Bengaluru: The BJP has opposed the celebration of Tipu Jayanthi, or the birth anniversary of Tipu Sultan, the 18th century legendary king., on the grounds that he was communal.

On December 22, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had said that the government has decided to celebrate “Tipu Jayanti” and the date would be decided shortly.

“The state government has decided to celebrate Tipu Jayanti. Bharatiya Janata Party strongly criticises this move,” Karnataka BJP President Prahlad Joshi told reporters here.

He said, “We all know how he forced religious conversion on people… he had written letters to Islamic rulers of Turkey and Afghanistan to attack India, so as to make this country an Islamic country. All these things are recorded in the history.”

“If government is so interested in projecting its religious tolerance, it should celebrate anniversaries of people like Shishunala Sharif (a saint poet and  philosopher who lived between 1819-1889), instead of celebrating birthdays of controversial persons,” he said.

He also said that BJP will protest against any such celebration.

Arkavathy Denotification

“We have discussed the issue within the party and also with legal experts, about taking it forward legally, very soon we will give a final shape to this.” , Jagadish Shettar said, while addressing reports on the Arkavathi Layout denotification issue, former chief minister and Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly

Asked if the party is going to the Governor to seek prosecution, he said, “we have discussed all those, in few days we will come out with the plan of action….; all options are open, this is also an option in front of us.”

Shettar said the Govt. was accusing the central government of various things to cover up their  “inabilities and failures.”. He said the state government is” non functional”.