Tipu Jayanti was celebrated peacefully across the district on Thursday. Three functions were organised in Bidar. Events were also held in Aurad, Bhalki, Humnabad and Basavakalyan taluks.
Heavy police presence was felt at the Zilla Rang Mandir, the venue of the celebrations in Bidar.
Eshwar Khandre, district in-charge Minister, who inaugurated the celebrations, felt it was wrong to look at leaders through the lens of caste or religion. “This has been said many times before, but I am saying it again as there is a need to din this message into the minds of the people,” the Minister said.
He listed the good works done by Tipu and said his most important achievement was the relentless fight against the British. “He wrote letters in Kannada to the head of the Sringeri Mutt and gave land and other grants to the institution. We have to commend his actions,” Mr. Khandre said.
Syed Tanveer Ahmed, Bengaluru-based writer, said that the younger generation had to learn several things about leadership from the life of Tipu.
“Documented history shows that he made large-hearted donations and regular grants to over 156 temples in his kingdom. He regularly communicated to the French government and borrowed the essentials of rocket technology. He used them successfully after remodeling them. He introduced advanced silk rearing techniques and promoted handicrafts on a large scale. He died fighting as a brave soldier against the British. None of these facts should be neglected,” he said.
“Those who say he razed temples do not know that there was a temple just across his palace that has remained intact through centuries. Some vested interests are engaged in propaganda against him. One person wrote that Tipu had massacred 2,000 Brahmins. When serious researchers asked him for the source of this information, he said it was found in the Mysore Gazetteer. But it turned out that the gazetteer did not have such a reference. When this was brought to the writer’s notice, he said that he had not read the gazetteer himself and had written the article based on a claim by a friend. This is how history gets systematically damaged by falsehood,” Mr. Ahmed said.
He said that due to the insistence of his father Hyder Ali, Tipu learnt seven languages.
“We should take a lesson from this. We should not restrict our children to Urdu or any one language. We should motivate them to learn as many languages as they can so that they are exposed to cultures that are different from ours,” he said.
Meanwhile, BJP workers protested against the Tipu Jayanti celebrations in Ganesh Maidan. Police arrested the protesters after a few minutes and let them off later. Some Vishwa Hindu Parishat workers were also arrested.
Younger generation needs to learn several things about leadership from Tipu, says writer
