Bengaluru, Oct 8: The demand from BJP to change the name of the Mysuru-Bengaluru train from Tipu Express to Mysuru Wodeyar Express was started in 2015 and it became an agenda of Karnataka BJP during the Siddaramaiah’s government.
Recently Mysuru MP Pratap Simha wrote a letter to Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav to change the name of Tipu Express to Wodeyar Express and name the Mysore-Talaguppa train to Kuvempu Express.
The South Western Railway (SWR), Hubballi on Friday issued a notification regarding the renaming of the Mysuru-Bengaluru Express train and Talguppa-Mysuru Express train.
Targeting Siddaramaiah
It was Siddaramaiah’s Congress government which started to celebrate Tipu’s birthday in 2015, making BJP convert it into a communal issue. State BJP strategically tried to use this issue to show Siddaramaiah as an anti-Hindu politician. Later, controversy over Tipu’s birthday started and gave Siddaramaiah the anti-Hindu image.
It was in the 1980s when the Congress government named the train Tipu in recognition of his contribution as a king. Now the BJP has changed the name From Tipu to Wodeyar Express.
Siddu criticises the move:
There was no need to change the name of Tipu Express train. Instead of this, it would have been better if the new train had been given the name of Wadiyar, said Siddaramaiah in the Vidhan Sabha.
Honouring Kuvempu
At the same time, the Mysuru-Talaguppa train has been renamed Kuvempu Express. Kuvempu was a famous playwright, poet and literate. Though Kuvempu was against the caste system, his ‘Vokkaliga’ caste is electorally important in Karnataka.
By this move, the BJP government has fulfilled its election promise to woo Hindus in general and the Vokkaliga community in particular.
The change also got criticism from There was no need to change the name of Tipu Express train. Instead of this, it would have been better if the new train had been given the name of Wadiyar, said Siddaramaiah, the leader of the opposition in the Vidhan Sabha.
A twitter user called Ramachandra M saying, “A train named ‘Wodeyar Express’ is great. But I don’t understand why it had to be at the cost of #TippuExpress. Like Wodeyars, Tippu, too, is a part of Mysuru history. Lest we forget, the Anglo-Mysore wars he fought have great significance even in India’s context.”
Another user called Lubna tweeted, “After renaming the Tippu Express as Wodeyar Express now it is time to rename Mysore as Paris because our beloved MP had promised Mysore to look like Paris during election and unfortunately Mysore Road Mysore infrastructure is worse than ten years ago..”
