Tanveer Sait, former Minister and Congress MLA, has urged the State government to establish a Research Centre at University of Mysore (UoM) to study the life and times of Tipu Sultan.
Presiding over the Tipu Jayanti programme at Mysuru on Saturday, Mr. Sait said the government had proposed to establish a centre for studies related to Tipu Sultan in Tumkur University.
Since Tipu Sultan had lived in the Mysuru region, Mr. Sait urged Minister for Higher Education G.T. Deve Gowda, who was also present on the occasion, to set up such a centre at the University of Mysore.
The centre had become necessary to counter the false propaganda by Sangh Parivar elements and to highlight the historical accuracies of the ruler, who had fought valiantly against the British and laid down his life on the battle field, he said.
Tipu Sultan’s contributions to society as a ruler would have been more acceptable had he not been a Muslim, Mr. Sait regretted.
As a ruler, Tipu Sultan had to treat his enemies as any other king would to protect his kingdom and his subjects, who included Hindus. Unfortunately, a communal colour is being lent to the actions he had taken as a ruler, who wanted to protect his kingdom.
Assistant Professor of History H.D. Umashankar, who delivered the keynote address on the occasion, recalled Tipu’s donations to various temples including Madduramma temple in Huskar in Anekal taluk. “When Tipu was headed to war, his army men came down with diarrhoea. He had vowed to make the donation if his men recovered in time for the war. When they woke up fit for war, Tipu made a donation to the temple,” Mr. Umashankar pointed out.
Tipu was known to have ushered in land reforms that ensured land for the tiller. A large number of poor, Shudras and army men received land due to the land reforms brought in by Tipu. He also built and revived 39,000 lakes and 14,000 wells, besides building water reservoirs at 24 places along the rivers to ensure irrigation for the farmers.
Also, Tipu had laid the foundation stone for the construction of KRS reservoir in 1794. He advised the farmers on the type of crop to be grown, besides introducing silk during his reign. To help farmers market their products, he introduced the practice of holding santhes or markets every few kms away.
After hearing Mr. Umashankar, Mr. Sait urged the scholar to write a book on his findings about Tipu and promised to bear the expenditure of printing the book.