Mangalore, Feb 16: Naming the proposed University for minorities at Srirangapatna after Tipu Sultan is nothing but sprinkling salt on injuries of Christians. The University should instead be named after Rev. Ferdinand Kittel, who contributed to the cause of Kannada by producing the first Kannada-English dictionary, said T J Abraham, a Christian activist.
Addressing media persons at a news conference in Mangalore on Friday, Mr. Abraham said that by proposing Tipu Sultan's name for the University, the Congress led Central Government is trying to appease Muslims and has conveniently forgotten the sentiments of Christians, who are also a minority community.
“Srirangapatna is a cruel reminder of about 70 to 80 thousand people from the coastal region, Malabar and Coorg being forcibly converted to Islam by Tipu. He carried out atrocities against Christians. Naming a University after him is a political move by the central government to appease Muslims. But it will at the same time hurt the Christian sentiment. The Congress government does not care for the votes of the Christians. Are Muslims the only minority community in the country? If instead of Tipu, the government had proposed APJ Abdul Kalam's name, none of us, not even the Hindus would have had problem with it”, he said.
Mr. Abraham said that it is high time the Christian community stood up and express itself in opposing Tipu. “Whenever we have tried to raise our voice, we were asked to keep quiet. We were told we will be strengthening the communal forces by doing so. We cannot keep quiet now”, he said.
The Christian community has always been in the forefront in the field of education and hence it is fitting that the proposed University is named after a Christian, Mr. Abraham said.
“Even our staunchest critics admit that no one comes close to us in the field of education. What is Tipu Sultan's contribution to education? What is his contribution to Kannada? We urge that the University be named after Rev. Ferdinand Kittel, who gave us the very first Kannada-English dictionary. We are meeting Bishops of all Christian denominations to form a consensus on naming the proposed university for minorities after Rev. Kittel. A proposal for the same would be forwarded to both state and central governments”, Mr. Abraham said.
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