A Hindu outfit has urged Karnataka government to drop its plan to celebrate the birth anniversary of controversial 18th century ruler Tipu Sultan on November 10. In a press release issued on Wednesday, the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti, a sister outfit of radical Hindu organisation, Sanatan Sanstha, said the decision to celebrate the Tipu Jayanti was a clear and premeditated attempt to appease the minorities and instigate Hindus.
“For the last few years, the birth anniversary of Mughal ruler Tipu is being celebrated in Karnataka. Along with Karnataka, the same phenomenon has now spread to other parts of the country too. This is the same Tipu who changed the name of a Hindu village to Mysore and declared it as an Islamic state,” the release said.
The Karnataka government had on Monday decided to celebrate 'Tipu Jayanti', bringing the state under a thick security blanket, amid threats of protest by the BJP. The state BJP, meanwhile, has urged the government to drop its decision to celebrate 'Tipu Jayanti' and not to stand on "prestige" or "ego".
The Hindu Janajagruti Samiti's release further said: “He (Tipu) pledged to convert all the Kafirs into Islam. He had given written instructions to his men for Islamic knowledge to be imparted to all men and women; forcibly convert or kill those who refuse to voluntarily convert to Islam; and to capture Hindu women, tarnish their sanctity and distribute them among Muslim men.”
The outfit claimed that Tipu was responsible for the destruction of thousands of temples. “If the birth anniversary of a super-villain like Tipu continues to be celebrated, then soon the birth anniversaries of the likes of Akbar, Babar and Afzal Khan will also follow suit, thereby marking the commencement of Islamisation of Bharat,” it said.
This will be first such celebration of 'Tipu Jayanti' after Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy-led Congress-JD(S) coalition government came to power in the state.
The previous Congress government, led by Siddaramaiah, began celebrating 'Tipu Jayanti' on November 10 every year since 2015, amid stiff opposition by the BJP, several Hindu organisations and some individuals.
Widespread protests and violence had marred the celebrations during the first two years.
While the BJP and some Hindu outfits see Tipu as a "religious bigot" and a "brutal killer", some Kannada outfits call him anti-Kannada, saying that he had promoted Persian at the cost of the local language.
With inputs from agencies
