‘Me Nizam, you British.’ This has been the kinda atmosphere of ‘physical distancing’ that had prevailed in Hyderabad(Hyd) for close to a century. Some of the parts of the city have been within the Nizam awhile some of the remaining formed the British territory.
Discuss this aberration of the Abids being decided by 1 Govt & the neighboring Moazzam Jahi Market region governed by the other dispensation, every having its own laws, regulations & administration. It may look absurd, however has been nevertheless a reality till some of the 90 yrs. back.
Curtains had come down on this dubious plurality in 1933 when wisdom & pragmatism prevailed on the part of both govts & the regions had come under 1 governing roof.
Kothi (or) the home of the British citizen in Sultan Bazar. The home were thereafter converted into Ladies’s College of the Osmania University.This lesser well-known transition has been widely well-known those days as rendition (or) restoration of the Residency Bazaars (Sultan Bazaar) territory by this British to the Nizam’s Govt on Jun 14.
When the public approached saturation levels within the walled city, citizens spilled over to the different side of the Musi. Shortly clusters of homes & shops had come up across the Residency, the seat of the British Citizen in what’s as of now Kothi. These clusters grew into a suburb over the yrs. Residents & immigrants from that north lived there & held flourishing business awhile Christian missionaries set up churches & different institutions. These citizens felt a sense of security within the patronage & protective environment of the Residency.
The region had come to be referred to as Residency Bazaars (or) Sultan Bazaar. An irregular boundary line divided the British-controlled territory & the Nizam’s. The Nizam along with the citizens have been unhappy with the {arrangement} of a separate set-up with judicial & revenue institutions for a small part of the City.
The problem has been addressed in the round table conference of political parties convened by this British Govt in London in Nov, 1930. After prolonged negotiations, the British accepted to restore the Residency Bazaars to the Nizam. Col. T. H. Keyes, the British Citizen throughout whose time the territory has been restored, & Sir Akbar Hydari, the Nizam’s representative, performed a critical character. The Keyes Ladies High Educational institution in Secunderabad is called after him.
The official rendition occurred on Jun 14, 1933 amidst wild jubilation as amounted to a dream come true. They went round the region in a victory procession.
The event locates reference in Pictorial Hyderabad(Hyd). Krishnaswamy Mudiraj, compiler of the known book & scion of a family (4) that had provided the Asaf Jahi dynasty for generations, gives a graphic account(a/c) of the handing over ceremony. Lt. Col. Amir Sultan, deputy commissioner of city police, taken over charge from de la Condamine Ozanne, supervisor of Cantonment Police. Thousands cheered as the Nizam’s police in buff coloured uniform replaced their own khaki-clad British counterparts on work in the Residency region.
In the other function in the Imperial Bank (as of now SBI on Bank Street), a firm of Hyderabad(Hyd) Infantry replaced the British military in the stroke of afternoon awhile the Asaf Jahi flag fluttered on the apartment alongside the Union Jack.
Sultan Bazaar, a bustling commercial center, is house to a century & half old govt educational institution, a landmark clock tower & some of the heritage apartments. The clock tower were witness to numerous demonstrations by this ‘nationalist’ enforces over the Nizam’s rule. Close by is the century old Sri Krishnadevaraya Andhra Bhasha Nilayam.