Channamma and Tipu fought for pride, challenged British: Siddu

Maqsood Maniyar | NT

Bengaluru: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah put the queen of Kittur Rani Channamma and Mysuru king Tipu Sultan in the same bracket and glorified them as freedom fighters.

He called the monarchs inspirations to the commoner “to fight for selfrespect”.

He made the comments after the launch of Kittur Utsav’s Jyoti Yatra organised by the Department of Kannada and Culture and Belagavi District Administration held at the Vidhana Soudha premises in Bengaluru on Friday.

“Kittur Channamma was a fierce queen who challenged the huge British military with her small army. Kittur Utsava and Jayantsova were started during my first term as Chief Minister, to introduce her courage and ideals to the youth and today's generation,” Siddaramaiah said.

It is not clear as to whether the CM drawing equivalence between Tipu and Channamma will draw a response from the BJP. The saffron party regards the 18th century Mysuru monarch as someone who committed excesses against Hindus of Kodagu region.

On the other hand, the Congress, Muslims and even Kannada activists regard him as an anti-colonial hero who fought the British Empire. Meanwhile, historians see Tipu in the same vein as other monarchs who fought the colonialists, viewing him through the lens of a pre-modern ruler rather than applying modern standards of minority rights.

Public Works Minister Satish Jarakiholi, Kittur MLA Babasaheb Patil, Dharwad Rural MLA Vinay Kulkarni, Bailhongal MLA Mahantesha Kaujalagi, CM’s Political Secretary Govindaraju and others were present during the programme.