3 Killed during Violence in Karnataka over Tipu Jayanthi

At least three people have been killed in Karnataka in the last 3 days for protesting against Tipu Jayanthi. Here’s why many people oppose Tipu Sultan, who was glorified as ‘Tiger of Mysore’ just because he fought against the British to save his empire.

Here are some Facts about Tipu Sultan:

* United Christian Association (UCA) too opposes glorification of Tipu Sultan, who had destroyed the Milagres Church in Mangalore in 1784. The church was built in 1680. Tipu had imprisoned over 50,000 Catholics on the suspicion that they were spies of the British. He had allegedly killed over 4,000 Catholics.

* BJP, VHP and Hindu Sena oppose Tipu Jayanthi, claiming he was a tyrant and religious fanatic.

* Tipu was born on November 20, 1750. But, Karnataka Government chose November 10 (Diwali) to celebrate his birthday from this year.

* November 10 is the day on which Tipu had hanged 700 Iyengars in Melkote.

* Tipu was in collusion with French to prevent British from establishing their stronghold in South. Both, British and French had evil designs and Tipu was fighting to save his own kingdom. He was not fighting a freedom struggle.

* Tipu was accused of killing thousands of innocent people, destroying churches and temples, forcibly converting people. When he was killed by British, locals refused to touch his body out of hatred towards him. The body was lying for over two days.

Most Historians have ignored the facts, but they still exist in writing. It remains a mystery why Karnataka Government decided to celebrate Tipu Sultan’s birthday all of a sudden despite the fact that people in the state are completely divided over him.