Reacting sharply to the formation of the `Tipu Sultan Commemorative Council', headed by Syed Sihabbudhin Imbichikoya Thangal to coordinate the activities, BJP national council member K Raman Pillai said the move was unnecessary and highly objectionable. The people concerned should desist from organising the programme as it would hurt the feelings of Keralites, he claimed.

He said there might not be much criticism about his rule in Karnataka, but as far as Kerala was concerned, he was an aggressor and religious fanatic.

It was a fact that Tipu Sultan fought against the British. His fight, however, was not for the country's freedom, but to establish his supremacy in South India, healleged.

Pillai said Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan had been members of a family that had roots abroad. ``How can a person like Hyder Ali, who expressed willingness to hand over a portion of Malabar to the French, be considered as a freedom fighter?'' he asked. Similarly, Tipu Sultan colonised the entire Malabar, he alleged.

He said as evidence to the secular credentials of Tipu Sultan there were people who argue that he had not destroyed any temple at Srirangapattanam and that he had made gifts to the Guruvayur temple and the Sringeri Mutt. But there were other reasons for such acts. Through citing one or two isolated examples, his role in desecration of hundreds of temples and forced religious conversions could not be suppressed, he added.

The BJP leader asked the organisers not to go ahead with the programme as it would create unnecessary tension.

Kerala Islamic Academy secretary Syed Marakkar announced at Kozhikode on Sunday that various functions would be organised at Thiruvananthapuram, Ernakulam,Palakkad, Thrissur and Kozhikode to mark the occasion. Commemorative functions would also be organised at various places in the country and abroad.