The Karnataka government's decision to celebrate warrior Tipu Sultan's birth anniversary as an official event across Karnataka on 10 November has angered the BJP and other right wing groups, including the Vishwa Hindu Parishd (VHP) and Bajrang Dal, who have criticized the government's decision and called the leaders anti-national.

The Karnataka government's decision to celebrate warrior Tipu Sultan's birth anniversary as an official event across the state on 10 November has angered the BJP and other right wing groups, including the Vishwa Hindu Parishd (VHP) and Bajrang Dal, who have criticised the government's decision and called the leaders anti-national.

BJP has accused CM Siddaramaiah of trying to appease the minorities with the celebrations and has also opposed the setting up of a university named after the ruler, reports The Times of India.

“We’ll hold protests across the state till November 10,” VHP state secretary TAP Shenoy said in a statement, reports ABP News. “We are deploying Bajrang Dal cadres to educate people on how this government is spending the taxpayer’s money to honour a ruler who tormented Hindus.”

Senior BJP lawmaker G Madhusudhan said his party would also protest against the event. He alleged that Tipu was “neither a patriot nor a war hero – he fought the British to save his kingdom and not as an act of patriotism”.

"Tipu Sultan also destroyed many Catholic churches when he invaded Mangalore and north Kerala. The Catholics of this region still carry the pain of his persecution," said RSS spokesperson Vadiraj, addding that the RSS was only playing a guiding role and the VHP and the Bajrang Dal would coordinate the agitation on the ground, reports the Hindustan Times.

Supporting the government's decision, district president of the council said that Tipu Sultan was being wrongly projected as a person who had converted many Hindus to Islam and a person who had damaged 8,000 temples. “There is no historical evidence for all these claims and they are being spread by the Sangh Parivar to sully the image of the great warrior who stood against the British and to create ill-will among communities,” he said, reports the Hindu.

In September, reacting strongly to media reports that Rajinikanth may star in a biopic on Tipu Sultan, leaders of various parties BJP, Hindu Munnani, and the Hindu Makkal Katchi held a protest and warned the actor against accepting the offer.

BJP leader L Ganesan was quoted saying, "Tipu was an aggressor, who committed maximum atrocities against Hindus. Rajinikanth will never take up a role to portray such a character".