I don’t know about the rest of Hyderabad, but I was certainly very excited about Prince Azmet Jah’s first–ever public appearance in a talk at the 2026 Hyderabad Literary Festival.
Azmet spoke about his father, Prince Mukarram Jah Bahadur, who was ceremonially crowned as Hyderabad’s eighth Nizam in 1967, after the death of Mir Osman Ali Khan, the seventh and last Nizam of the erstwhile princely state of Hyderabad.
Osman Ali Khan bears the ignominy of having his state annexed to India by the Indian Army on 17 September 1948, after having refused to join India when the British left in 1947. He was, however, made the Rajpramukh (Governor) of Hyderabad from 1950-56.
People in Hyderabad, to this day, remember him walking around the city. Some people met him, most didn’t. But they, at least, had seen him being the ruler. The same, however, cannot be said about his grandson and the eighth Nizam Mukarram Jah, given that he virtually disappeared from public life after inheriting Osman Ali Khan’s wealth.
There is no known record of the two speaking at public events or addressing gatherings in general. While I can understand Osman Ali Khan for who he was, Mukarram Jah’s silence and decisions to live far away in Australia and Turkey for most of his life will always remain a mystery.
Mukarram Jah’s mother was Princess Durru Shewar, the daughter of Sultan Abdulmejid II, the last Ottoman king who was in exile in France after Turkey lost World War 1. She was married to Azam Jah, the elder son of Osman Ali Khan. Mukarram Jah’s Turkish bloodline is also why he made Turkey his home, and died there eventually — his body was brought back to Hyderabad for burial.
Eroding legacy
It is in this context that Azmet Jah, who was made the titular ninth Nizam after his father’s death in 2023, and his public talks are important. I was really hoping to understand more about the family, given that we have no idea about what both his predecessors were ever thinking, especially his father.
Unlike rulers of other princely states, such as the Scindias of Gwalior who entered active politics after Independence, Osman Ali Khan chose to keep himself and his family out of politics entirely. Maybe the Nizam felt he was beyond it, especially given that he once ruled Hyderabad. Mukarram Jah, however, choosing to stay abroad for most of his life only eroded the legacy of the Nizams.
At the literature festival, however, Azmet Jah gave no such insight. His talk was very facile at the best, and he, of course, only reminiscenced about the good things about his life and his father while growing up in Hyderabad. My expectations were maybe too high, I was thinking that he would speak in Dakhni. But his thick English accent was enough to cut down my expectations.
Also read: The other Nizam son speaks: Hyderabad royal feud out in open
A shadow of its past
The state of Hyderabad’s erstwhile rulers post-Independence has been rather sad. Even in Kashmir, Karan Singh, the descendant of Maharaja Hari Singh who signed the Treaty of Accession after refusing to join India (like Hyderabad), was not only made the head of state but also served as a Union Minister under Congress governments earlier.
He essentially transitioned into politics, and managed to hold on to his cultural and social power by doing so. In Hyderabad, because Osman Ali Khan and his family chose to stay away from active politics, the status of the family has been reduced to what it is today — a shadow of its past.
Of course, one can’t undo the past, but I can only imagine how different Hyderabad would have been politically had the Nizams been part of the state’s politics. Had that been the case, I doubt Asaduddin Owaisi’s All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) would have emerged as a Muslim-led party. Because the Nizams still enjoy a lot of respect among Muslims.
If Mukarram Jah had at least been around in Hyderabad instead of spending most of his years abroad, the legacy of the Nizams would have been entirely different. People to a large extent still revere Osman Ali Khan, but not Mukarram Jah.
However, if Azmet Jah continues to appear in public in the coming days, who knows he may even undo some of the damage.
Yunus Lasania is a Hyderabad-based journalist whose work primarily focuses on politics, history and culture. He posts on X @YunusLasania. Views are personal.
(Edited by Aamaan Alam Khan)