The Razakar stereotype is often perpetuated by right-wingers to demonise Muslims.

By Yunus Lasania

Hyderabad: After a string of delays the movie ‘Razakar: Silent Genocide of Hyderabad’ will finally be released on March 15. produced by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Gudur Narayan Reddy from Bhongir, the movie, considered by critics as aHindutva propaganda movie, largely focuses on the Muslim militia called Razakars (volunteers) and its activities in the days leading to the erstwhile Hyderabad state’s annexation to India by the Indian army on September 17, 1948.

The movie on Razakars was supposed to originally release last year before the November 30 Telangana Assembly election in the month of October, but was delayed. Gudrun Narayan Reddy, a long time Congressman from Bhongir district who shifted to the BJP a few years ago, confirmed that the movie will finally release on March 15. He had earlier said it would be released on March 1.

It may be recalled that in the run to the Telangana polls, Gudrun Narayana Reddy had written to the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of the state asking to allow his movie on Razakars to be released on November 17, 2023. He had then stated that it was not made with the intention to create communal discord, given that many have accused him to spreading anti-Muslim hate through the film.

Moreover, it may be recalled that Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president and then IT minister KT Rama Rao (KTR) had in September 2023 also stated the then BRS government would stop the movie’s release and take the issue to the censor board. It may noted that the movie’s poster also portrays some casteist overtones. It shows a purported Brahmin boy being impaled on a spike as Razakars from a distance watch.

This story was originally published in siasat.com. Read the full story here.