In a rare and candid interview with ThePrint, Alexander Azam Jah, the Australia-based son of Mukarram Jah, has alleged that his stepmother, Esra Birgen, exercised what he describes as “near-total control” over his father’s life during his final years.
The interview has brought into the open a long-simmering dispute within the Asaf Jahi family – one that Hyderabad had largely heard only in hushed conversations. According to Azam Jah, key aspects of Mukarram Jah’s personal life, estate management, and even the public narrative surrounding his later years were shaped under Birgen’s dominant influence, particularly during the period when the former Nizam lived in isolation outside India.
VII Nizam’s ‘Opposition to Jah’s Marriage’
Historical sources indicate that the marriage between Mukarram Jah and Esra Birgen was controversial from the outset. According to John Zubrzycki, author of The Last Nizam: An Indian Prince in the Australian Outback, the marriage was opposed by Mukarram Jah’s immediate family.
Zubrzycki records that Mir Osman Ali Khan, Mukarram Jah’s grandfather and the last ruling Nizam of Hyderabad, as well as his mother Durrushehvar Sultan, were unhappy with the union. Their opposition stemmed from concerns relating to dynastic continuity, cultural compatibility, and the broader responsibilities attached to the Asaf Jahi lineage.
Despite these reservations, the marriage went ahead and would later become one of the most consequential – and contentious – relationships in the family’s modern history.
Jah’s Break from Dynastic Precedent
Mukarram Jah, Mir Barkat Ali Khan, is widely regarded as the first Nizam of Hyderabad to formally divorce, marking a notable departure from long-established royal convention. The separation took place in 1974, after approximately fifteen years of marriage, reflecting changing personal and legal norms in the post-colonial era.
Following the divorce, Esra Birgen retained custody of their two children, Shekhar and Azmet Jah. However, contrary to some public perceptions, her life did not remain bound to the former Nizam thereafter.
Birgin’s Remarriage and Later Family Life
According to multiple published accounts, Esra Birgen remarried after her divorce from Mukarram Jah. She married B. A. Hanin and went on to have three additional children – two sons and a daughter – from her subsequent marriage. This aspect of her life is frequently overlooked in popular retellings but is significant in understanding the broader family structure and the competing spheres of influence that later emerged.
Long-standing Questions Reopened
Alexander Azam Jah’s claims have reopened long-standing questions about who held real influence over Mukarram Jah in his later years, a period when the former Nizam was living far from Hyderabad and largely out of public view.
Issues that were once spoken of only in private family conversations and elite social circles are now being aired openly. With matters of inheritance, influence, and legacy again under scrutiny, the interview marks a rare moment when a deeply personal family dispute has become part of the public record surrounding one of India’s most prominent royal houses.
