BENGALURU: Is dropping Tipu Sultan from textbooks a ‘tipu’ of the iceberg? Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa on Wednesday said, “We are not going to allow anything about Tipu in textbooks.” After his statement, the question on top of everyone’s mind is — What will happen to places like Tipu Summer Palace in Bengaluru or even the Tipu Express train?
On Thursday, netizens took to social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram with pictures of them at various places named after Tipu Sultan and asking, “Mr Yediyurappa, will these names change too?”
“I wonder what we should call Tipu Drop on Nandi Hills from now on.? If we call it Tipu Drop, then we will be referring to a person who is now ‘wrong’ in history!” said a user in a Facebook post.
A group of explorers who hold heritage walks covering the numerous monuments associated with Tipu Sultan in the old parts of Bengaluru wonder how they will even begin their sentence when explaining about the significance of the structures. Rajendra SN, a software professional, who claims to be a regular at the heritage walks said, “It usually starts off saying we are to talk about the ‘Tiger of Mysore’ Tipu Sultan who is famous for his struggles against the British rule. But now I wonder how they would do it. Will the government want to change this too?”
A discussion on changing the name of the Tipu Express train, which runs between Bengaluru and Mysuru, is not new for Mysureans whenever a BJP government is in power. There has been talk on and off about renaming the train after Mysuru king Krishnaraja Wadiyar or even Dewan Sir M Visvesvaraya.
People of Srirangapatna, who boast of living in the place where the ‘Tiger of Mysore’ once lived and ruled, are now wondering what they will say now. A Twitter user posted, “I can’t tell my son that we live in the same place where once the “Tiger of Mysuru” lived. I feel betrayed by BJP.”
Reacting to this, Kannada and Culture Minister CT Ravi said, “There is no discussion yet about changing such names. But there is no need to even remember someone like Tipu Sultan. Some people and events of history need not be told to our younger generation.”
When asked if the government will consider renaming these places and what could they be renamed as, he said, “It might come up for discussion in future and I will comment on this at that time. For now, it is only the textbooks,” he said.