Bengaluru, January 21: In what can be described as a big U-turn, the Karnataka government has decided not to remove chapters on Tipu Sultan from school textbooks for the next academic year (2020-21). Instead, the government will form a committee that would take a decision to add both the positive and negative sides of Tipu Sultan in textbooks. Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa had declared that references to the Mysore ruler would be removed from textbooks.

In October 2019, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator Appachu Ranjan had proposed to remove references to Tipu Sultan from history textbooks, saying that "Tipu was not a freedom fighter". Subsequently, Primary and Secondary Education Minister S Suresh Kumar wrote to Managing Director of Karnataka Textbook Society (KTBS), seeking a report on Ranjan's proposal. A panel of KTBS had in December last year recommended retaining the chapters on Tipu. Tipu Sultan: 5 Facts on Mysore Ruler Known for Inventing World's First War Rockets.

"There will be no changes in chapters on Tipu Sultan in state syllabus textbooks for the coming academic year, but we have decided to form a comprehensive committee which will go through both positive and negative sides of Tipu," Kumar told The Indian Express. "MLA Appachu Ranjan had submitted several documents about the negative side of Tipu’s ruling in Coorg(Kodagu district), Dakshina Kannada and Melukote. These documents should be looked into, hence we will form a committee to look into this again,” he added.

In his letter to Kumar, Ranjan claimed that Tipu came to Kodagu, Mangaluru and other parts of Karnataka "to convert people". "He changed names of places - Madikeri to Jafarabad and Mangaluru to Jalalabad. He looted many temples and Christian churches as well. In Kodagu, he converted 30,000 Kodavas," the BJP MLA had said. His proposal was backed by CM Yediyurappa.

 

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 21, 2020 01:06 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).