BJP's Amit Malviya slams Owaisi for celebrating Tipu Jayanti: ‘Tipu Sultan was barbarian’

A day following Asaduddin Owaisi's AIMIM commemorated Tipu Jayanti at Karnataka's Eidgah ground, Bharatiya Janata Party’s Amit Malviya said Tipu Sultan was not a freedom fighter that his birth anniversary needs to be marked but nothing more can be expected of Owaisi whose political ancestors were the Razakars.

"But what better can one expect from Owaisi, whose political ancestors were the Razakars, who massacred and ethnically cleansed the Hindus in Hyderabad!" Amit Malviya wrote.

The commemoration of Tipu Jayanti was declared by ex-chief minister Siddaramaiah when the Congress was in power. The date was set to be observed was November 10, though Tipu Sultan's birth anniversary is on December 1.

After the BJP government came to power in the state, it scrapped Tipu Jayanti celebrations. However, the civic body gave a nod for the celebration to AIMIM at the Eidgah ground.

Giving rise to the controversy, BJP’s Amit Malviya said Tipu was a barbarian whose legacy is a spot. Celebrating Tipu Jayanti is an affront to thesensibilities of all Indians, including Muslims, the BJP leader said.

"Tipu was a barbarian, who inflicted untold miseries on the Kodavas in Coorg, the Syrian Christians in Mangalore, the Catholics, the Konkanis, the Nairs of Malabar, the Mandyan Iyengars, who were hanged in hundreds on Diwali, due to which their descendants don’t celebrate the festival to this day. He broke innumerable temples and Churches, forcefully converted people to Islam. His sword had inscription to launch jihad against the infidels," Malviya tweeted.

"He was no freedom fighter. He was taking the help of French, who were no less colonial than the British. Mysore would have become a French colony, like Pondicherry, if Tipu had won. He invited Zaman Shah from Afghanistan to invade India and establish an Islamic Caliphate wrote to Napolean to invade India and ensured French victory against British. How are these the traits of a freedom fighter?" the BJP leader tweeted.

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