Hyderabad: In the packed byways of old Hyderabad, the Nizam’s trust office, ‘Khaja ka Chilla’, is readying itself for a ‘crowning’ ceremony. But Raunaq Yar Khan, the man chosen as the new successor, is a dissident candidate – even though a popular one—for the Nizam’s position.
But he isn’t the only one vying for this title.
Last month, at another quiet ceremony, Mir Azmet Ali Khan, son of the last official Nizam, Prince Mukarram Jah Bahadur, was proclaimed as the titular ninth Nizam.
It’s a problem of plenty. Across Hyderabad, thousands of ‘descendants’ are fighting for the spoils.
The title holds no power in Independent India, but it’s all about who can have a greater hold over palaces, jewellery and land deeds.
Worse, there has been no active Nizam in the city for several years. Prince Mukarram Jah hadn’t visited Hyderabad for over a decade and died in Turkey this January. However, he was buried in the city’s Mecca Masjid as per his last wishes, where a large crowd bade him adieu. His son, Azmet Jah (62), has mostly been living abroad, rarely visiting Hyderabad.
The son of Mukarram Jah’s first wife, Princess Esra from Turkey, Azmet Jah is a filmmaker and cinematographer who reportedly completed his initial schooling in London and obtained a college degree from the University of Southern California in the US. He has collaborated with popular figures such as filmmaker Steven Spielberg and veteran actor Richard Attenborough.
Now, there is a battle royale brewing between Azmet Jah and Raunaq Yar Khan, a remote, globe-trotting heir and a popular local descendent. The former’s crowning occurred at a low-key affair with a handful of participants at the Chowmahalla Palace, the 18th-century official seat of the older Nizam rule, following his father’s death on 14 January. The latter is now eyeing the same venue for his ‘coronation’, but it has been locked up, claims MESS.
“There cannot be any title now; how is it even valid when the government abolished all royal titles? So, the latest coronation or crowning holds absolutely no value, be it for Azmet Jah or Raunaq Yar Khan,” said a city historian, known to both Jah and Khan, on condition of anonymity.
The ‘coronation’ is still important, and battlelines have been drawn. The titular Nizam, after all, owns four palaces—Chowmahalla Palace, Chiraan Fort Palace, King Kothi Palace and the lavish Falaknuma Palace.
Over the past few decades, several disputes have occurred between family members and descendants over assets owned by the Nizam. Grandsons of the seventh Nizam, Nawab Mir Osman Ali Khan, continue to claim his property, and cases are being fought all over the world. In 2020, the UK High Court ruled in favour of the Government of India, Mukarram Jah, and his younger brother over the inheritance of funds belonging to Mir Osman Ali at the time of Partition. They had been deposited in a London bank account.
The amount in question was 35 million Pounds. One of the seventh Nizam’s grandsons, Najaf Ali Khan, and 120 others from his family, claimed a share in this fortune.
“There needs to be a face representing the groups, which will clash over rights to the crores worth of properties still remaining,” said the city historian.
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The two men cannot be more dissimilar. Azmet Jah is an international cinematographer, while Raunaq Yar Khan is a local socialite. His annual Holi parties—a Hyderabad go-to event for four decades—are attended by foreign friends, and the city’s who’s who. Khan’s social circle is vast and diverse, and he does lots to maintain it—from hosting elite polo tournaments to paying for a city mosque’s upkeep and renting properties for movie shoots.
Khan told ThePrint that he holds a doctorate in ‘community harmony’ and had served as Delhi police advisor between 1989-1999. Khan is the maternal grandson of Mir Mahboob Ali Khan, the sixth Nizam of Hyderabad.
Hyderabad is his home, one that he is quick to emphasise.
“If you even give me one billion dollars to leave Hyderabad, I still wouldn’t do it. That is my love for the city. My Holi parties promote communal harmony because I invite people who believe in different religions, and that harmony is exactly our legacy,” he said.
MESS members have chosen him in the belief that, because he is already wealthy, he will not hoard the Nizam’s property.
Calling Raunaq Yar Khan one of the “city’s wealthiest Nawabs,” MESS general secretary Moizuddin Khan said the titular Nizam must take care of his entire ‘family’—including thousands of descendants and nobles.
“But that’s not being done,” said Moizuddin Khan while referring to Azmet Jah.
