Muslim Discourse: Shah asks people of State not to vote for JD(S), Cong. that valorise Tipu

Shah asks people of State not to vote for JD(S), Cong. that valorise Tipu

BJP honours Rani Abbakka, queen of Ullal region, he says

February 11, 2023 08:52 pm | Updated 08:52 pm IST - MANGALURU

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Union Home Minister Amit Shah at the CAMPCO golden jubilee celebration programme at Puttur in Dakshina Kannada district on Saturday.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah at the CAMPCO golden jubilee celebration programme at Puttur in Dakshina Kannada district on Saturday. | Photo Credit: H.S. MANJUNATH

Union Home Minister Amit Shah speaking at the golden jubilee celebration function of CAMPCO at Puttur in Dakshina Kannada district on Saturday.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah speaking at the golden jubilee celebration function of CAMPCO at Puttur in Dakshina Kannada district on Saturday. | Photo Credit: H.S. MANJUNATH

Taking on the Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular) ahead of the Assembly elections in Karnataka, Union Minister for Home and Cooperation Amit Shah said on Saturday that both were “two faces of the same coin”, and choosing Janata Dal (S) meant voting for the Congress.

He asked the people in Puttur: “Do you want the Congress and the Janata Dal (Sr) who valorise Tipu Sultan or the BJP which valorises Rani Abbakka?”

Rani Abbakka was the queen of the then Ullal region, near Mangaluru, and fought against foreign invaders, including the Portugese in the 16th century. The 18th century Mysore ruler Tipu Sultan, who fought the British, has been the target of BJP’s consistent attack. The ruler’s birth anniversary was officially celebrated during the Congress regime, which was reversed by the BJP when it came to power.

Voting for ‘Nav Karnataka’

Addressing a gathering at Puttur at the golden jubilee celebrations of the Central Arecanut and Cocoa Marketing and Processing Cooperative Ltd. (CAMPCO), a multi-State cooperative society of Karnataka and Kerala, Mr. Shah said that voting the BJP meant “voting for Nav Karnataka.”

He claimed that only the BJP could give a secure and stable government in Karnataka.

“Will you strengthen the hands of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai by electing the BJP with full majority?” he asked the crowd. Continuing with rhetorical questions, Mr. Shah further asked: “Do you need a party of nationalists, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, or the corrupt Congress which wants to use Karnataka as the ATM for Gandhi parivar? Whose government do you want?”

Mr. Shah said that when the Congress was in power in Karnataka it had released many activists of the then Popular Front of India (PFI). But the Narendra Modi-led government banned the PFI. The Congress, which was into appeasement and strengthened an anti-national organisation (referring to the PFI), would never do good for Karnataka, he said.

Areca bonding

Lauding CAMPCO for its achievements, he said that the cooperative celebrating the golden jubilee indicated that it had grown on the right path. He said that arecanut trade bridged the people of Gujarat with the people of Dakshina Kannada who cultivated it and the Gujarat people who consumed it.

Earlier, he digitally laid the foundation stone for building an agriculture mall of the CAMPCO in Puttur. He released the coconut oil product named ‘Calpa’ of the CAMPCO and inaugurated the new warehouse of the cooperative constructed at Bhadravat,i near Shivamogga, on the occasion.

Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and former Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa spoke. Nalin Kumar Kateel, MP for Dakshina Kannada and State BJP president, was present.

‘Tipu-believers Cong’ or ‘Tuluva queen-inspired BJP’, asks Amit Shah in Karnataka

Meet the queen who fought the Portuguese, Rani Abakka Chowta, whom BJP has adopted as one of its icons ahead of the state elections

By: Express News Service

New Delhi | Updated: February 11, 2023 21:19 IST

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Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah, Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai (2R), Karnataka BJP President Nalin Kumar Kateel (R), former CM BS Yediyurappa and other leaders at the Golden Jubilee celebrations of Central Nut and Cocoa Marketing and Processing Cooperative Corporation (CAMPCO), in Puttur. (PTI)

Addressing an event to mark the golden jubilee of a cooperative in Puttur, Dakshin Kannada, Union Home Minister Amit Shah Saturday said that while the Congress and JD(S), “who believed in 18th-century Mysuru ruler Tipu Sultan”, cannot do any good for Karnataka, the BJP took its inspiration from “16th-century Tuluva queen of Ullal Rani Abbakka Chowta”, to give the state a prosperous rule.

“Should people vote for the JD(S) and Congress who believe in Tipu, or the BJP which has faith in Rani Abbakka?” he asked.

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In September 2022, addressing a rally in Karnataka, Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioned Abakka along with Rani Chennabhaira Devi as one of the two local women warriors who had contributed to the freedom struggle. “They helped rescue the soil of the country from slavery,” the PM said.

So who was Rani Abakka?

An article on her on the website of the IGNCA (Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts), calls the queen, locally known as Abbakka Mahadevi, “one of the earliest freedom fighters of India who resisted the Portuguese”.

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Belonging to the Chowta dynasty, which ruled Tulu Nadu, comprising several strategic regions of coastal Karnataka, Abakka was the queen of a little-known and small princely state, Ullal (located just a few kilometres from Mangaluru).

The article describes her as “a magnetic woman of indomitable courage and patriotism”. “While Rani Jhansi has become a symbol of courage, Abbakka, nearly 300 years her predecessor, has been largely forgotten by history. Her furious wars with Portuguese are not well recorded. But whatever is available speaks of a luminous personality of awesome valour and bravery,” the article reads.

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According to the writer, Kailash Kr Mishra, who has worked on a documentary project on Abbakka, archival records, accounts of Portuguese travellers and historical analysis say there were three Abbakkas: “mother and two daughters, who fought against the Portuguese Army between 1530 and 1599”.

While the second daughter was believed to have been the most courageous, all three Abbakkas are in folklore treated as one great Queen. The Ullal fort still survives, on the shores of the Arabian Sea, and has a Shiva Temple built by the Queen.

As per the IGNCA article, trained in military science and warfare, mainly archery and sword-fighting, Abakka had a short-lived marriage with the neighbouring local king of Bangher. When she broke off the marriage, her husband is said to have joined the Portuguese to fight her. The Chowta dynasty followed the system of matrilineal inheritance of the Digambara Jains, which means the crown had passed to Abakka.

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Having conquered Goa, the Portuguese made several attempts to capture the strategically located Ullal, but were repulsed by Abbakka, the story of her fightback passing down into folk songs and folk theatre yakshagana. As per one such folklore, Abbakka was “the last known person to have the Agnivana (fire-arrow)”.

There was another side to Abbakka that perhaps doesn’t fit as easily with the Hindutva narrative seeking to pit her against “Muslim” ruler Tipu Sultan. A Jain by faith, her administration had a strong representation of Hindus and Muslims, while her army was known to include people from all sects and castes, as per the IGNCA article.

Muslim Discourse

Saturday, 11 February 2023

Shah asks people of State not to vote for JD(S), Cong. that valorise Tipu

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