Outspoken writer Girish Karnad said in Bangalore earlier yesterday that Tipu Sultan was not treated with respect at par with other Indian icons because he was not a Hindu.
A Jnanpith awardee, India’s most prestigious literary prize, Mr Karnad said the 18th century Mysore ruler would have enjoyed the same status as of Maratha king Chhatrapathi Shivaji if he was a Hindu and not a Muslim.
Mr Karnad is famous for courting controversy with his pronounced sympathies for Muslim intellectual contribution, which he portrays as playing a role in enriching Indian culture. His 1960s play Tughlaq described the mediaeval ruler Mohammed bin Tughlaq as a philosopher king caught in a web of tragic circumstance.
In another remark on Wednesday for which he quickly apologised, Mr Karnad said it would have been “apt” had the Bangalore International Airport at Devanahalli near Karnataka capital been named after Tipu Sultan rather than Kempegowda, a feudatory ruler under the erstwhile Vijayanagara Empire which founded Bengaluru in 1537.
The remarks by the noted Kannada playwright and actor came at a function organised by the state government to mark the birth anniversary of Tipu Sultan held amid tight security at the state secretariat in the presence of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
The state-wide celebrations are being boycotted by BJP and protested by several outfits that see the ruler of the erstwhile Mysore kingdom as a ‘religious bigot’ and ‘anti-Kannadiga’.
“I feel that if Tipu Sultan was a Hindu and not Muslim he would have attained the position in Karnataka that Shivaji Maharaj enjoys in Maharashtra,” Mr Karnad said.
Stating that Tipu is deprived of such a status owing to his religious persuasion, he said: “…What has happened today (is because) our scholars and politicians look at one’s religion and caste first… Injustice has happened to Tipu Sultan because of this type of evaluation,” he added.
Taking potshots at those calling Tipu Sultan “anti-Kannada and anti-Hindu”, Mr Karnad said, “Today, when we are celebrating this day as Deepawali and Tipu Sultan day, we can also celebrate it as Bihar day.”
His Bihar day remark was an apparent jibe at the Bharatiya Janata Party, which was routed in the assembly polls. Mr Karnad has always made known his ideological opposition to BJP.
Under severe attack for his remarks that Bengaluru International airport should have been named after Tipu Sultan rather than the city founder Kempegowda, Mr Karnad offered his apology.
As he remained in the eye of a storm, the noted playwright and actor sought to end the controversy, saying: “If anybody has been hurt by my remarks, I apologise…what will I gain by doing it (by giving such comments).”
He said he had only expressed his view and there was no ulterior motive, as his remarks drew strong criticism and protests from different quarters, including Congress members.
