The Karnataka government celebrated Tipu Jayanti with substantial fanfare on the 10th of November 2018 with the BJP protesting and Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy giving the celebrations a miss. At the helm of the celebrations was the Congress party. Reportedly, Congress leaders were not too happy with HD Kumaraswamy giving the celebrations a miss and construed it as an insult.

With Karnataka CM HD Kumaraswamy giving Tipu Jayanti a miss, many wondered if he was attempting to take a more neutral stance on the issue since Tipu Sultan is widely criticised for atrocities he heaped on Hindus. However, Santhosh Thammayya, a journalist with paper Hosa Digantha was arrested on 13th November 2018 around midnight for making an anti-Tipu speech.

Karnataka police arrested Santosh after his speech which criticised Tipu Sultan, our sources have confirmed.

Santosh flew to Coorg and delivered a speech in Gonikoppa on Tipu Sultan. Other than Santosh Thimmayya, 4 others were also present, according to our sources.

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Santosh criticised Tipu extensively for his extremist views and actions. He also spoke about how there are some people who still suffer because of his atrocities. He spoke about the Mandyam Iyengar Brahmins. Santosh said they don’t celebrate Diwali because Tipu Sultan killed hundreds of people from their community on Naraka Chaturdashi. Santosh also drew heavily from Sandeep Balakrishna’s book on Tipu Sultan.

According to our sources, some Muslim members from the area did hold a press conference condemning Santosh for his speech. They also asserted that they will be holding a protest. Karnataka police filed an FIR against the journalist after this.

The police called the journalist on 11th November to collect a copy of the FIR. Santosh said that he would be able to pick the FIR copy up soon since he was not in town.

Karnataka police then proceeded to make the arrest on 13th November midnight. Karnataka Police lodged an FIR in GoNikoppa police station. GoNikoppa is in Vijarajpet taluk in Coorg district.

With a journalist being arrested for his anti-Tipu speech, the Karnataka CM missing the Tipu Jayanti celebration and Congress taking offence, the Congress-JDS government seems to be wanting to please all sides.

Note: This is a developing story. We will update this article with relevant information as and when we receive it.