.jpg?w=801&auto=format%2Ccompress&fit=max&format=webp&dpr=1.0)
Karnataka Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Basangouda Patil Yatnal allegedly compared Muslims to Tipu Sultan and asked people not to vote for a Muslim leader, in his address to a rally at Vijayapura in Karnataka. His remarks have once again stroked the controversy over the 18th-century ruler of Mysore ahead of the Assembly elections in the state.
"All MLAs ask me, in your constituency, there are one lakh Tipu Sultans (Muslim votes) and how you Shivaji Maharaj’s descendants will win from Bijapur,” Yatnal said in Kannada, adding that, "Even by mistake you should not cast your votes for Muslims."
Congress leaders Priyank Kharge and Ramesh Babu condemned the remarks. Priyank Kharge said, “Bringing this kind of topic before the election is not good, “Kannadigas” prefer progress."
Other leaders
The MLA's remarks add to a line of other leaders who have invoked Tipu Sultan in their speeches. Earlier this month, while addressing a public gathering in Karnataka's Mandya, Higher Education Minister C N Ashwath Narayan asked people “finish off” Congress leader Siddaramaiah the way “Vokkaliga chieftains Uri Gowda and Nanje Gowda finished off Tipu Sultan”.
The remarks sparked outrage with the Congress unit in Karnataka which filed a police complaint against Mr Narayan for the same. The minister later "regretted" his remarks.
BJP president Nalin Kumar Kateel said those who revere Tipu Sultan should be "driven out" of Karnataka and appealed to people to "kill" all "ardent followers" of Tipu Sultan. The Congress filed a complaint against him as well.
