Bengaluru: The Foundation for Indic Research Studies (FIRST) has criticized the move by the state government to organize Tip Sultan jayanti celebrations.
In an even titled ‘Tipu and his worshipper’ in Bengaluru on Saturday, the event organizer, Anil Chalageri, criticized the state government for ‘sponsoring’ the Jayanti
“We have team of people, who will talk about the politics behind the issue. There are also people who have done research on the history of various killings by carried out by Tipu."
There is enough evidence by historians to prove that this state sponsored celebration is not right, he added. In his address BJP’s spokesperson Sambit Patra took a dig at Siddaramaiah calling him a “Sultan Siddaramaiah” and how Congress party had opposed the move to confer Bharat Ratna to late Field Marshal K.M. Cariappa.
Patra also said, “I spoke to Cariappa’s family and they told me about the atrocities committed by Tipu Sultan on their ancestors. Why is the Congress busy selling the same old pseudo-secularism? Why is it behaving like “Sadak Ke Gunde”? There are letters and documents stating how brutally he killed people."
He also cricticised the Siddaramaiah government for withdrawing the cases against PFI activists.
"What kind of salt you want to rub on the wounds of the people? Siddaramaiah is following divide and rule policy,” he remarked.
When asked whether the BJP was trying to whip up Hindu sentiment on the Tipu issue and using it a poll plank, Patra said, “Why attach a religion to a tyrant? If people from Coorg are opposing it, if people from Malabar are opposing it. We have people across religious spectrum opposing it. What is the problem and why shouldn’t we oppose it? If he was butchering people, razing down temples and churches. If he is a tyrant, why shouldn’t we call him so.”
He wondered why we are celebrating Tipu Jayanti after 300 years. No one was demanding it. Who is whipping the religious sentiment?, he argued. Another speaker Robert Rasario pointed out that Tipu had destroyed 25 churches from Mangaluru to Karwar. “We should call him the first terrorist and not a freedom fighter,” he added.
