs atop the mosque minaret and mocks the Telugu Hindus with the screaming taunt: "Allah is the Only God " (La Ilaha illAllah)


Muslim Razakars pack their bags and guns to go "Hindu-hunting". Anyone who spoke Telugu, Marathi or Hindi was an open target for these "soldiers of Allah".


Well-armed Lashkars of the Hyderabad army


Razakar units being trained from Muslim volunteers









A Razakar officer reviewing the Women's Legion, a volunteer militia for Hyderabadi Muslim women who volunteered to kill Hindus.


Women's Legion Commander Capt. Mrs. Yunus Mahboob Unnisa, talking to her fanatical female squad.





Kasim Rizvi, the Majlis leader, is known as the "Himmler of Hyderabad".

The Razakar Movement:

In 1947, the first State which posed the problem to the newly formed Union Government was the State of Hyderabad-, which had more Hindu population (93%) than the Muslim population but was ruled by the Nizam, who was a Muslim.

Till Independence, the Nizam enjoyed the power. Independence was a bolt from the blue to him. He wanted to be independent and he chose Dominion Status to the State of Hyderabad. He requested British Commonwealth to this extend and when failed made pleas to the Union Government of India and as well as to the Pakistan that he would send representative to the respective assemblies but would not become part of either country. He issued a firman stating that till United Nations would take up the issue he wanted to maintain status quo. But, the Government of India refused his plea on the ground that this is domestic issue and international organizations and laws would no way concerned with the issue.

The Nizam had faced problems with the Hindus in the State also. Along with the patriotic Muslims, they started “Join India” Movement. As the State Congress under the leadership of Swami Ramananda Tirtha supported this movement, the Nizam had banned the Party in his State. Desperate Nizam took the help of Khasim Razvi of the Ittehadul Muslimeen and its troopers to oppress his opponents. This had resulted in Communists helping the villagers by constitution of village squads to help the villagers who vehemently fought against the Nizam's Police and Razakars.

Unable to withstand the pressures from all the sides Nizam finally signed “Stand Still Agreement” in November 1947 with Government of India so for one year to maintain the status quo. In spite of the agreement the Nizam smuggled weapons into the State. The Indian Army, led by Major-General J.N.Chaudhuri entered the State from five directions and the military action was a brilliant success. On 18th September 1948, Nizam's forces surrendered to the Indian army and Mir Laik Ali, the Prime Minister of the Nizam, and Kasim Razvi were arrested. But, neither of the incidents was without the loss of life.

The Hindus of the Hyderabad State accounted for 93 per cent of its population, due to fierce, armed Hindu resistance to Islamic conversion during the medieval ages. During the two-year-period of the Razakar movement, many families suffered injustice in the hands of Muslims who wanted their own state and desperately used any means to rid of Hindus. A series of mayhem and riots took thousands of lives of Hindus. This barbaric Islamisation entailed indigenous Hindus being slaughtered, raped, forced to convert or leave the state. The Nizam wanted to completely remove Hindu culture and language from his state. Incidents of terrorism against non-Muslim Indians included their agenda and the Razakars were the chief opponents of the Indian Army during Operation Polo, which would eventually include Hyderabad into the Nation of India.

The Nizam of Hyderabad was under the influence of a fanatical body called Ittehadul Muslimeen under Kasim Razvi, declared his intention to remain as independent state.

The Nizam was very anxious to become independent and it had been Nizam's ambition to secure Dominion Status for his State. He tried to achieve this ambitious desire with the help of Kasim Razvi of the Ittehadul Muslimeen and its storm troopers, the Razakars.

By the mid-1940s, the Majlis had come to represent a remarkably aggressive and violent face of Muslim communal politics as it organised the Razakars ("volunteers") to defend the “independence” of this “Muslim” State from merger with the Indian Union.

According to historians, over 1,50,000 such `volunteers’ were organised by the Majlis for the Nizam State’s defence but they are remembered for unleashing unparalleled violence against the Hindus and all those who opposed the Nizam’s “go it alone” policy. It is estimated that during the height of the Razakar carnage, over 30,000 Hindu civilians had taken shelter in the Secunderabad cantonment alone to protect themselves from these `Muslim volunteers’.

Hyderabad witnessed large-scale communal rioting in 1979. The Majlis came to the forefront in murdering Hindu civilians and looting Hindu property. Well-armed Majlis workers could be seen at these moments raiding the properties of Hindus in the wake of riots and these workers were extremely violent, even for the police to control them. Even today, in Hyderabad city, it is a known fact that there are nearly about 2500 Majlis cells , each comprised of 100 zealots.