Bengaluru cops restricts all processions on Tipu Jayanti in Karnaraka

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BENGALURU: The Bengaluru Police restricted all kinds of the public procession in Karnataka on Friday to prevent untoward incidents on the occasion of Tipu Jayanti.   

"No pro or anti processions will be permitted. If required we will impose Section 144 and strict action will be taken against anyone who breaks rules,"  Bengaluru Police Commissioner T Sunil Kumar said in view of Tipu Jayanti. 

The police official added that a circular has been released restricting all kinds of public processions on Friday. All security arrangements will be made to maintain the law and order in the city."

As many as 13,000 policemen, along with personnel of the Garud Commando Force, 30 platoons of the Karnataka State Reserve Police (KSRP) and 20 platoons of the City Armed Reserve (CAR), will be deployed in sensitive and hypersensitive areas to prevent any untoward incident.

On Tuesday, the Karnataka High Court refused to put a stay on Tipu Sultan Jayanti celebrations, slated to be celebrated across the state on November 10.

The Karnataka government, headed by Chief Minister S Siddaramaiah, has planned to celebrate the erstwhile ruler's birth anniversary. However, opposition BJP and some outfits are opposed to Tipu Jayanti celebrations.

Tipu Jayanti is being observed since 2015 following a government decision, which had triggered a major row and caused violence in Kodagu district that year.

Recently, Union minister Anantkumar Hegde had stirred a hornet’s nest after he requested the Karnataka government not to include his name in programme invitations for Tipu Jayanti celebrations.

"Conveyed (to) Karnataka government not to invite me to the shameful event of glorifying a person known as a brutal killer, wretched fanatic and mass rapist," Hegde had tweeted.

A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lawmaker from the state Prahlad Joshi has alleged that Tipu Sultan was "anti-Hindu, anti-Kannada and exploited India".

Known as the "Tiger of Mysore", Tipu Sultan ruled the Mysore kingdom from 1782-1799 succeeding his father Hyder Ali.

Though Tipu Sultan was born in 1750 at Devanahalli on the outskirts of Bengaluru, his kingdom's capital was at Srirangapatna near Mysore.

Tipu Sultan is also viewed in a negative light in Kodagu district of the state where he is alleged to have persecuted the local Kodava population, as also the Roman Catholics of Mangaluru, on religious grounds and forced conversion to Islam.