Tipu Sultan leads the race for naming Bangalore International airport

Legendary warrior king Tipu Sultan is leading the race in an opinion poll conducted by a media group to suggest a name for the new international airport coming up at Devanahalli near Bangalore.

In an SMS poll conducted by The New Indian Express in Bangalore, 80.95 per cent of the readers had favoured Tipu Sultan while 16.41 per cent felt it would appropriate to name the new international airport after visionary statesman Sir M Visvesvaraya.

Bangalore’s founder Kempe Gowda was favoured by 1.41 per cent of the readers and Kannada thespian late Dr Rajkumar was preferred by 1.23 per cent.

The SMS poll began on Monday after the newspaper published a story on the possible names for the international airport, which is expected to become operational from April 2008. Apart from the four names proposed by the newspaper, the readers came out with new suggestions like Mahatma Gandhi airport, Green City International airport and IT City International airport.

According to historical accounts, Tipu Sultan, who was born in Devanahalli in the middle of eighteenth century, had a special attachment to the place. Though there is speculation on the exact year of Tipu’s birth with some history books giving his date of birth as November 20, 1750, while a section of historians claim he was born in 1753.

But, there is unanimity among historians that Tipu Sultan was born in Devanahalli, which is located at a distance of about 35 kms from Bangalore. Hyder Ali’s second wife Fakhrunnisa alias Fathima was on her way to Devanahalli fort for her first delivery. Before she could reach the fort, she gave birth to her first son Tipu.

Young Tipu spent his childhood of fifteen years at Devanahalli fort, where most of his education and training in artillery took place. Tipu used to frequent Devanahalli even during his last days, according to historical records.

According to researcher Arun Prasad, who heads a team of researchers in “Discover Bengaluru”, Tipu Sultan set up the famous gun powder factory at Devanahalli, which supplied ammunition for rocket manufacturing unit at Bangalore. The Devanahalli fort removed by Tipu Sultan still exists near the new international airport.

With the inauguration of the Greenfield international airport still seventeen months away, the Chief Executive Officer of Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) Albert Brunner is not keen on the name game yet. “Our prime focus is get the airport ready before the deadline. Let us get the airport ready first. It will be a collective decision that will decide the name for the airport”, he said.