Bengaluru: Jnanpith awardee Girish Karnad has been been threatened he would meet the same end as murdered rationalist MM Kalburgi for raising a demand to rename the Kempegowda International airport in Bengaluru after Tipu Sultan.
The threat was issued against the noted playwright on Twitter. The tweet, later deleted by the user, read: "Girish Karnad will meet the same end like kalburgi if he enrages kannadigas by replacing in Kempe gouda (sic) with Tipu Sultan."
A senior police officer, speaking on the threat said, “A tweet was posted by someone with the user name Intolerant Chandra.... We are aware of the tweet and action will be taken if necessary and if a complaint is lodged."
Meanwhile, under severe attack for his remarks Karnad has offered his apology.
The noted playwright and actor sought to end the controversy, saying, “If anybody has been hurt by my remarks, I apologise...what will I gain by doing it (by giving such comments).”
He said he had only expressed his view and there was no ulterior motive, as his remarks drew strong criticism and protests from different quarters.
Karnad had said that it would have been “apt” had the Bengaluru International Airport at Devanahalli near here been named after Tipu Sultan rather than Kempegowda, a feudatory ruler under the erstwhile Vijayanagara Empire who founded Bengaluru in 1537.
“It is true that Kempegowda was great, he founded Bengaluru. But he was not a freedom fighter, so naming Bengaluru airport after Tipu Sultan would have been apt,” Karnad had said.
In another controversial remark at the same function, Karnad had said that Tipu Sultan would have enjoyed the same status as of Maratha king Chhatrapathi Shivaji, if he was a Hindu and not a Muslim.
A complaint has also been filed against Karnad for his remarks. Bengaluru police have received a complaint against him for "insulting Hindus and the Vokkaliga community (Kempegowda belonged to it) and disrupting social harmony".
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who was at the dais with Karnad when he made the comment, said the government has nothing to do with the remarks made by Karnad at a state government-organised function to mark the birth anniversary of Tipu Sultan here yesterday.
“It is his personal remarks. The government does not have any connection to the remarks made by Karnad,” Siddaramaiah said, as he also came under criticism for not rebutting the Jnanpith awardee immediately at the function itself.
Siddaramaiah also said it was a mistake on the part of the Jnanapith award winner to have made such remarks. “It is a mistake. I have told you,” he said.
“I do not know why Girish Karnad made such a remark. I was also there (when he made the remark), I wanted to counter but I did not do,” he said.
Siddaramaiah also said there was no question of renaming Kempegowda International Airport. “A decision had already been taken to keep the name of the BIAL as Kempegowda - there arises no question of replacing Kempegowda's name given to Bengaluru International Airport,” he said.
