PLAYING IT SAFE: Former king's 269th birth anniversary is being marked by Bishwakosh Parishod in Kolkata
After the controversy over the birth anniversary celebration of Tipu Sultan on November 10, an organisation, Bishwakosh Parishod, has decided to celebrate the king's 269th birth anniversary in Kolkata on November 20, while the descendants of the Sultan are likely to stay away from the event to which, they have been invited.
Talking to DNA, Anwar Ali, one of the descendants of the 'Tiger of Mysore', said that there had already been a lot of controversy over Tipu Jayanti and that he didn't want to fan it.
"In the garb of celebrating Tipu's birth anniversary, political parties are only trying to garner mileage. In Karnataka, while one of the parties wanted to celebrate it, the other opposed it. I am afraid there will be a similar situation here as well, because, it was never celebrated here in Kolkata with such pomp and show. I will not want to be part of such a political circus.
"Besides the day after is Milad-Ul-Nabi, the birth anniversary of our Prophet Muhammed. I will be busy with preparations for that," Ali said.
He also said that it was demeaning to the king, who had been martyred at the hands of the British, fighting for the country. "He was the king of the people and very secular in nature. No one seems to remember that quality of his. We, on behalf of the committee of Tipu Sultan mosques, contribute towards charitable causes every month, but don't go around publicising it," Ali added.
Interestingly, among the guests, according to the invitation card, is TMC Rajya Sabha MP Ahmed Hassan Imran, former vice chancellor of Visva Bharati University, Prof Dilip Kumar Sinha and president of West Bengal chapter of Jamat-e-Islami Hind (JIH) Md Nooruddin.
Organisers of the event, however, said that they had nothing to do with the politics.
"It is nothing new for us. This is the fourth year we are celebrating it. Imran has been very much a part of the celebration. It is a coincidence that he is also am MP. There is no involvement of any political party in this," said Partha Sengupta, one of the organisers.
He said that the intention was to make people aware of Tipu Sultan and his contribution in India's fight for freedom. "Not many know that he used rockets, fighting the British. After he was killed, about 1,000 of such Mysorean rockets were seized by the British, who used the technology to produce more such. Again, after the Marathas destroyed the Sringeri Mutt, Tipu helped reconstruct it. People need to know these aspects of Tipu as well. That is why events like these are organised," Sengupta added.
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 "A file photo of a protest over Tipu Sultan’s birth anniversary celebrations")
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