The controversy over removal of Tipu Sultan content from history books has taken a new turn with the Karnataka government now saying it would form a committee to go into the issue and that information about Tipu Sultan would not be erased from the text books in the next academic year too.
Earlier, when the BJP Government has assumed power in Karnataka, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa has said that his government would certainly remove every thing released Tipu Sultan from the history books. This, had he said, in response to party MLAs writing letters to him urging removal of Tipu Sultan’s name from the text books. It may be recalled that within ten days of assuming power last year, the BJP Government had cancelled the Tipu Jayanti celebrations saying it was communal and controversial.
Tipu Sultan, the controversial ruler of Mysore who had fought many battles and died fighting the British in 1799, has been mentioned in the history books for more than two centuries and the sudden demand to remove references to this ruler had sparked off a controversy not only in Karnataka but also all over the country.
Historians reacted sharply saying that removing Tipu Sultan from the history would mean erasing the entire period during which he fought many battles and administrative measures some of which existed in Mysore Kingdom for a number of years in a row.
Tipu Sultan would remain in state syllabus text books at least in the academic year 2020-2021 but the Karnataka government would form a committee to look into the issue afresh, said Primary and Secondary Education Minister, S Suresh Kumar two days ago.
In October last year, Madikeri MLA Appachu Ranjan had written a letter to the Minister seeking to erase contents about Tipu Sultan from the text books of state syllabus books of classes 6, 7 and 10.
Responding to this, the Minister had said “Appachu Ranjan is a five-time MLA. When he has sent a letter it is my duty to seek an opinion on it. There is no political angle
to it.”
The controversy has evoked sharp reactions in the media from some quarters leading the government to rethink over the issue before deciding to erase Tipu Sultan from the history books.
Prof S Chandrashekhar, former Head of Department of Bangalore University, said “the controversy over Tipu Sultan is not new. I have seen this right from 1998-99 when the then Chief Minister J N Patel wanted to celebrate Tipu Sultan’s bicentenary. Tipu Sultan has been made a controversial figure by removing him from context.
This is not academics but plain politics.”
“It is in bad taste. We need to learn positive things from history. Tipu was one of the bravest fighters who fought the Britishers. He built temples too. When we look at history, motivation is also important. They are looking at history for friction and cutting each other’s throat,” says Aditya Mukherjee, Professor of History at Jawaharlal
University.
Congress legislature party leader Siddaramiah reacted saying, “the BJP leaders are trying to twist the historical facts to suit their agenda, which should be stopped. It is only BJP leaders who accuse Tipu of being communal and not others. It is the saffron cadre which is communal and not Tipu Sultan.”
Karnataka Congress Pradesh Committee President Gundu Rao says “it is not right to remove Tipu Sultan from the history text books.”
(Article contributed by Sunil Shivdasani, Legal Editor of Finance Intellect)
