Tipu a mass rapist, says union minister
Union Minister Anantkumar Hegde has asked the Karnataka government to keep him out of the state’s Tipu Jayanti celebrations, calling the erstwhile Mysore ruler Tipu Sultan a “brutal killer, wretched fanatic and mass rapist”.
“Conveyed (to) Karnataka government not to invite me to shameful event of glorifying a person known as brutal killer, wretched fanatic and mass rapist,” Hegde tweeted.
Hegde had also written an official letter to the state asking not to include his name for the event.
The Karnataka government, headed by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, has planned to celebrate the erstwhile ruler’s birth anniversary on November 10.
The ruling Congress began celebrating Tipu Sultan’s birth anniversary in 2015, which led to violent protests by the right-wing organisations in the Mysuru region and other parts of the state.
Reacting to Hegde’s statement, Siddaramaiah told reporters here that the event was being given a “political” colour. “It is being made into a political issue. Four wars were fought against the British and Tipu fought all of them,” he said.
The invitation to the union minister was extended only as part of the “protocol”, the chief minister said.