Why Tipu Jayanti now?

The politicising of Tipu Sultan’s legacy is the latest episode in a brand new serial of tolerance versus intolerance. The Karnataka government’s hasty celebration of Tipu Jayanti in these already conflicted times is another reminder of the harm the baiters and the haters on the two sides of the debate can do to each other. Neither celebrating someone who ruled a part of India a little over 200 years ago nor denigrating it is likely to take anyone any further in this age.

Vote-bank politics is the more likely trigger of a whipped-up remembrance event, which is just another of several in this land famous for celebrating birth and death anniversaries of countless leaders. Why one more now in these troubled times is a logical question that can be asked of this government gesture even as the protesters’ fuss over a writer holding his own opinion on the former ruler can be questioned in equal measure; so too the intentions of those who use social media only to whip up passions. The verities of human nature would suggest that rulers, in a modern democracy or in an ancient monarchy, would do things only to preserve or enhance personal power.

Regardless of the religion of the subject, the use of history or historical figures to serve present-day political aspirations is a cynical exploitation of public sentiment. All the present-day labels we put on prominent personalities of the past may not stand the scrutiny of history as people behave and act as they must in any era only to fulfil the requirements of their times for their own power and glory.