Express News Service By

BENGALURU: The state government has decided to celebrate Tipu Jayanti henceforth, said Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday.

He was speaking at the book release of Tipu Sultan: A Crusader for Change by historian Prof B Sheik Ali, which has been published by the Karnataka Gazetteer Department.

“There has been a lot of pressure from various quarters to celebrate Tipu Jayanti on the likes of Valmiki Jayanti and others. We have decided to take this into consideration and will announce the date shortly,” Siddaramaiah said. Sources said the date is likely to fall in May.

Referring to the book, Siddaramaiah heaped praise on Ali. “However, the book must also be translated into Kannada as it will have a wider reach. There have been allegations that Tipu was against Hinduism. I would like to clarify that this is false and he was known to have built several temples along with mosques. He was a good administrator. The real fight for freedom against the British actually originated with Tipu Sultan,” he said.

Ali said the book primarily focuses on the achievements of Tipu as an administrator along with details about his life.

“Tipu had said that a state’s structure and its success depended entirely on whether the welfare of its people was guaranteed or not. He imbibed the best qualities of the Renaissance and Reformation and implemented it in the administration. The concept of equal rights for all was first initiated by him,” he said. Principal Secretary of the Kannada and Culture Department Shalini Rajneesh said the book had been written and published with a grant of `10 lakh from the Central government.

MP Rehman Ali, Minister for Infrastructure Development, Information and Haj Roshan Baig, Minister for Energy D K Shivakumar and others were present.