Kolkata :

Shahzada Anwar Ali Shah, great great grandson of Tipu Sultan, on Wednesday lashed out against BJP and other Sangh affiliates for distorting history by portraying the Eighteenth century monarch as “most intolerant” and a “tyrant”.

He also accused right wing forces of diluting Tipu’s identity as an Indian icon, who was “one of country’s first freedom fighters”. “BJP and other Sangh affiliates are playing politics of religion over Tipu Sultan, which is very dangerous,” warned Shah.

Speaking to TOI from his haveli in Tollygunge, he said, “Shaheed Tipu Sultan was one of the first freedom fighters of the country and was martyred while fighting the British. This makes him a national icon.

But concerted efforts are being made by a big section to dilute his identity by communalising his legacy in order to alienate him from the people of this country.” Shah said the Karnataka government had invited him for the celebrations but he could not go due to ill health.

Hasnain Imam, a city-based political scientist, said: “The idea of right-wing groups seems to weave a narrative around Tipu Sultan’s legacy of another Muslim ruler who was intolerant, bigoted and who plundered temples. The objective is to reinvent him as an intolerant king to help them shift the attention from the debate over its own intolerant nature.”

Tipu Sultan’s supporters credit him for financing temples and inventing unique techniques of warfare against the British. They view him as a patriot. Right wing forces accuse him of forced conversions and large-scale temple destruction in southern Karnataka and northern Kerala.

But historians have said there is no evidence of this. “Tipu Sultan is as much an Indian icon as Gandhi and Tagore. Such intolerance towards his legacy will only give the country a bad name in international communities,” said Shah.

Descendants of Tipu Sultan have been staying in Kolkata since 1806, when the British kept them under house arrest in Tollygunge.

Shah’s great grandfather Gholam Mohammed, who was shifted to Kolkata from Vellore Fort, purchased several properties in the city. He built mosques (Tipu Sultan Mosque in Esplanade and Shaheed Tipu Sultan Shahi Mosque in Tollygunge), hospitals and educational institutions.

Some of the landmarks here belong to Prince Ghulam Mohammed Waqf Estate, of which Anwar is the mutwalli in the city.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Kolkata / by Zeeshan Javed, TNN / November 12th, 2015