"Tipu Sultan was a brave warrior, who gave his life fighting against the British forces. The BJP, which has used derogatory terms against him, forgets that 70 per cent of his army comprised Hindu soldiers," he told reporters here.
"The BJP and the RSS are against him because he had fought against ancestors of the RSS... Those who had sought asylum from the British have no right to define Tipu Sultan's patriotism," the NCP spokesperson added.
Hegde had stirred a hornet's nest after he requested the Karnataka government not to include his name in programme invitations for Tipu Jayanti celebrations.
"(I have) conveyed (to) Karnataka government not to invite me to the shameful event of glorifying a person known as a brutal killer, wretched fanatic and mass rapist," Hegde had said in a Tweet on October 20.
Tipu was a ruler of the erstwhile kingdom of Mysore, who was considered an implacable enemy of the British East India Company. He was killed in May 1799 while defending his fort of Srirangapatna against the British forces.
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