External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar attended the launch of historian Vikram Sampath’s book Tipu Sultan: The Saga of the Mysore Interregnum 1761-1799 at the India Habitat Centre in Delhi on Saturday. On that programme, he said that the personality of Tipu Sultan is complex one.
On the one hand, he is known for being a pivotal character who opposed British colonial rule over India, and it is true that his defeat and passing marked a sea change in the history of peninsular India. On the other hand, his treatment of his subjects and neighbouring countries raised troubling issues. He emphasised that every society has a complex history, and current politics frequently cherry-pick facts.
He also said that Tipu’s persona still has to be unearthed, pointing out that history has frequently ignored the more nuanced facets of his reign. According to the EAM Jaishankar, contemporary accounts have mostly focused on Tipu Sultan’s resistance to the British while “underplaying, if not neglecting” other facets of his administration, including his international connections and religious outreach to leaders in Turkey, Afghanistan, and Persia.
“How much of our past has been airbrushed, how awkward issues have been glossed over, how facts are tailored for regime convenience these are basic questions which confront us all today,” he said. Later, he said that today, writing in the political field has more liberty compared to past history.
