Bengaluru: Karnataka Home Minister Priyank Kharge said on Tuesday that Tipu Sultan’s contributions to the state cannot be ignored, and history can never be erased.
While hitting out at the BJP over the party’s stand on the celebration of Tipu Sultan Jayanti and removing references to the Mysore ruler from school textbooks, Kharge said, “You cannot take away Tipu Sultan’s contributions to the state. You cannot simply erase history, whether you like it or not.”
Responding to a memorandum submitted by the Tehrik-E-Khudadaad organisation to Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar, urging the government to restore the official celebration of Tipu Sultan Jayanti and reinstate lessons on him in school textbooks, Kharge said the BJP needed to get its history right.
He pointed out that Tipu Sultan fought four Anglo-Mysore Wars and said the British were extremely afraid of him. These were recorded historical facts that neither he nor the BJP could change, he said.
Kharge alleged that the RSS had not participated in the freedom struggle, the Civil Disobedience Movement, the Quit India Movement, the Dandi March or the Non-Cooperation Movement, and had not been part of any of the Round Table Conferences.
He also recalled that the BJP had opposed Tipu Sultan Jayanti when B.S. Yediyurappa was Chief Minister, despite Yediyurappa having praised Tipu Sultan in a book.
The Home Minister accused the BJP of using minority issues for political gains, alleging that it supported minorities when it needed votes but adopted a different stand otherwise.
Referring to historical landmarks, Kharge said Lalbagh in Bengaluru was developed by Hyder Ali and further nurtured by Tipu Sultan. He also cited the fort at Nandi Hills, questioning whether the BJP intended to erase such historical contributions. He described the BJP’s understanding of history as “WhatsApp University history” and said the government would take a decision on the memorandum.
On his remarks regarding the seizure of 44,250 live cartridges during interstate raids in Bihar and Haryana, Kharge asked why questions were not being directed at Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
He said the cartridges were reportedly linked to a Pune ordnance factory and questioned who was responsible for their alleged diversion. Claiming that two or three of the arrested individuals were associated with the RSS, he questioned whether the organisation would disown them by denying their membership.
Kharge reiterated his demand for RSS registration, arguing that the absence of formal membership records allowed the organisation to disown individuals when controversies arose. He asked the BJP and RSS to explain the alleged possession of thousands of live cartridges by individuals associated with the organisation.
On the BJP’s criticism of the state’s national defence training programme for minorities, Kharge said such programmes were regularly conducted by different departments for various communities.
He said the Social Welfare Department conducted programmes for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, while the Minority Welfare Department organised training for minorities.
He questioned the BJP’s objection to providing Army recruitment training to citizens and said the government did not need its permission.
Kharge clarified that the programme was intended to prepare citizens for recruitment into the Army, and not for paramilitary forces or private organisations such as the RSS. “If we do not train our own citizens, then who will?” he asked.
(IANS)
