Bengaluru: Eighteenth Century ruler Tipu Sultan may soon be obliterated from school history textbooks if Karnataka’s BJP Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa has his way.
The CM has said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led State Government will remove any mention of the controversial ruler from all text books as well as cancel celebrations of his birth anniversary.
“We are going to drop everything, even in textbooks… I do not agree that Tipu Sultan was a freedom fighter,” Yediyurappa told reporters after an interaction in the Press Club of Bengaluru last evening. His statements come days ahead of Tipu Jayanti on Nov.10.
The “Mysore Tiger” is a divisive figure in Karnataka, especially Kodagu. Many declare him a hero and a freedom fighter and the Congress, under the Chief Ministership of Siddharamaiah, began State celebrations on his birth anniversary. Others, including the BJP, view him as a bigot and tyrant.
Soon after the CM’s words, BJP Karnataka tweeted: “By ending State celebrations of Tipu Jayanti, our CM has restored dignity to Kannadigas. As the next step, textbooks must be rewritten to portray the real Tipu Sultan to our children. They should be made aware of the Tyrant’s cruelty against Hindus and his anti Kannada rule.”
Annual slugfest
This year, the annual slugfest over the controversial ruler was triggered by BJP Legislator M.P. Appachu Ranjan when he wrote to the Government, asking to remove all references of Tipu Sultan from text books.
The State Government’s move is expected to unleash another round of political fracas between the Congress and the BJP over the legacy of the controversial ruler at a time when Karnataka is reeling under its worst floods in over a century.
While the Congress has maintained Tipu Sultan was a national hero, fighting the British and allowing religious diversity to thrive during his rule, the BJP views him as a tyrant who indulged in mass murders, torture, forced conversions to Islam, citing stories of atrocities against communities such as the Kodavas, Brahmins, and Christians, among others.
Though the BJP and Yediyurappa, among other leaders, have in the past been part of events that celebrated Tipu Sultan, their main contention has been whether it requires to be a Government-sponsored event.
Siddu slams move
Removing Tipu Sultan’s references from text books is akin to subverting history, Siddharamaiah said in response to Yediyurappa’s statement. “Is it a lie that Tipu fought the British or not? Can we change this then? We should teach children about history.” Siddharamaiah called the BJP a “bigot”.
Tipu Sultan was born on Nov.10, 1750 at Devanahalli, in the outskirts of Bengaluru, and was the ruler of Mysore from 1782 till his death in 1799. The insistence of the Siddharamaiah-led Congress Government to carry on with the celebrations despite opposition in Kodagu district led to clashes, claiming two lives in 2015.
All historical figures will have shades of grey: KPCC Chief
State Congress Chief Dinesh Gundu Rao said, “I think that is the height of audacity. Only a person who does not respect history, who does not respect research and knowledge, can say such things.”
“Does Yediyurappa know who all praised Tipu Sultan? Former President Abdul Kalam said Tipu Sultan had pioneered rocket technology. Current President Ram Nath Kovind also made repeated mentions of Tipu when he spoke in the Karnataka Assembly,” he said. In March, a collection of rare artefacts from Tipu Sultan’s armoury, including one of his personal swords discovered by a couple in their attic in the English county of Berkshire, was auctioned for around 107,000 pounds.
Admitting that every historical figure will have “shades of grey,” he said it does not mean that they should be eradicated from history. “Petty politics, a communal mindset driven by hate — only they can say such things,” he said.
Happy with decision, says MP Pratap Simha
Mysuru-Kodagu MP Pratap Simha yesterday said that he is happy with the State Government’s decision to remove lessons on Tipu Sultan from textbooks. Addressing press persons, Pratap said, “Tipu was a tyrant who cheated and killed Madakari Nayaka. I’m very happy with the State Government’s decision to remove lessons on Tipu Sultan from textbooks.” He further added, “Tipu tried to insult our culture and it’s a good thing hereafter students of our State need not study about him.”
Textbook Society meeting on Nov.7
Karnataka Textbook Society has convened a meeting on Nov.7 for discussing dropping Tipu Sultan from school textbooks in the State. The meeting will be held at 12 noon in Vidhana Soudha.
The meeting comes in the wake of the direction issued by the Primary and Secondary Education Minister S. Suresh Kumar for deciding on the issue. Madikeri MLA Appachu Ranjan had submitted a representation to the Government seeking to remove lessons on Tipu from school textbooks.
“We have invited MLA Appachu Ranjan and the experts who were involved in drafting history textbook. We will submit the report to the Primary and Secondary Education Minister after hearing both experts and the MLA,” said a senior official of Karnataka Textbook Society.
