I. M. Muthanna

"Gidwani’s Tipu has a political value today, especially after the Congress Government in 1974, perhaps to oblige the Muslim voters, released a commemoration stamp on Tipu, and described him as a ‘freedom fighter.’…Releasing a 50-Paisa postage stamp commemorating Tipu in July 1974, a minister of Karnataka said that Tipu was ‘a hero’ of Karnataka, ‘the defender of freedom,’ and so on. The chairman of the stamp releasing committee…wanted the writers to ‘present a true and faithful account’ of Tipu. Well… Gidwani has obliged him, rather sneakily, and in the form of a novel."