Tipu Jayanti goes to Karnataka HC: Sabarimala-style flashpoint or real historical debate?

Illustration by Soham Sen | ThePrint Team

Tipu Jayanti by the Karnataka government to acknowledge and celebrate his contribution has become an annual flashpoint between the BJP and the Congress. This year too, the JDS-led government has decided to celebrate this day but in a muted manner. A Hindu group has petitioned the court saying it amounts to appeasement of the Muslim voters and divides communities.

ThePrint asks- Tipu Jayanti goes to Karnataka HC: Sabarimala-style flashpoint or real historical debate?

Manslaughter and forceful religious conversions can’t be compensated by good deeds on the side

Vivek Reddy
BJP spokesperson

It is a debate about what is historically correct. The fact that the Karnataka government is distorting history to project him as a hero is not acceptable. Whoever the government projects as national hero —  their deeds and words — will become what people will emulate. The question is, what do you want your future generations to emulate? The manslaughter by Tipu Sultan or the distorted version of his character painted by the government?

Even if there is political traction from the issue, the larger question is you cannot lose sight of the question of morality in this. The government is asking our next generation to embrace this man, and we are very concerned about it. The next generation must follow real heroes.

There has not been an intense evaluation of his character. That is necessary before elevating or celebrating historical figures. Nobody has undertaken that process, it shows neglect and a total lack of accountability. It is very irresponsible.  Because one misdeed can take away the entire man’s character and can become a blot on his life. Manslaughter and forceful religious conversions cannot be corrected or compensated by good deeds on the side. They are irremediable and are irreconcilable with the status of a hero.

Tipu Jayanti should be celebrated across India like Gandhi Jayanti

Sahebzada Syed Mansoor
Tipu Sultan’s descendant 

The issue has not taken the angle of Sabarimala. I feel that Tipu Jayanti should be taken up seriously and the government should be more involved. We hope to see the event being celebrated. It is slowly turning out to be a flashpoint between Hindus and Muslims.

When the issue was first celebrated in 2015, Kannada historians and supporters were involved – the former minister qamar ul islam for minonity & chief minister spoke to the family and discussed how it had to be celebrated. Even the family secrectry shahid alam Mysore royal family waqf estate since 1857 Calcutta was invited. But we have seen that in the last few years, the descendants themselves have not been invited by the state government. Then what is the point? It has hurt the family sentiments. We have decided that we are not dependent on the government or anybody, and will celebrate it at his birthplace in Devanahalli, on the outskirts of Bengaluru. I have also suggested of celebrating Tipu Jayanti, give impetus to universities and educational institutions. Just by celebrating him with a Jayanti alone does not make sense.

Rather than a historical debate, it is becoming a political debate. As a family, this hurts us very much. They are making it controversial for no reason. Tipu is a freedom fighter who has made a difference and the BJP is making him a communal figure. That should not be the point of celebrating Tipu Jayanti. Everybody should celebrate it freely. We are told we can have no banners, we cannot distribute sweets, and that it should be low key—what is the point of that?

It should be celebrated across the country like Gandhi Jayanti or Shivaji celebrations. Understand the historical importance of the man and celebrate his work. Don’t politicise our family heritage.

BJP doesn’t love the Kodavas and is merely using Tipu issue for votes

Brijesh Kalappa 
Spokesperson, Congress

I belong to the Kodava community and had heard from my grandparents that Tipu Sultan had taken away a lot of people from our family. Historically, anger against Tipu has been high within the Kodava Community. When our Government decided to have this celebration, I was the first one to say that it shouldn’t be celebrated in Mangalore and Kodagu, as these areas were the worst affected by Tipu’s cruelty.

Karnataka was not one entity in 1799— it consisted of Srirangapatna, Kodagu and Mangalore. Kodavas still nurse a grudge against Tipu. In the 1970s and 80s, the Congress had control over Kodagu. The BJP has been creating a flashpoint in Kodagu and winning in the region over the last four terms, they have successfully converted the issue into a political one.

The political and historical aspect is one part of it.

The other part is what the BJP is doing right now. Its moves are 100 per cent politically motivated. They don’t have love for the Kodavas, and are merely using them as a vote bank. Have they given Kodavas a minority status? Have they given job reservations to the Kodavas? Have they created infrastructure for the Kodavas? Have they given even one rupee to Coorg after the worst ever floods to hit Kodagu? The answer to all these questions is a resounding NO.

Kodavas are a martial race and are totally neglected today.

This is a historical debate that has a political connotation, and the BJP is trying to milk the issue. Former BJP CM Jagadish Shettar wrote in a note to the book commissioned by BJP that the BJP was on the verge of declaring Tipu Jayanti, but could not do it for some reason, so the following government did it. One must remember that even today the CBSE history textbook calls Tipu a hero and the Tiger of Mysore. CBSE board is under the HRD Ministry, so why this double standard?

