A few days ago, BJP Union Minister and MP from Karnataka set the cat among the pigeons with his bold stance with respect to celebration of Tipu Sultan’s birth anniversary. In a letter written to the chief secretary of Karnataka, Hegde asked that his name should not be added in any of the invitations for the Tipu Jayanti celebrations in the state. Even the Karnataka High Court had observed that Tipu Sultan Jayanti was needless spectacle.
Hegde’s action had the Congress in Karnataka on the back-foot. To counter this, State Secretary of Mahila Congress Kavitha Reddy tweeted some pictures where she claimed that BJP leaders like Yeddyurappa had also participated in Tipu Jayanti celebrations in the past, and thus now BJP was engaging in double speak:
in power BJP even released a book on Tippu, BJP Leaders participated in #TippuJayanti celebrations by various organizations! #BJPDoubleSpeak pic.twitter.com/RvQdPEfOL6
— ಕವಿತಾ ರೆಡ್ಡಿ (@KavithaReddy16) October 22, 2017
This tweet was then shared by the Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah:
Our govt celebrates birth anniversaries of over 30 leaders, saints & builders of Karnataka. #TipuJayanti is one of them. #BJPDoubleSpeak https://t.co/2wyygnPcS2
— Siddaramaiah (@siddaramaiah) October 22, 2017
The same was shared by the Official Karnataka Congress handle as well as some other leaders:
Hypocrisy, Thy Name is @BJP4Karnataka https://t.co/sz6W7quzyC
— Karnataka Congress (@INCKarnataka) October 22, 2017
The crux of the claim lies in the 3 pictures shared by Reddy. And a simple google reverse search reveals that none of the pictures relate to any celebration of Tipu Jayanti by BJP.
The 1st picture is of then CM Shettar attending an Iftar party which was organised by BJP Minority Morcha state unit in Bangalore:
The 2nd picture is actually of CM Yeddyurappa at another Iftar party
The third picture is from the same Iftar party as shown in picture 1.
Thus, Congress social media cell used pictures from Iftar parties, to show that BJP leaders had themselves celebrated Tipu Jayanti in the past. The Congress has probably forgotten that this practice of celebrating Tipu Jayanti was started in 2015 by Congress itself. And right from that year, BJP has stayed away from such “celebrations”. Yeddyurappa had even courted arrest to protest against Tipu Jayanti celebration in 2016. Perhaps Congress in Karnataka needs to start its own #KnowYourLegacy campaign on social media.
