Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court has refused to stay the State’s Tipu Jayanti celebrations on Nov. 10. A Division Bench of the High Court, hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) this morning, refused to stay the celebrations.
The PIL was filed by Kokkalemada P. Manju Chinnappa from South Kodagu challenging the celebration of Tipu Jayanti by the State Government. The PIL was heard by the Division Bench comprising Acting Chief Justice H.G. Ramesh and Justice P.S. Dinesh Kumar.
The HC said today that it would have intervened if the Tipu Jayanti celebration was against law. “Since it is not against law and constitutional provisions, we cannot interfere in the celebrations,” the Bench said.
According to the petitioner, Tipu was an invader and a dictator and glorifying such a person is a matter of shame. He added that it is an irony that the government wants to celebrate the birth anniversary of a person of this stature as he believed in the ethnical cleansing of the Kodava community.
It may be recalled here that on Nov. 3, the High Court had adjourned the PIL hearing to Nov. 7. Petitioner Manjunath had prayed the court to quash the government’s circular dated Oct. 24 issued to celebrate Tipu Jayanti across the State, especially in Kodagu.
The petitioner alleged that Tipu had killed hundreds of Kodavas, and carried out conversions too. He prayed the court to give directions to the State Government not to celebrate Tipu Jayanti in Kodagu, the celebration of which might lead to law and order problem.
He claimed that during 2015 Tipu Jayanti, there were violent protests in Kodagu district and other parts of the State, resulting in a law and order situation.
It may be recalled here that in 2016 too, Manju Chinnappa had filed a petition against the celebration of Tipu Jayanti. Disposing of the petition, the then High Court Chief Justice Subhro Kamal Mukherjee had said that the celebration had to be contrary to law for them (the court) to intervene. This year too, the court cited the same reason and disposed of the petition.
What this rukkus on Tippu Jayanti??
No matter how many Jayanti’s of whatever historic people are celebrated accross nation, not all participate. People only enjoy the govt holiday given on those occasions. What i mean to say is, different Jayanti’s are for different religious and caste group.
Now how many of those are for minorities?? when someone wants to celebrate Tippu Jayanti what is the problem with others.
Recently read an article on Tippu (although false) that he was racist, murderer etc and not a freedom fighter so there is no point in celebrating his Jayanti. So just few days ago Kanaka Jayanti was celerbrated, who was a poet, and earned bread and butter writing poems, so why his Jayanti, did anyone question.
The protest on Tippu is a clear segregation and hatred towards one community and no one give any Sh*t about what happened historically, its only to suppress one community these protests are conducted.
I am really delighful of HC to reject the petition filed against the celebration, giving hope to minorities that law is unbiased.
Please stop these outburst of hatred and work towards making india a progessive nation, India was made with diversity, even you cant live alone in your house, you need your family to make it home. This is nation and place for our future generation, think what will happen to them when they are born with hatred filled world. Consequences are on both sides.
Thank you and love my India
I never read the state government version of this so called history! If tigers wrote the history they would depict that the cows as the aggressors who encroached on their territory and deserved to be eaten! I have read Dominique Lapier and Larry Collins history books about India’s kings that are very fair and that agrees with what has been told to us by our ancistors! I belong to a Brahmin subsect settled in Melkote and around Mondya district. Our ancestors NEVER celebrated Naraka chaturdashi day as we have been told, after Tippu and his soldiers came to loot the temple and the Iyengar community tried to protect the temple, and 850 families were brutally killed with their heads chopped off by Tippu’s soldiers aka freedom fighters!
If this story is different from Siddus and Syeds of this country have heard or made up,that is fine! They were killed long ago in the hands of a ruthless looter! Our democracy allows him to be glorified as a freedom fighter! May be he was, but that does not change the fact that he killed innocent Hindus, their wives and children’!
Greetings Syed, I belong to the Mangalorean Catholic community. I humbly request you to read a few history books about Tipu or Wikipedia. Please ignore the serial “The Sword of Tipu Sultan” which the Supreme count has clearly stated that the serial is a fiction and nothing to do with the real life of Tipu. Tipu Sultan’s Father Hyder ali was a very good and able General and Prime minister of the Wodeyar Dynasty. Under his rule Mangalorean Catholic community flourished in peace and harmony. But Tipu Sultan went against his father and butchered our community just because we were Christians. Tipu Sultan Stated “To Spare them was mercy, to honor them with Islam a favor. No fault being imputed except them being Christians”. He conducted genocide on Mangalorean Catholics, brave Kodavas, Hindus of Tanjavur, Hindus of Kerala. From the 80,000 Christians he captures in Mangalore, 20,000 died on the death march to Srinagapatna. The town of “NettreKere” or “Netterkedu” in Tulu derives its name from the large pool of blood which resulted from the execution of rebillious Mangalorean Catholics who resisted guards who began molesting captive Christian women. On reaching Srirangapatna Christian captives were forced to embrace Islam. All those who accepted Islam were freed and the ones who refused were tied to the feet of elephants to be dragged and trampled on Tipu’s orders. Most of the girls were taken as prizes to join their Harems. The parents who refused to give their girls had their noses, ears and upper lips cut off and were paraded through the streets of donkeys untill they fell dead because of excessive blood loss. Then came the turn of the Kodavas who suffered the same treatment. Any of the captives who tried to escape would have their ears, nose, feet and one hand amputated. His torture techniques were legendary. Driving nails into skulls of captured prisoners, water chambers on the banks of river Kaveri are still preserved and intact. Hundreds of churches and temples were destroyed. After the defeat of Tipu sultan and a long 15 year captivity only 15,000 Mangalorean Christian made it out alive. His Genocidal techniques inspired the Ottoman empire 100 years later which resulted in the massacre of 15,00,000 Lakh Armenian Christians who made use of his famous death march technique. How can anyone celebrate such a controversial figure of the past is beyond my comprehension.