Historian Vikram Sampath on Friday spoke about appropriating the life and identity of Mysore ruler Tipu Sultan as a hero by one faction while being used as a tool for vote bank politics by another.
Speaking at the ABP Southern Rising Summit 2024 in Hyderabad, the historian and author talked about his new book "Tipu Sultan: The Saga of the Mysore Interregnum (1760-1799)" where he writes about the life and history of the 18th-century ruler.
Sampath said that Muslims need not glorify him given his history of forceful conversion and destruction of places of worship but also conveyed that his identity should not be used as a ploy to target a community.
He also made reference to the celebration of Tipu Sultan Jayanti by the Congress government in Karnataka during its previous regime and the BJP coming up with twisted history over the killers of the ruler to woo a section of voters.
Different factions "use him to appropriate their agenda," Sampath said during a discussion with journalist Kaveree Bamzai.
He slammed the celebration of Jayanti saying it would have been had it been celebrated in private.
"But a democratically elected govt on taxpayers' money actually eulogising somebody who caused so much harm to different communities whose memories lat even to this day, I think that is a travesty," he said, adding, "You won't have a Hitler Jayanti celebrated back in Germany to this day."
"It is important to not use these people as a cover fire for politics," Sampath noted.
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