Day after 'fake news' FIR, Tejasvi Surya says Siddaramaiah government 'falsifying' farmers' claims

A day after he was booked for “fake news” linking the suicide of a Haveri farmer to the burning issue of Waqf controversy, Bangalore South MP L S Tejasvi Surya claimed that the Congress government was “falsifying” farmers’ claims similar to what Tipu Sultan and “the likes of him” did 225 years ago.

He was speaking at the launch of corporate-turned-historian Vikram Sampath’s 10th book ‘Tipu Sultan: The Saga of Mysore’s Interregnum (1760-1799)’, here on Saturday.

“When we (the BJP) recently met a farmers’ family from Haveri, they told us that their son died by suicide because his land was unilaterally changed in the name of the waqf board. The farmers could not get access to report this. Minutes after the reporters wrote about this and I tweeted about this, the state government tried to falsify their claims,” he said.

“In today’s social media-intense time, even drafting a 280-character tweet is challenging. In such a climate, I want to acknowledge a deep gratitude to Sampath for writing a 1000-page history book on Tipu Sultan,” he said. He added that as a society and as a generation, we have resorted to instant gratification to gain knowledge, where it has been reduced to Instagramming. He applauded Sampath’s “elegance in archiving human history” due to which “truth has come to light”.

He also noted that when he recently met a farmers’ delegation, they said that the “ghost of Aurangzeb was still haunting their land in the form of the dealings of the waqf board.” After reading excerpts from Sampath’s new book, Surya said: “The barbarity of Tipu is condoned in this book. The motivation for what he did is religion. If we do not push for historical, intellectual relevance of this aspect, it will continue to haunt us,” he added.

However, Sampath, in conversation with artpreneur Madhu Natraj following Surya’s speech, said that politicians belonging to any party might use the book’s outcomes for their benefit. While he highlighted how Congress’ emphasis on celebrating Tipu Jayanti causes communal tensions in the state, he also noted that the BJP’s claims that Vokkaliga chieftains Uri and Nanje Gowda killed Tipu is not recorded anywhere in history.

The event was organised jointly by Prabha Khaitan Foundation, Foundation for Indian Historical and Cultural Research, and Kitab Books.