Bangalore, Oct. 26 (TNS): Indian President Ram Nath Kovind praised Tipu Sultan saying he died a “historic death” fighting the British, just days after a central Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) minister called the former Mysore ruler a “brutal killer and mass rapist.”, Indian media reported.
“Tipu Sultan died a historic death fighting the British. He was also a pioneer in the development of Mysore rockets (iron-casted rockets for military use),” Kovind said addressing legislators in the Karnataka Assembly at a joint session to mark the diamond jubilee celebrations of Vidhan Soudha, the state legislative building.
Recalling the contributions of Karnataka’s former rulers, politicians and scientists in the growth of the state and the country on the whole, the president spoke of Tipu Sultan, leading to loud applause from a majority of the legislators.
Federal minister Anantkumar Hegde’s vitriolic comments on Tipu came ahead of the state’s Tipu Jayanti celebrations to mark his birth anniversary on November 10. Hegde also asked the state government to drop his name from the official invitations to the function.
However, the president’s remarks in praise of Tipu Sultan did not go down well with the BJP.
The state’s ruling Congress Party had “forced” the president to speak on Tipu, senior BJP leader and former deputy chief minister K S Eshwarappa said.
“The speech was a deliberate attempt by the Congress to make the president praise Tipu Sultan,” Eshwarappa told reporters after the joint session.
Karnataka Congress leader Dinesh Gundu Rao said the BJP was only “insulting” the president by criticising his speech.
“They are only insulting our country’s president,” Rao said.
