Hyderabad: Nizam's kin Mir Osman Ali Khan condemns Amit Shah's statement

Hyderabad: The family members of Nizam VIIth Mir Osman Ali Khan on Monday objected to the remark by Home Minister Amit Shah on naming Hyderabad's culture Nizami culture,' and asked political leaders to avoid distorting information about the Nizam for political gains.

Najaf Ali Khan, Nizam VII's grandson, said politicians were purposely tarnishing the reputation of Nawab Mir Osman Ali Khan Bahadur whenever elections were held and said spreading negativity was a cheap attempt to win votes.

To draw publicity, renaming the city or promising to free the State from 'Nizami culture' is nothing more than a gimmick. But these politicians will not alter the Ganga Jamuna Tehzeeb, which for centuries has been part of the culture of the people of Hyderabad.

During his regime, which had stability, tranquility and was renowned for secularism as its basic mode of governance, he said that the Nizam valued all religions and united them.

In the 1940s, under the Nizam, Hyderabad was greater than most western nations. Throughout history, his huge donations were surpassed by any other monarch. Calling a ruler who constructed the NIMS Hospital a 'looter' from his own private purse is sacrilege and an attempt to harm Mir Osman Ali Khan's portrait,' Khan said, asking those who were tarnishing the reputation of the Nizam what they had done for the country themselves.

He said that Nizam had donated to the National Defense Fund five tonnes of gold. "His significant contribution to a variety of institutions of all faiths and communities acknowledges his secular image," Khan said, adding that political standards had nosedived with many leaders who lacked basic knowledge of their own nation's past.

Amit Shah, at a public meeting here on Sunday, said that if the BJP won the GHMC elections, the BJP would end the 'Nizami culture' in Hyderabad.