MLA's 'drop Tipu' call baseless: Historians

War of words

A high-level meeting of historians, academicians and BJP MLA Appachu Ranjan to decide on scrapping content related to Tipu Sultan from textbooks ended in a noisy altercation between the MLA and historians.

A three-hour marathon meeting at the Karnataka Text Book Society (KTBS) on Thursday yielded no result with historians terming the BJP legislator’s arguments as baseless.

A top historian who took part in the meeting said, “Ranjan only submitted a book translated from Persian to English by a London-based writer. It is primarily a collection of letters written by Tipu to various functionaries. Being historians, we cannot blindly buy his theory and need to verify facts and the context in which those letters were written.”

Nonetheless, KTBS officials set a 15-day deadline for subject experts and directed them to submit a report after verifying the documents submitted by Appachu Ranjan. “We will wait for the committee’s report which will be sent to the government,” a KTBS official told DH.

Soon after the meeting, Ranjan told reporters, “We have clearly placed our demand that they should drop all content on Tipu Sultan from textbooks. We will not allow the glorification of Tipu Sultan in any textbooks.” He said he was clear about his demand and that he has the necessary documents to authenticate the demand. “I have submitted all necessary documents and there is no question of backing out,” he maintained.

I’m getting threats: MLA

Appachu Ranjan revealed that he has been receiving threat calls following his petition to the government. “After my petition, I have begun to get threat calls. But no threat can change my mind.”