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3 days on, Karnataka govt cans Tipu Jayanti

Tipu Jayanti was celebrated amid tight security in the last three years.

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Birthday Bashed: Members of the Tipu Sultan United Front seen celebrating the anniversary at Tipu Palace in Chamarajpet in 2009
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Three days into power, Karnataka's BJP government has scrapped the contentious Tipu Jayanti celebrations in the state.

"As per the cabinet decision, celebrations of Hazrath Tipu Sultan Jayanti have been cancelled forthwith," said an official communication from the government.

It said that KG Bopaiah, the MLA from Virajpet in Kodagu, objected to Tipu birth anniversary celebrations, held on November 10, and asked for them to be scrapped. The otherwise peaceful district of Kodagu has witnessed many communal tensions over the last few years over Tipu Jayanti, even leading to deaths. Locals in the hilly region believe Tipu massacred Kodavas and forcibly converted people.

"The MLAs submitted a plea on the violence that occurred and said that to ensure it does not repeat Tipu Jayanti celebrations should be stopped. We discussed this in the cabinet meeting and passed an order that Tipu Jayanti should not be celebrated," said BS Yediyurappa, the newly sworn-in CM.

While the day to mark the birth of the controversial 18th century ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore has been observed by select groups for years, the Siddaramaiah government gave it official status in 2016.

The BJP has accused the Congress of using Tipu Jayanti to appease the minority community for electoral gains, hurting Hindu religious sentiments in the process.

Congress leaders were quick to criticise the move, accusing the BJP of giving the celebrations a communal colour. "Tipu Sultan does not belong to any religion. He belongs to the whole nation. This is the reason I decided to celebrate Tipu Jayanti. It is not surprising to see BJP try to divide the society on communal lines" tweeted Siddaramaiah, former Karnataka chief minister.

"We knew they will cancel Tipu Jayanti celebrations. but did not think it will be done in such haste. It has only been a few days since Yediyurappa took charge. Tipu Jayanti was announced under Siddaramaiah's leadership in 2016. But Tipu Jayanti has been celebrated for many years and we will continue to celebrate it' said Zameer Ahmed, Congress MLA.

Tipu Jayanti was celebrated amid tight security in the last three years.

In 2018, 65,000 police personnel including from the Rapid Action Force had been deployed in Karnataka for the day.

In 2017, Section 144 was imposed in Kodagu in view of the violence in the preceding years.

Bengaluru had to be guarded by 11,000 police personnel, 30 KSRP platoons and 25 armed platoons for the government-sponsored event.

—Zee Media Newsroom

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