Tipu controversy: Karnad, BJP MP receive death threats

Jnanpith awardee Girish Karnad and BJP MP Prathap Simha have allegedly received death threats on social media as the controversy rages in Karnataka over the birth anniversary celebrations of 18th century Mysore ruler Tipu Sultan.

Online posts directed at the duo appeared even as the toll in the violence at Madikeri over the row climbed to two after a youth succumbed to bullet wounds.

Karnad, who came under severe attack for his remarks that Bengaluru international airport should have been named after Tipu Sultan rather than the city's founder, Kempe Gowda, received a threat on Twitter that he would meet with the same fate as rationalist MM Kalburgi, who was gunned down recently by two men at his residence in Dharwad in north Karnataka.

Security has been posted at the residence of Karnad, a noted Kannada playwright and actor, in the wake of the controversy over his remarks with several organisations, particularly those connected with the dominant Vokkaliga community to which Kempe Gowda belonged, Kannada bodies, right-wing outfits and BJP, targeting him.

Mysuru-Kodagu BJP MP Prathap Simha, who received a threat to his life in a Facebook post, has approached Mysuru police.

A tweet posted on the twitter handle, 'Intolerant Chandra' allegedly said that Karnad will meet with the same fate as Kalburgi if he enrages Kannadigas with such comments.

A senior police official said they have received information about a post making a threat against Karnad and are looking into the matter.

In a controversial remark at state government-organised Tipu Jayanti event here on Tuesday, Karnad had said that it would have been "apt" had the Bengaluru International Airport at Devanahalli near here been named after Tipu Sultan rather than Kempe Gowda, a feudatory ruler under the erstwhile Vijayanagara Empire who founded Bengaluru in 1537.

Karnad had yesterday said he apologises if "anybody has been hurt" by his views.