Mangaluru: ‘Kanara Christians – Victims of Tipu Sultan’, has opposed the state government’s move to organise Tipu Jayanti celebration on Friday and also criticized the silence of religious heads and elected representatives from the community.
The group has asked MLA J.R. Lobo to speak about the atrocities on Kanara Christian by Tipu during the jayanti celebration on Friday.
"MLA Lobo, MLC Ivan D'Souza and MP Oscar Fernandes belong to Kanara Christian Community. But they have not stood with the community at this hour of trial. They have instead backed the government for their narrow political gain,” said Robert Rosario, an activist. “We (Kanara Christians) the descendants of the victims of tyranny of Tipu have been urging the state government for the past two years to call off the celebration and respect our sentiments. But instead the government is hell bent on celebrating the tyrant," he added.
"Lobo will be attending Tipu Jayanti celebration on Friday. This is the last opportunity to speak in support of the community as election will be held in few months. Let Lobo speak about the atrocity of Tipu on Kanara Christians. Our other leaders should also raise their voice. Otherwise we challenge them to face the next election in the name of Tipu Sultan. Let them declare Tipu as their hero," Robert challenged.
He said that Tipu Jayanti celebration should end this year and the new government coming after the election should stop this practice.
Robert was also surprised by stand taken by religious leaders. "More hurting is the fact that the religious leaders have maintained grave silence. Their clout is so high that no government would dare to oppose if they speak out. Yet they prefer not to stand with the community, which is surprising. We would like to call it conspiracy of silence in collusion with the Congress government," he said.
Robert pointed out that in the 500-year history of Kanara Christians, Tipu was their biggest enemy. “He had demolished about 27 churches. One of the churches in Aikala was saved because of the Bunt community. Even to this date, the community honours them during the annual celebration of the Church. Two years ago Bishop of Mangaluru himself had come and honored the Bunt community and thanked them for helping the Christians against Tipu. But sadly the Bishop has not expressed his opposition to Tipu Jayanti," he said. He listed the names of Bishops of various places within and outside Karnataka, who belong to Kanara Christian community, Rosario said that all the esteemed members of the community have hurt the members. "They have let us down which is hurting the most. While emboldening the forces supporting Tipu," he said. He added that he had written to the Mangaluru Bishop twice and asked the religious heads to publicly express their opposition to Tipu Jayanti.
