The political battle over the death of Tipu Sultan -- the 18th Century ruler of Mysore -- has not really filtered down to the common man in Karnataka. NDTV's new opinion poll in partnership with Lokniti-Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) has found that only one in three voters are aware of the matter and only 29 per cent of those who know, feel raising the issue was justified.
The BJP in Karnataka had raised pitch over Tipu Sultan since the birth anniversary of the former Mysore ruler was marked by the Congress government led by Siddaramaiah nearly eight years ago.
Recently, the party juxtaposed its icon VD Savarkar against Tipu Sultan in a battle of perception and provocative comments were made from both sides of the political divide.
In March, the BJP made an effort to show support for the politically powerful Vokkaliga community by upholding claims that it was not the British and Maratha army, but two Vokkaliga leaders who had killed Tipu Sultan. Historians, though, have scoffed at the idea.
Asked if the political tussle over issue has led to communal tension in the state, 74 per cent of the people interviewed during the survey have answered in the affirmative.
The survey has also found that those who justify raising the issue are BJP supporters. Those opposed to it are tilted in favour of the Congress.
The Vokkaliga community has so far been supporters of the state's opposition Congress and the HD Kumaraswamy's Janata Dal Secular. Leaders of both parties have so far maintained that the men supposed to have killed Tipu Sultan, Uri Gowda and Nanje Gowda, could have been fictional characters.
The survey – aimed to gauge public mood ahead of the May 10 election in Karnataka -- has interviewed 2,143 voters spread across 82 polling stations of 21 assembly constituencies.
The sampling design adopted was multi-stage systematic random sampling or SRS -- meaning the constituencies, polling stations and the people interviewed were all randomly picked.