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HYDERABAD: At a time when the future of Hyderabad city is being hotly contested by the protagonists of Telangana and Seemandhra, A G Noorani's book on the former Hyderabad State and its painful process of merger with Indian Union should serve as a relevant set of documents for analysis. It essentially offers lessons in the treatment of people by the government. He effectively tells what happens when groups of people are given preferential treatment or mistreated on some account or the other.
Among the recent publications Mohammed Hyder's book 'October Coup' partially discusses the period preceding the merger and what resulted thereafter. On the other hand Noorani's 'Destruction of Hyderabad' provides a detailed examination of those turbulent times which hitherto were unknown to many ardent followers of the past, present and the future of Hyderabad. His book is full of extensive quotes from a large set of documents, both published and unpublished. Unlike many other researchers, Noorani has made good use of the records available with the AP State Institute of Archives and Research.
Says Noorani, "The destruction of Hyderabad was the final act in the tragedy that engulfed the sub-continent...