Why does Railway Ministry at the Centre run ‘Tipu Express’ between Hubli-Mysore?

Why did BJP leaders not protest when the President of India described Tipu as the “Tiger of Mysore” and eulogised him?

PILs against Tipu Jayanti has become an annual public ritual in Karnataka HC

Prithvi Datta Chandra Shobhi
Historian

Filing PILs against Tipu Jayanti celebrations isn’t new. Since Siddaramaiah-led Congress government began celebrating Tipu’s birthday in 2015, each year PILs have been filed seeking a stay on the government move. In fact, even the petitioner, K.P. Manjunath, a resident of South Kodagu (Coorg) has been the same, prompting the Advocate General to argue in 2017 that the petition is nothing but a ‘cut and paste’ version of previous petitions.

During court deliberations, tough questions have been asked to both sides. In fact, in 2016, then Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court, S. K. Mukherjee had even questioned the logic behind celebrating Tipu Jayanti, saying, “Tipu was not a freedom fighter, but a monarch who fought the opponents to safeguard his interests.” In 2017, acting Chief Justice H.G. Ramesh wanted to know what mental ailments Tipu caused to the people of Kodagu and Mangalore!

So, this annual public ritual in the Karnataka HC goes on. While refusing to stay Tipu Jayanti celebrations, the court always instructs the state government to ensure law and order is maintained so that large-scale violence doesn’t break out as was the case in 2015. Despite the tough questions, there hasn’t been a substantial historical debate, either inside the court or outside of it. Once 10 November passes, Tipu is forgotten for another 11 months. There is no serious, sustained conflict over this issue. Tipu merely serves as another symbol in the long drawn political battle between the secular Left and the Hindu Right.

Congress allows celebration of Tipu but not of Godse, why the double standards?

Ramesh Shinde 
National spokesperson, Hindu Janjagruti Samiti

Sabarimala is a totally different issue. Sabarimala is an issue associated with the sentiments of Hindus, but Tipu Jayanti is being conducted by the Congress for the last two years. Nobody used to speak about Tipu, why is he being idolised now? We have read about the atrocities of Tipu Sultan, be it in Kerala or our temples or his massacre of people. Tipu Jayanti is being conducted with a political angle.

We have submitted a memorandum to the Karnataka government and they say they will still continue to celebrate. To claim to be a secular government and then indulge in communal acts is wrong. Everyone knows the real Tipu Sultan and how he hurt the Kodavas. His sword itself has an inscription which pledges to convert all ‘Kafirs’ into Islam. We know how he had given instructions to his men so impart Islamic knowledge and forcibly convert or kill those who refuse to voluntarily convert. He also captured our Hindu women, raped them and circulated them amongst Muslim men.

Why should we try to prove to anyone that he is a despot especially when he has got wall engravings about how he has killed people? And Karnataka government is promoting him. They have no right to so. We will continue our protest. We ask if you want to celebrate Tipu Jayanti, then what is the problem with celebrating Nathuram Godse? Why object to that? Some groups want to celebrate Godse and they too should be allowed to do so by this logic. You can’t have double standards on such issues. This is nothing but vote bank politics to appease the Muslims.

Tipu Sultan’s history is contested, he makes for good politics

Rama Lakshmi
Editor, Opinion, ThePrint

There is a disturbing duality to Tipu Sultan’s character in historical records, which is why he makes for good politics in today’s religiously polarised times. Celebrate/demonise Tipu Sultan binary in Karnataka is dumb because all history is contested, nuanced.

Some historians paint him as a nationalist, the implacable enemy of the British in south India.

The Treaty of Mangalore signed between Tipu and the East India Company was the last occasion when an Indian ruler dictated victor’s terms to the British. He even sought French help from Napoleon Bonaparte to drive the British out. He was the only Indian king who died (1799) fighting the British, and is thus valourised.

But a contemporary English general called Tipu a “furious fanatic and intolerant bigot”. There are conflicting reports too.

Tipu built the first church in Mysore. But he also kept Mangalorean Catholics captive for 15 years.

There were two temples in the Srirangapatna fort. He paid annual grants to 156 temples, and enjoyed cordial relations with the Shankaracharya of Sringeri Math; their correspondence was discovered in 1916. Many of Tipu’s high officers and administrators were Hindus. He consulted Brahmin astrologers. A gold ring with the letters ‘Ram’ was removed from him after he died.

But his era is regarded as a dark age in history by Kerala’s Hindus. Tipu forced the prisoners to convert to Islam and eat beef or were killed.

Some historians point out that he targeted people in Kerala because they supported the British. If he was such a religious zealot, they ask, how did Mysore remain a predominantly Hindu region?

Tipu was also a patron of arts, a diplomat, inventor, who kept a diary of his dreams. He introduced silk to Mysore, planted gardens, built a dam and had an enormous library.

By Rohini Swamy, associate editor at ThePrint.