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Will remove Tipu references from textbooks: CM Yediyurappa

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Bengaluru, Oct 30: Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Wednesday announced that history lessons glorifying Tipu Sultan shall be removed from school textbooks.

 Tipu Sultan

"Our government is trying to remove Tipu Sultan's history lessons from textbooks in the state. Such topics must not find a place in textbooks. 101% we are not going to allow such things to happen," Yediyurappa told reporters in Bengaluru.

"By ending public celebrations of Tipu Jayanti, our CM has restored dignity to Kannadigas. As the next step, textbooks must be rewritten to portray the real Tipu Sultan to our Children. They should be made aware of the Tyrant's cruelty against Hindus & his anti Kannada rule," the Karnataka BJP tweeted soon after the announcement.

BJP cancels Tipu Jayanti celebrations in KarnatakaBJP cancels Tipu Jayanti celebrations in Karnataka

It may be recalled that just a week after BJP legislator from Madikeri, Appachu Ranjan, demanded the removal of a lesson on Tipu from school textbooks, saying it "contains wrong information".

The first official celebration in 2015 was marred by widespread protests and violence in Kodagu district, leaving a Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) worker Kuttappa dead.

BJP and right wing organisations have been strongly opposing Tipu Jayanti, calling the erstwhile Mysore king a "religious bigot", forcing the authorities to organise the event statewide every year under thick security.

Tipu was a ruler of the erstwhile Kingdom of Mysore and considered an implacable enemy of the British East India Company.

He was killed in May 1799 while defending his fort at Srirangapatna against the British forces.

Tipu Sultan, however, is a controversial figure in Kodagu district as Kodavas (Coorgis), a martial race, believe thousands of their men and women were seized and held captive during his occupation and subjected to torture, death and forcible conversion to Islam.

He was also accused of execution of Mandyam Iyengars at the temple town of Melkote in Mandya district on the day of Deepavali, as they supported the then Maharaja of Mysuru.

However, the scale of such suppression is disputed by several historians, who see Tipu as a secular and modern ruler who took on the might of the British.

While BJP and some Hindu organisations sees Tipu as a "religious bigot" and a "brutal killer", a few Kannada outfits call him "anti-Kannada", citing that he had promoted Persian at the cost of the local language.

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