Tipu Sultan ordered to be back in textbooks in Karnataka

Bengaluru: A day after 18th Century Maharaja of Mysuru Tipu Sultan and his father Hyder Ali was given marching orders from textbooks in Karnataka, the State Government Wednesday put the controversial move on hold.

The backtracking came after a furore over ‘selected deletion’ of lessons in Social Studies textbooks relating to Tipu Sultan, Prophet Mohammad, Jesus Christ and the Constitution, among others.

Media reports said Minister of Primary & Secondary Education Suresh Kumar ordered the Karnataka Textbook Society (KTBS) to put the syllabi trimming plan to be kept on hold, which means Tipu Sultan and his father will continue to remain in the pages of the textbooks..

Opposition parties and several intellectuals had slammed the BJP government for trying to use the  shortened academic year as a ruse to further their political agenda.

As the academic year was shortened by 120 days, a 30% cut in the syllabus was recommended as schools are expected to reopen only on September 1 across Karnataka due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Department of State Education Research and Training (DSERT) then stepped in and recommended that some chapters in Social Studies textbooks relating to the history of Mysuru during the time of Tipu Sultan and Hyder Ali, as well as the Constitution, Prophet Mohammed, Jesus Christ, amongst others be deleted.

Karnataka Congress president DK Shivakumar had accused the BJP of pushing their ‘right-wing’ agenda and hate for historical figures like Tipu Sultan and Hyder Ali.

Ever since the BJP came to power last year, there have been several attempts to ostracise the ghost of Tipu Sultan and Hyder Ali. The government first axed Tipu Sultan Jayanti celebrations claiming that he was not a freedom fighter but a tyrant who killed scores of Hindus.