K'taka Edu Minister seeks report on proposal to strike-off references to Tipu Sultan from textbooks

Karnataka Education Minister Suresh Kumar on Monday wrote to Managing Director of Karnataka Textbook Society, directing him to submit a report in three days on BJP MLA Appachu Ranjan's proposal to strike off references to Tipu Sultan from history textbooks.

Kumar also mentioned in the letter to hold a meeting with the History Textbook Drafting Committee and invite Ranjan to discuss the necessity of the lesson on Tipu Sultan and whether to keep it or to remove it.

This comes after Madikeri MLA wrote a letter to Kumar in which he stated that Tipu has been portrayed as a freedom fighter in the textbooks and history should not be written with false facts."Tipu came to Kodagu, Mangaluru and other parts of the state to expand his territory. He came here just to convert people to his religion and to boost his kingdom," he had said.

Ranjan had further alleged that Tipu had no respect for Kannada as his administrative language was Persian.

"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," Ranjan had said.

Responding to this, Md Shahid Alam, a descendant of Tipu Sultan, had claimed that it is "shameful" that the former ruler is being targeted for vote bank politics.