Kerala BJP president K Surendran has sparked a new controversy by declaring that if he wins the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat, his priority would be changing the name of Sulthan Bathery town to Ganapathyvattam.
The NDA candidate competes against Congress’s Rahul Gandhi and CPI’s Annie Raja.
“The renaming of Sulthan Bathery is inevitable. The name Sulthan Bathery emerged as part of [Tipu Sultan’s] invasion. The place is Ganapathyvattam. Congress and CPI(M) want the place to be known after a criminal,” Surendran said in an interview with a right-wing national media.
“Sulthan Bathery should be renamed as Ganapathyvattam. It is not the land of Tipu Sultan who massacred Hindus and Christians,” Surendran reiterated his position in a press meeting on Thursday.
Opposition leaders have ridiculed the election promise by Surendran saying that it sure he would not win the election.
“Surendran is free to say anything as he is not going to win from Wayanad. It is only to win attention,” said legislator from Kalpetta in Wayanad T Siddique.
Sulthan Bathery is one of the three municipal towns in Wayanad and is home to a Ganapati temple once known as Ganapathyvattam. The town got its name after the Tipu Sultan invaded the Malabar region in the second half of 1700. The town became known as ‘Sultan’s Battery’ in British records after the region was used for storing Tipu Sultan’s ammunition.
