Kozhikode: The BJP state chief K Surendran said on Thursday that the name of Sulthan Bathery town, associated with Tipu Sultan in the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency, should be changed, as the place was originally known as Ganapathivattom before the Mysore ruler's invasion of the Malabar region of Kerala two centuries ago.
K Surendran is contesting against the sitting MP and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, as well as CPI leader and ruling LDF candidate Annie Raja in the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat. He raised the issue while addressing the media here on Friday.
"Ganapathivattom is the true name of Sulthan Bathery. Its name change is necessary," Surendran told reporters in Thamarassery near here. Raking up the issue of Tipu Sultan's Malabar invasion during his election campaign, the BJP leader alleged that the Congress and LDF prefer to refer to it as Sulthan Bathery.
"Why should such a place in Kerala be named after an aggressor?" he asked. "In reality, the place is Ganapathivattom. How many years ago did the Sultan's invasion occur? Who is Sultan? What is the significance of Tipu Sultan regarding Wayanad and its people?
"That place was known as Ganapathivattom. People are aware of this. Congress and the LDF are allied with Tipu Sultan, who converted lakhs of people in Kerala, especially in Wayanad and Malabar," Surendran alleged.
He also claimed that the issue was first raised by late BJP leader Pramod Mahajan in 1984. According to Kerala Tourism, Sulthan Bathery was earlier known as Ganapathivattom. "The place owes its new name to the erstwhile ruler of Mysore, Tipu Sultan, who during his invasion of the Malabar region dumped his ammunition and parked his artillery battering in an old Jain temple here.
"The place was hence known as Sulthan Bathery which is a corrupted form of Sultan's battery. Tipu Sultan also built a fort here, which is in ruins now and a police station stands on the mounds of the fort now," a Kerala Tourism website said.
The Congress mocked Surendran for raising the controversy of changing the name of Sultan Bathery. Congress leader and MLA T Siddique said that Surendran can say anything.
"He is not going to win; it is just an attempt to grab public attention. It is not going to happen, and there is no value attached to his statement," he told a news channel.
