The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday refused to stay Tipu Sultan’s birth anniversary celebrations and asked the state government to file its response to the petition in four weeks, PTI reported. The Tipu Jayanti celebrations are scheduled to be held across the state on November 10.
The petitioner, KP Manjunath, had asked for the stay on the celebrations in Kodagu district, saying it would lead to communal disharmony. He said violence had erupted when the celebrations took place for the first time in 2015.
He added that the 18th century Muslim ruler of Mysore had forcibly converted people in Kodagu to Islam. “Tipu was an invader and a dictator and glorifying such a person is a matter of shame,” the petition said.
Tipu Sultan’s birth anniversary celebrations have been at the centre of a political storm since November 2015. The Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party has been against the commemoration as it looks at the ruler in the negative light.
This year’s controversy began when Union Minister of State for Skill Development Anantkumar Hegde asked the Karnataka government to to leave him out of the November 10 event. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah criticised Hegde for refusing to attend the event. “It is being made into a political issue. There were four wars against British and Tipu fought them all,” he had said.
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