Mysuru: Until now only Tipu Sultan’s birth anniversary was celebrated every year, but on Thursday writers and thinkers held a convention here to mark the Tiger of Mysuru’s “218th martyr day.”
The occasion also saw some Sangh Parivar bashing for its stance on him, giving it political colour.
Addressing the convention, former leader of the Opposition in the legislative council A.K. Subbaiah recalled that Tipu Sultan had promoted movements for reformation of agriculture, women empowerment and to fight atrocities against Dalits. “His name must be mentioned along with Buddha and Basava. But Sangh Parivar leaders and those who are communal are trying to divide people in his name. I have not seen any controversy related to Tipu in my 80 years in Kodagu. In fact, Kodavas have named their children Tipu Bopaiah, Tipu Medappa and so on. If Kodavas had a problem with Tipu Jayanti they would have said so,” he contended, accusing some vested interests of trying to misinterpret history in the book “Pattole Palame”.
“According to that book too, Tipu did not massacre Kodavas, but arrested them in retaliation for an attack on his army. The numbers (of people converted) mentioned in the book too are an exaggeration. In fact, Tipu contributed to the temple in Bhagamandala,” he added.
Belimath seer Sri Shivanubhava Charamurthy Shivarudra swamiji too maintained that when Tipu fought it was always over territory. “Attaching dharma to these battles is disrespecting history,” he said.
