Two-bit rabble rousers of the Indian People’s Party who display no synaptic link between their cerebrum and their oral orifice have used Tipu Sultan‘s legacy to spread poison, hatred and Islamophobia.
But…
In the 10 months he was chief minister of Karnataka, the BJP’s Jagadish Shettar had occasion to pen a note to a book on the “Tiger of Mysore”, authored by Dr B. Sheik Ali, former vice-chancellor of Mangalore and Goa Universities.
Shettar wrote: “Tipu Sultan’s concept of nation-state, his novel idea of state entrepreneurship, his advanced military skill, his zeal for reforms etc makes him a unique leader far ahead of his age.”
Amen.
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Dinesh Amin, the excellent journalist who served as media adviser to Siddaramaiah, has posted a few screenshots of the book (published by the Kannada & Culture department of the government of Karnataka) on his Facebook page.
Page 261 reveals Tipu’s general disposition towards the polity and administration. In particular, his attitude to ‘love jihad’ of that time that lies in stark contrast to that of moral police of the Rashtriya SS, 250 years later.
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By Dr B. SHEIK ALI
“It should be remembered that Tipu was an enlightened ruler who knew that he was a Muslim ruler of a non-Muslim state and that the state must be neither a Muslim state nor a Hindu state, but a secular state.
“He was deeply religious but that was his personal affair. He knew the limitations of his power and that he could not administer the state on principles unacceptable to the non-Muslims.
“The treatment meted out to the reactionary feudal aristocracy of Malabar and Coorg should not be torn out of context, nor the punishment to the Christians of Mangalore viewed as religious persecution. They were administrative actions dictated by political considerations for the safety of one of the most strategic regions of his state.
“Once a faujdar reported that a Hindu had married a Muslim girl and sought Tipu’s orders what should be done as it was not permitted in the ‘shariath’. Tipu replied that it was none of the business of the faujdar to interfere in the business, and that it was purely a personal affair.
“He was so careful in protecting Hindu houses of worship that in a siege on Dindigal fort he ordered not to attack from the rear as the Raja’s temple was located there.
“When some one complained to him against Purnaiah and said that Brahmins were not trustworthy, he at once snubbed the person and recited a Quranic verse meaning that for the fault of one do not blame the whole community.”
I am loving your acidic language when dealing with BJP. “Two-bit rabble rousers of the Indian People’s Party who display no synaptic link between their cerebrum and their oral orifice have used Tipu Sultan‘s legacy to spread poison, hatred and Islamophobia” is classic!!!! I would have liked to dismiss them as mentally handicapped but they are
pose terrible danger to us and our future as a nation. Pls keep on exposing them! Total support to you from this reader!
First, the comments attributed to Shri Shettar on Dr Ali’s hagiographic account were not obviously crafted by the former chief minister but by some underling. As for the Sultan of a usurped kingdom’s religious tolerance, there are accounts that speak of the alleged rape of one of Purnayya’s daughters by a soldier of the Tiger of Mysore. The accounts say that the Sultan offered to right the wrong by offering to make the victim a member of his own harem. As for Purnayya’s supposed misdemeanours, obviously, the Bahaadur Khan was willing to wink at them because the Diwan was known as the most exacting revenue collector in the region.
There is a good case to be made for our thrill seeking habit of confusing history with fiction. Don’t we still believe the fifty kg military governor single-handedly, or barehandedly dispatched a tiger five times his weight to death?