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The fight for ascendancy continues
Thousands in the Nawab city claim to have the same family lineage, and many do not agree with Azmet Jah as the successor. Needless to say, these ‘descendants’ were kept away from the ceremony at the storied Chowmahalla Palace.
“We wanted to do it in Chowmahalla Palace (where Azmet Jah) was crowned, but that’s closed. We suspect it has been shut to not allow us to go ahead with our ceremony,” a member of the Majlis-E-Sahebzadegan Society (MESS), which chose Raunaq Yar Khan as successor, told ThePrint.
MESS members claim Azmet Jah’s long absences from the city have made him “unfit” for the Nizam’s position.
“After Mukkaramjah, his son Azmet Jah had hardly been to Hyderabad and was unaware of any responsibilities and workings of the Asaf Jahi Dynasty. His continued silence, absence and remaining incommunicado with [other] members of the Asaf Jahi Dynasty Family prompted us to choose the best amongst the family,” said MESS in a press statement.
MESS, formed in 1932 under the guardianship of Mir Osman Ali Khan, include descendants of Nizams I – VI. More than 4,500 members, who are direct descendants, are referred to as ‘Shahebzada and Sahebzadi,’ while the Nizam’s nobles are called ‘Umra’.
Earlier this month, MESS chose Raunaq Yar Khan as heir to the Nizam’s throne, and the unofficial coronation is set to be held on 2 March.
MESS also noted how even Mukkaram Jah Bahadur spent most of his life abroad, far away and disconnected from Hyderabad.
“The properties, articles, and many other belongings of Nizams have been lying in [a]state of neglect across the world, and there isn’t any proper person to take up the responsibilities. H.R.H [His Royal Highness] Mukkaramjah Bahadur left Hyderabad, stayed in Australia [and] Turkey, and rarely visited Hyderabad during his lifetime. During this duration, many properties [and] articles belonging to Nizams were stolen, grabbed and sold,” the MESS statement read.
Prince Mukkaram Jah was recognised as the ‘ruler of Hyderabad’ under Article 366 (22) of the Indian Constitution in 1967, which allowed him to be formally crowned as the city’s eighth Nizam. The Indian government, however, abolished all royal titles in 1971.
The new Nizam can influence neither policy nor politics, but the line of succession is a link to their two-century-old history, and Hyderabad.
In response to MESS chasing one of its own as successor, Azmet Jah’s office put out a notice saying certain people are “falsely claiming to be descendants of the Asaf Jahi Dynasty,” which is misleading. “These people claiming to be representatives of the Asaf Jahi Dynasty are possibly doing so with ulterior motives of vested interest with personal gain [and] with no respect for the dynasty,” stated the Office of the Estate of the Nizam.
MESS, too, responded to the notice. Members claimed the organisation was formed under Osman Ali Khan’s reign, and was officially recognised by the Nizams.
It alleged that Mukarram Jah’s secession certificate from 1967 was misused several times to sell Wakf and ancestral properties worth crores of rupees and that the transaction money was taken out of the country through ‘clandestine’ means.
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Claiming a hidden fortune
But the big question is, how much money does Hyderabadi Nizam really have? After all, last Nizam Mukarram Jah lived far from a lavish life toward the end.
Mukarram Jah inherited the title from his grandfather, Mir Osman Ali Khan. Immense wealth accompanied the title, so much so that it made him India’s richest person for a brief period.
But that lasted only a few years, and he started losing money in divorce settlements, repayment of loans and so on. From being India’s richest man to living in a ‘modest’ apartment in Turkey during his last days, Mukarram Jah’s journey reflects the royal family’s tragic downward spiral.
He also spent a part of his life on a sheep farm in Australia.
While there are stories of how wealthy Osman Ali Khan was, with huge possessions of gold, diamonds and many properties, there is no clarity on the exact count today.
Then there’s that messy question of the religious obligation of the heirs.
MESS’s Moizuddin Khan points to ‘Mohemmadan’ and ‘Personal Law’ to make his point.
“The law clearly states that not just the Prince or successor, but the properties should be equally distributed, or rather, the entire family [of descendants] have rights in it,” said Moizuddin.
He claimed that some of the descendant families live in deplorable conditions, struggling to make ends meet.
“Is it not the responsibility of Azmet Jah to take care of them [other descendants]? That’s not being done. We tried reaching out to him requesting the same, but the response has been very disappointing,” he added.
(Edited by Zoya Bhatti)