Amid the political drama and mudslinging of Mysuru’s Tipu Sultan, (who ruled the region between 1782-1799) between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress in Karnataka owing to the upcoming assembly elections, the descendants of the are ready to go to court or support a political party that genuinely believes in Tipu Sultan’s contribution.
“We are tired of political parties such as the BJP who is always speaking against Tipu Sultan or the Congress using Tipu Sultan for votes and then forgetting about him. They remember our family during their election campaign and after that, no one comes to our help,” Tipu Sultan’s 17th descendent Sahebzade Mansoor Ali Khan Tipu told Siasat.com.
He further said, “We have had enough of dragging our ancestor’s name for no reason to gain votes. We have decided that either we fight them legally by filing a defamation case or give our support to those political parties who genuinely believe in Tipu’s contribution to India’s independent freedom struggle.”
Recently, at a rally, Union Home Minister Amit Shah was in Karnataka where he delivered a speech that said, “You must decide whether you should vote for the JD(S) and the Congress which are supporters of Tipu Sultan, or your votes should go to the believers of Rani Abbakka (local queen who fought the Portuguese),”
When asked if there are any political parties that Mansoor Ali is considering, he said, “There are parties like the AIMIM (All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen), SDPI (Social Democratic Party of India) and the JDS (Janata Dal secular).
Karnataka will enter elections in May with Congress and the BJP locking horns for the top seat.
“Earlier, when Siddamariah was the chief minister in 2015, he announced Tipu Jayanti. But nothing was legalized on paper. Then the BJP came to power with B S Yediyurappa as its chief minister. They made sure the Jayanti is canceled as well as lessons of Tipu Sultan’s bravery and his contribution to India’s Independent struggle is erased from the history books. And now they steeped so down that the state BJP President Nalin Kateel is calling the upcoming elections a battle between the believers of Savarkar vs Tipu Sultan. Savarkar, who was a British agent, sought an apology from them, and contributed to the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi,” Mahmood Ali told Siasat.com.
Mahmood Ali said that though it has been more than two decades, Tipu Sultan still remains (either positively or negatively) in people’s minds.
“You cannot erase Tipu Sultan just like that. The RSS and Bajrang Dal can try their best but there are living examples of his contribution that one cannot ignore,” concluded Mansoor Ali Tipu Sultan.
