Don’t name university after Tipu: Writer

Writer and researcher M Chidananda Murthy on Tuesday opposed the proposal to name a university in Srirangapatna after Tippu Sultan.

Union Minister Rahman Khan on his first visit to Karnataka had said a university named after the former ruler of Mysore should be started in Srirangapatna.

Calling Tipu “an anti-Hindu, anti-Kannada, fierce ruler,” Murthy said naming the university after him would be unfair.

 “Historians from across the world have revealed the true nature of Tipu Sultan in their works. While the move to have a university in Srirangapatna is welcome, naming it after a person who committed heinous acts is wrong,” Murthy said addressing a press meet in the city.

‘Tipu Demolished

Temples’

Murthy claimed there was proof to support that Tipu demolished many Hindu temples and constructed mosques on the same ground.

“In Srirangapatna, he demolished a Hindu temple and installed a mosque with Persian inscriptions. He wrote a letter in Persian to officer Badru Susman Khan in Kalikote in 1790 boasting about converting 4 lakh people to Islam,” Murthy explained. He said all the historians and litterateurs in Mysore and Srirangapatna were against naming the university after Tipu.

“The university can be named after former president Dr A P J Abdul Kalam or Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV or just call it Srirangapatna University,” Murthy suggested.