Tipu Sultan has frequently been in the news, particularly in Karnataka, where state-sponsored celebrations of his birth anniversary have regularly drawn opposition from the BJP, often resulting in public unrest. More recently, he has become a subject of controversy in Malegaon, Maharashtra. When newly elected Deputy Mayor Shan-e-Hind Nihal Ahmad placed a portrait of Tipu Sultan in her office, Shiv Sena activists had it removed through the intervention of local authorities, prompting protests.
Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee President Harshvardhan Sapkal subsequently stated that Tipu Sultan's contributions to Mysore were comparable to those of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in Maharashtra. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis rejected the comparison, calling it an insult to Shivaji Maharaj. The dispute escalated when BJP workers stoned the Congress office, injuring approximately seven people.
The BJP's central objection is that Tipu Sultan was a persecutor of Hindus who attempted forced conversions to Islam. Hindu nationalist circles have advanced numerous other charges, seeking to portray him as anti-Hindu and cruel. However, a careful reading of historical evidence presents a more complex picture. Many of the harsher characterizations originate in British colonial narratives, which were particularly hostile toward Tipu — unsurprisingly, given that he was among the most determined Indian rulers to resist British expansion. He actively sought to persuade the Nizam and the Peshwas to unite against the East India Company, having clearly perceived the long-term dangers of British entrenchment in the subcontinent.
His administration reflected considerable religious pluralism. Purnaiah served as Mir Miran, a senior departmental head, and was central to the functioning of his government. Krishna Rao served as his treasurer, Shamaiya Iyengar held a high-ranking ministerial post, and Narsimha Iyengar served in the postal department. Tipu Sultan reportedly provided grants to the Sringeri Shankaracharya, including funds for temple reconstruction and the reinstallation of the goddess Sharada. He granted land and endowments to various temples across his kingdom, and the ten-day Dussehra celebrations remained an integral part of Mysore's social life throughout his reign.
In 1791, Maratha forces under Raghunath Rao Patwardhan attacked and plundered the historic Sringeri Sharada Peetham during the Third Anglo-Mysore War, causing significant destruction and forcing the Shankaracharya to flee. Upon learning of this, Tipu Sultan expressed strong condemnation and promptly dispatched funds, gifts, and letters to facilitate the temple's restoration and the reconsecration of its idol. Several letters in Kannada, preserved in the monastery's records, document his correspondence with the Sringeri Jagadguru, whom he addressed with great respect and from whom he requested prayers for the prosperity of his kingdom.
Regarding accusations of religious persecution, historian Kate Brittlebank has noted that Tipu's punitive actions against certain communities "was not a religious policy but one of chastisement." The communities targeted were those perceived as disloyal to the state or actively collaborating with the British — including some Muslim communities such as the Mahdavis, whose members served as horsemen in the East India Company's armies. Historian Susan Bayly has similarly argued that his actions against Hindus and Christians outside Mysore must be understood in political rather than religious terms, noting that he simultaneously maintained close relations with these same communities within his own state.
Sarfaraz Shaikh, in his book Sultan-E-Khudad, reproduces Tipu Sultan's Manifesto, in which Tipu declared his commitment to non-discrimination on religious grounds and his resolve to protect his empire until his last breath. His keen interest in rocket technology is noted appreciatively by A.P.J. Abdul Kalam in Wings of Fire.
It is worth noting that the RSS published a volume on Tipu Sultan in its children's history series in the 1970s. BJP's B.S. Yediyurappa donned Tipu's headgear while campaigning for votes in the 2010 Karnataka elections. In 2017, President Ram Nath Kovind — who has an RSS background — sent a message of appreciation on the occasion of Tipu Jayanti, stating that "Tipu Sultan died a heroic death fighting the British. He was also a pioneer in the development and use of Mysore rockets in warfare." Tipu's portrait appears on page 144 of Part XVI of the original handwritten Constitution of India, alongside that of Rani Laxmibai, as one of those who resisted British rule.
Tipu's popularity among ordinary people in Mysore is reflected in the folk songs that praise him across villages in the region. It was in this spirit that the celebrated playwright Girish Karnad once remarked that had Tipu been Hindu, he would have enjoyed a status in Mysore comparable to that of Shivaji Maharaj in Maharashtra — a sentiment not far removed from what Sapkal expressed.
The removal of Tipu Sultan's portrait from the Deputy Mayor's office represents a broader pattern of using historical figures to advance divisive politics. Kings and rulers ought to be evaluated not primarily by their religious identity but by the character of their governance — their treatment of people across religious communities and their concern for public welfare. By those standards, Tipu Sultan's record merits serious and fair consideration, rather than reduction to polemical caricature.
The most notable tribute to Tipu may be that of Subhas Chandra Bose, who adopted Tipu's "springing tiger" as the insignia of the Azad Hind Fauj. Tipu's most enduring contribution was his early and urgent warning to Indian rulers about the advancing power of the East India Company — a warning he ultimately backed with his life in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War.
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