Posing themselves as labourers, three freedom fighters secretly took the national flag of India and unfurled it on September 2, 1947, at the historic Devgiri fort in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, which was then ruled by the Nizam of Hyderabad. After unfurling the flag, the trio then escaped from the fort even as it was surrounded by the Nizam army. This is what historians say.
Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and seven other districts of Maharashtra’s Marathwada region were part of the Nizam rule, which lasted till September 17, 1948. After this, the Nizam state was merged into India after police action called by the then government. Since then, the day September 17 has been observed as Marathwada Liberation Day, marking the anniversary of Marathwada's integration with India and the annexation of Hyderabad state, which was under the Nizam rule, into the Union of India.
Writer Prafulla Ghanekar has penned the story of the freedom struggle of the Hyderabad state in his book, named Yadavancha Devgiri. He mentioned the names of Bhaurao Khaire and Lala Laxminarayan Jaiswal, who unfurled the tricolour at the fort.
Former MP Chandrakant Khaire, son of freedom fighter Bhaurao Khaire, stated that there was another freedom fighter named Bansilal Patel in the movement. According to Ghanekar, the mighty Devgiri fort was surrounded by the Nizam army on September 2, 1947. The three freedom fighters from Kolte Takli camp, which was somewhere on the Nizam state border but out of their jurisdiction, posed as construction labourers. Post unfurling the flag despite the fort being surrounded by the soldiers, they later also managed to escape from the fort, which was surrounded by a moat on all sides. They then reached the Sarafa area, located in today’s Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar city.
The Nizam police eventually came to know about the act involving Bhaurao Khaire. The soldiers were after Khaire, looking for him, but he once again managed to escape. He changed his physical appearance and crossed the Godavari River to enter Ahilyanagar. The police then knocked at his house in the Machli Khadar area, and caught his mother, the book further cites.
Following the incident, Section 144 (prohibitory orders banning assembly of people) in the city was imposed by the Nizam police. Nearly 500 activists were arrested.
Chandrakant Khaire said, "My grandmother used to tell these stories. My father unfurled the Indian national flag on the Devgiri fort. He escaped, but the Nizam police came to my residence and took over all our lands located in Satara-Devlai and Maliwada areas of Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar."
"They made my granny sign documents for this. Exactly 50 years after that (in 1998), I unfurled the tricolour on the same fort as the district guardian minister," he then added.
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