Tipu Jayanti observed in Mangaluru under tight security

Mangaluru, Nov 10: The Dakshina Kannada district administration, unmindful of strong protests from the opposition BJP and various Hindu organisations, celebrated Tipu Sultan Jayanti here on Thursday. The Nethravathi auditorium of the Dakshina Kannada zilla panchayat, venue of the official celebration, was under a tight security blanket directly supervised by deputy commissioners of police and aided by 11 platoons of reserve police drawn from Karnataka and Kerala.

BJP workers led by Dakshina Kannada MP Nalin Kumar Kateel, who attempted to force their way in, were bundled into waiting KSRTC buses.

The event was not without drama as Nalin Kumar staged a sit-in on the road and asked police officials to show him a copy of the order from the government that barred elected representatives from attending the event.

The whole effort to storm the venue came to nought with police positioned at all major entrances leading to the auditorium. Protesters, who wanted to make a statement of their discontent, did not try to sneak in.

Their protest was carried out under full glare of the media, much to the chagrin of police and delight of workers who did not mind courting arrest.

Additional Director-General of Police T Suneel Kumar, in-charge of security for the district, told TOI the protest were peaceful and police took 142 BJP and Hindu organization workers and leaders into preventive custody under section 71 of the Karnataka Police Act and later let off. The protesters were taken to Barke, Mangaluru East and Panambur police stations and their names and addresses noted.

Drawing from experience of bandobast arrangements made as a DCP in Bengaluru, city police chief M Chandra Sekhar requisitioned the services of Shachi Technologies to use drones for aerial surveillance.

Four drones covered potential trouble spots, including the main entrance of the venue. The Bengaluru-based company pressed 40 high-end CCTV cameras to cover all vantage entry points of the city.

B Ramanath Rai, forest & environment and district in-charge minister who inaugurated the function, questioned the state BJP leadership led by former CM BS Yeddyurappa questioning the government's move to hold the event. "The person who posed with a sword and Tipu's traditional headgear should now answer why his party is brazenly politicizing the event and for what end," Rai said, without mentioning Yeddyurappa.

B Shivarama Shetty, head of SVP Institute of Kannada Studies of Mangalore University who delivered a special talk on Tipu, said, "Tipu and rulers of his period are victims of narrative of British historians who sought to legitimize the rule by colonial powers. Tipu did what other rulers did to preserve and expand their empires. It is wrong to portray Tipu in a bad light in view of these historical circumstances for narrow political considerations," he said.