Hyderabad: BJP President Amit Shah is slated to address a public meeting to celebrate 'Telangana Liberation Day' on Saturday, a move that has come in for some sharp criticism by the ruling TRS.

BJP has been demanding the Telangana Government officially celebrate the occasion as liberation day as Hyderabad State was liberated through police action on September 17, 1948, more than a year after India got Independence. Shah is expected to mount a political attack on the TRS government in Telangana (at the public meeting at Hanamkonda in Warangal district), but is unlikely to be extremely confrontational, a senior BJP functionary said. BJP considers the Nizam's rule in the erstwhile Hyderabad State as tyrannical, oppressive and autocratic and claims that Telugu language was discouraged as the medium of instruction in educational institutions during their period.

TRS (Telangana Rashtra Samiti) does not share BJP's view and accused it of trying to indulge in divisive politics. "We always said our Nizam was certainly very good in lot of aspects and one or two things go wrong in everybody's rule," TRS MP K Kavitha said. "We say it's a merger day, not a liberation day. It's not a day to bring any differences between Hindu and Muslim communities in Telangna society," she said.

BJP alleged that during the Telangana movement for separate statehood, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao had demanded that then ruling government in undivided Andhra Pradesh should celebrate September 17 as Telangana Liberation Day. However, after coming to power and becoming Chief Minister, KCR has developed a forked tongue and is indulging in brazen double speak, the party said. Everyone in the state knows that TRS and CM KCR's U-turn on this issue is for vote bank politics and for his opportunistic political collusion with AIMIM, BJP Telangana official spokesperson Krishna Saagar Rao alleged.

CPI General Secretary S Sudhakar Reddy said his party wants Telangana government to officially celebrate the day, in whatever name (liberation or merger) it wants to give. CPI views the day as liberation from feudalism. It was the Communists, the state Congress and even the Arya Samaj to some extent who fought against the Nizam's rule. BJP wants to take political advantage now by trying to project it as a 'Hindu revolt' against a Muslim ruler, Reddy said.

Abid Rasool Khan, Chairman of Minorities Commission serving Telangana and Andhra Pradesh said the BJP's demand is aimed at trying to make inroads into Telangana. Again BJP (is) playing the communal card. Basically, they have no other agenda, nor any other issue on which they can come to the people. So, they are taking up this liberation day, he charged. He appealed to the BJP to focus on fulfilling its poll promises and inclusive development and not to try to divide communities on petty issue which have lost relevance today.