Bengaluru: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday accused BJP leaders of double standards on Tipu Jayanti and said that his government would continue organising Tipu Jayanti despite protest.

He was speaking after inaugurating Tipu Jayanti organised by the Kannada and Culture department at the Vidhana Soudha, amidst tight security.

Siddaramaiah ridiculed former chief ministers B S Yeddyurappa and Jagadish Shettar, by pointing out instances wherein the two BJP leaders had heaped praises on Tipu in the past.

“The BJP is now trying to twist the history and mislead people for political gains. They are making it (jayanti) a big issue as the Assembly elections are fast nearing,” he charged.

According to the chief minister, Yeddyurappa had visited Tipu Sultan samadhi (tomb) at Srirangapatna in 2012 when he was in the KJP.

“He (Yeddyurappa) had praised Tipu as a great king and a freedom fighter. But, the same person is now describing Tipu as communal and murderer. Isn’t he (Yeddyurappa) ashamed of himself?” he asked, rebutting charges by the BJP that the ruling Congress was indulging in minority appeasement by organising Tipu Jayanti.

Similarly, he read out a prelude written by Shettar to a monograph “Tipu Sultan: A Crusader for Change” brought out by the Kannada and Culture department when he was the chief minister. Like Yeddyurappa, Shettar too had hailed Tipu as a great warrior and a freedom fighter.

“Why the BJP is now opposing my government for celebrating Tipu Jayanti? How many tongues each one of them have?…It is now left to people to judge who is politicising Tipu Jayanti,” he added.

The government is neither indulging in vote-bank politics nor does it wants to please Muslims. Tipu was a patriot who fought against the then British army.

“If Tipu was not a patriot, he wouldn’t have fought the British in four different wars (historical Mysore wars). Instead, he would have surrendered to the British army…I wish God bestows wisdom on the BJP and the RSS leaders,” Siddaramaiah said.

On charges by the BJP that Tipu murdered large number of people in Kodagu and the coastal region, Siddaramaiah said Tipu was a king and he might have punished some people for opposing him and aligning with the British army.

Siddaramaiah warned that his government will deal sternly with those who take law into their hands and, said that the government will organise Tipu Jayanti in a grand manner next year.