What Karnataka Chief Minister is trying to do by abolishing Tippu’s legacy,his history and what Yadiyurappa is doing is nothing but smearing and covering-up the past !! Is he going to do anything beyond that ? How about the summer palace,his tomb in Ganjam and the monuments related to Britishers would all these Historical sites will be removed?.By doing these smear tactics you are trying make history and I am afraid that this wouldn’t satisfy your appetite !!
As for pioneering rocket technology, the Chinese invented this technology and they pioneered the technology centuries before this thug Tipu. Just what this thug Tipu do with this technology? Not for peaceful purpose , definitely. Tipu was a thug and a villain and his infamy was to keep the rightful Wadiyar in prison by usurping his power. Once the Wadiyar dynasty was restored, by removing this thug, Mysore started progrssing and flourished. As for Kovind, he is an ignorant fool.
Your grandfather and Yeddurappa’s father both thugs fought against british in Anglo Mysore war I beleive ??
Who kept Wadiyars in house rest you need to get reality check on this ?? kindly refer history. It was long before Tipu born, wadiyar was under house arrest by his own relatives.
Tipu never bow down like a dog in front of british like all others. What all Yeddi can erase, can he erase Taj Mahal, Red Fort, Qhutubminar, Golgombz, Charminar, Agra, Ajmer, Bangalore palace, etc…. Shengri petta was restored, Nanjangud was restored and built, many gopuras was built by Tippu.
History is History it cannot be erased nor modified.
@citizen. Some Tipu lover! Your language shows that you are a despicable human being, who needs lessons in behaviour. You may love Tipu and his father Hyder Ali, but the History, if you have had education , is that both kept the young Wadiyar the prisoner, and ruled the then Mysore from Srirangapatna. typical ugly being , not fit to be a human
@citizen,the ardent Tipu lover who must have celebrated this Villain’s Jayanthi says, the young Wadiyar was kept a prisoner by his own relatives. For what purpose? If it was a fact, and if this Tipu was such a noble soul, why did he not release the Wadiyar? Why did it take the defeat of this Villain, to get the Wadiyar released and make him the ruler?
This @citizen must have studied History different from all of us; that History must have written in Urdu! To explain this ignorant @citizen,I want to point out that the current Pandavapura, was called “French Rocks”( in My primary schooldays, in early 1950s, it was still “French Rocks”, and was renamed later) which meant that the it was an enclave of the French who also ruled parts of India like Pondicherry,Mahe etc.. Tipu begged the French ( perhaps in @citizen vocabulary,bowing down like a dog!) to help him to defeat the British. The French were wiser than this Muslim Villain,and they saw the writing on the wall, namely,the people of the then Mysore who were the victims of Tipu rule, will never support them with the Wadiyar ,the prisoner of this Villain, and hence wisely kept themselves away, although ,they had a garrison in French Rocks.
“Interesting that @citizen quotes: Taj Mahal, Red Fort, Qhutubminar, Golgombz, Charminar, Agra, Ajmer”, also adds “Bangalore palace” in the same line,which shows:1. He is a confused and ignorant person 2. He likes the Mughal rule, and all the conversions that took place to create swathes of Muslim communities across India ( the great Tansen , the musician , born a Hindu was converted to Islam by Akbar) 3 Considers Tipu as hero and thinks of his rule as helping Hindus,ignoring the conversions that took place under his rule.
The problem of people like @citizen is that he sees this as Congress vs BjP issue,on one hand and wants to “declare” Tipu as the freedom Fighter at par with the great men that fought the British, on the other. I would not blame him as even that ignorant president of India, Kovind ( Govind?) claimed that Tipu pioneered rockets where as Googling ” rockets” , one could read that the Chinese invented, and others pioneered them before Tipu!
In the near future,celebrating this Villain Tipu Jayanthi, a future government will create the Tipu University, funded perhaps by Saudis and other Gulf States, to honour the Villain who kept the Wadiyar, the prisoner! In India, anything can happen when the politicians want votes and a certain community which is expanding fast into a significant community,even though , it calls it self a minority community and enjoys its own personal laws which allows polygamy.
https://youtu.be/rb7wy49VHXI
SuvarnaNews/videos/341055626463363?vh=e&d=n&sfns=mo , historian chikrange Gowda from Mandya.
Watch Dr, Ram Puniyani, a famous historian on youtube, what does he say on Tippu.
Learning is not bad thing, listen and learn if you wish to learn and to be liberal rather hating just he does not belong to our community.
It appears like some people want to celebrate Tippu jayanthi because he killed 800 plus Hindu families in Melkote who wanted to protect the temple from looting After All how can these Hindu priests protest looting! They deserved well deserved punishment by the noble rulrer Tippu!. They were raped, killed and made a great example of what happens to Tippu’s critics ! We we the traces of Tippu’s genes in his followers even today!
So what do you say on Maratha rulers damaged and looted shrengiri temples, do you hate maratha’s for that or only you oppose tippu just because he doesn’t belong to same community.