NEW DELHI: Addressing a public meeting here this evening [June 6] the Prime Minister of India, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, appealed to the people to put down all “separatist tendencies” and act as a united force to solve the enormous problems facing India. Pandit Nehru said: “In my opinion, Hyderabad [Deccan] neither can nor should leave India, because geographically it is so situated that it cannot join any country other than India and economically also it is very much dependent on us.”

… A few years ago, the Prime Minister said, when the British Government realised that India would have to be given independence, they tried to set into motion all the reactionary forces. … Except in Hyderabad, Pandit Nehru continued, all over India, in provinces as well as in the states, the people enjoyed responsible Government and it was impossible for Hyderabad to stand against the tide of time and continue with its medieval feudal system of Government. India, he said, would not tolerate … that the state should exist as a sovereign unit. “An independent state right in the middle of India would be dangerous for our own defence.”

Published in Dawn, June 7th, 2023