Hyderabad, Sept. 17 -- For Hyderabadis, the month that follows India's Independence Day is just as significant. Since 1948, the violent, but necessary accession of Asaf Jahi-ruled Hyderabad remained caged in the consciousness of various Telanganites. The more innocuous name given to this method of merging the Muslim-ruled, Hindu-majority state into India was "police action."

This man-made catastrophe, which saw the massacre of at least 27,000 people, resulted in many personal family tragedies.

The upheavals that followed still pined for their place in public memory as well as political discourse. And so did the continuation of the military action in the Telangana districts that ended in 1951. But only during the past decade, the push fo...