Tipu controversy: Karnad, BJP MP receive death threats
New Delhi: In the wake of the controversy over the celebration of Tipu Sultan’s birth anniversary in Karnataka, the BJP on Thursday demanded Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s resignation for his alleged failure to control law and order in his state.
“The Karnataka chief minister should resign as he is not able to manage law and order in the state,” Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Sambit Patra said.
BJP and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) activists on Wednesday burnt Siddaramaiah’s effigies and blocked the Bengaluru-Mysuru highway in Srirangapatnam.
Several Hindu organisations have protested against the celebration of Tipu Sultan’s 265th birth anniversary by the Congress-led Karnataka government.
DEATH THREAT: Jnanpith awardee Girish Karnad and BJP MP Prathap Simha have allegedly received death threats on social media as the controversy rages in Karnataka over the birth anniversary celebrations of 18th century Mysore ruler Tipu Sultan.
Online posts directed at the duo appeared even as the toll in the violence at Madikeri over the row climbed to two after a youth succumbed to bullet wounds.
Karnad, who came under severe attack for his remarks that Bengaluru international airport should have been named after Tipu Sultan rather than the city’s founder, Kempe Gowda, received a threat on Twitter that he would meet with the same fate as rationalist MM Kalburgi, who was gunned down recently by two men at his residence in Dharwad in north Karnataka.
Security has been posted at the residence of Karnad, a noted Kannada playwright and actor, in the wake of the controversy over his remarks with several organisations, particularly those connected with the dominant Vokkaliga community to which Kempe Gowda belonged, Kannada bodies, right-wing outfits and BJP, targeting him.
Mysuru-Kodagu BJP MP Prathap Simha, who received a threat to his life in a Facebook post, has approached Mysuru police. (Agencies)