On Saturday, BJP-SAD MLA Manjinder Singh Sirsa opposed the decision, alleging that Tipu Sultan was a “tyrant ruler who forcefully converted people into Islam”.
The controversy over a portrait of Tipu Sultan installed in the Delhi Assembly continued, with the BJP accusing the Mysuru ruler of being a “tyrant” and recommending that Sikh leader Jassa Singh Ahluwalia’s portrait be put up instead.
On Republic Day, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had unveiled portraits of 70 individuals from the country’s past who were key to nation-building and the struggle for Independence. But Tipu Sultan’s inclusion became a point of contention.
On Saturday, BJP-SAD MLA Manjinder Singh Sirsa opposed the decision, alleging that Tipu Sultan was a “tyrant ruler who forcefully converted people into Islam”. “Tipu Sultan admitted to converting 4,00,000 Hindus. It was an illogical decision by the AAP government to install the portrait of such a communal person in the Delhi Assembly. This is a democratic set up where secularism prevails; it sends a wrong message to the people.”
Instead, Sirsa suggested that the portrait of Jassa Singh Ahluwalia be hung in the Delhi Assembly. “He was the first conqueror of Delhi. If the AAP government is looking for a great leader, they should put up his portrait. Ahluwalia fought the Mughal emperor and emerged victorious…,” he said. Ahluwalia was an 18th century Sikh leader active during the period of the Sikh Confederacy.
Speaker Ram Niwas Goel on Friday had said: “I want to tell them that the Constitution also carries a picture of Tipu Sultan on page 144… They should leave this cheap politics and do politics of development.”