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Journalism of Courage
Despite three FIRs against him in the past two weeks, and complaint for a fourth registered on Thursday, Sambhaji Bhide, the 90-year-old firebrand founder of the Shiv Pratishthan Hindustan (SPH), is unlikely to be a worried man.
The first in the current slew of FIRs was lodged on July 30, for Bhide’s derogatory remarks on Mahatma Gandhi, made at Amravati city in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra on July 27. Bhide was touring the region when he made activists of his outfit recite his “objectionable” writings on Mahatma Gandhi at a public rally.
On August 1, a second FIR was registered in Nashik for his alleged derogatory remarks against spiritual icon Sai Baba of Shirdi, and 19th century social reformer Jyotiba Phule.
On Monday, August 7, a third FIR was filed by the Navi Mumbai police following a complaint by advocate Amit Katarnavre filed at New Panvel police station, alleging that Bhide had made derogatory comments against Buddha, Phule and 20th-century social reformer Periyar Naicker, which had hurt the sentiments of the people who respect the icons. Katarnavre cited some online videos in which Bhide was seen purportedly making these comments.
Accordingly, the police registered an FIR against Bhide under IPC sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc), 153B (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national-integration) and 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs).
“The FIR also included relevant provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act,” the police said.
On Thursday, Mahatma Gandhi’s great grandson Tushar Gandhi, advocate Asim Sarode and others, lodged a police complaint at the Deccan Gymkhana police station in Pune against Bhide for his alleged derogatory remarks against Gandhi. They sought registration of an FIR under IPC sections 499 (defamation), 153A (promoting enmity between different groups) and 505 (statements conducing to public mischief).
The remarks have seen sharp reactions from political and non-political organisations across Maharashtra, including street protests. Inside the state Assembly, senior Congress leader and former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan demanded Bhide’s immediate arrest. “How can he roam free after making such derogatory remarks?” he asked.
The BJP was quick to distance itself from Bhide, with a rider. Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis, who holds the Home portfolio, assured that the government won’t tolerate insults to national icons, be it Gandhi or Savarkar. “Action will be taken against Congress mouthpiece Shidori for objectionable writings against V D Savarkar, and a case will be filed,” Fadnavis told the Assembly last week.
State BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule said: “Sambhaji Bhide is not in the BJP. So, where is the question of our support? But if the Congress uses Bhide’s remarks to attack the RSS-BJP, we have to remind them of how Rahul Gandhi had insulted Savarkar.”
Bhide, a former RSS activist known to pursue an independent path, has always elicited strong patronage from parties in Maharashtra, including Shiv Sena and NCP leaders, especially from western Maharashtra, because with an aggressive youth brigade at his command, he plays an important role in the local politics of Sangli, Satara and Pune districts.
Jayant Patil, the state chief of the NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) said, “Maharashtra is a progressive state where uncivilised remarks against Mahatma Gandhi are totally unacceptable. This state is founded on a progressive ideology and the teachings of Mahatma Jyotiba Phule and Dr B R Ambedkar.” Their alliance partner Shiv Sena (UBT) minced no words to slam state government for its inaction against Bhide.
Senior leader and Rajya Sabha MP of their alliance partner the Shiv Sena (UBT) XYZ, said, “It is evident that the ruling BJP wants to exploit these derogatory remarks to polarise society and create unrest to serve its own politics.” He wondered aloud, “What stopped them from cracking the whip on Bhide?”
Though upset with the developments, Cabinet minister Deepak Kesarkar of the Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde faction) admitted these remarks cannot be endorsed by his party. “I urge Sambhaji Bhide to restrict himself and his outfit to spreading the story of the life and work of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. He should avoid politics.”
The NCP faction led by Deputy CM Ajit Pawar also expressed its displeasure with the right wing leader’s conduct. Senior Cabinet minister Chhagan Bhujbal said, “Bhide’s remarks were atrocious and highly condemnable. Nobody in this country, irrespective of party and political lines, can ever justify this act. Even PM Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah will not endorse his remarks on Mahatma Gandhi, Jyotiba Phule or Gautam Buddha. Sadly, in the past too, he created controversies and got away.”
The BJP’s own leadership holds Bhide in high regard, addressing him as Bhide Guruji. Insiders in the BJP say, “He is strong-headed and independent. We don’t always endorse his comments on everything. But he has a following in some districts of western Maharashtra. He is passionate about Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and his son Sambhaji Maharaj. This hard Hindutva line helps our cause.”
The list of Bhide’s controversies is pretty long, and has often left the BJP red-faced in embarrassment. A few years ago, he suggested that if a married couple eats mangoes from his orchard, they would get a male child.
There are several incidents of his followers taking the law into their own hands, including back in 2008, when his outfit’s activists had ransacked cinema halls for screening the film Jodha Akbar, which they perceived as anti-Hindu.
Bhide has also espoused that the “bhagwa” or saffron flag of Hindutva is as important as the Indian tricolour. He was known to urge his followers not to celebrate August 15 as Independence Day, as it had led to the country’s Partition. Instead, he told followers to host the saffron flag on the day, along with a smaller Tricolour under it.
But in all these activities, his infamy was largely restricted to Maharashtra. It went national when on January 2, 2018, he and another right-wing hardliner Milind Ekbote, were named in an FIR for their alleged role in the violence at Bhima Koregaon, over an annual event organised by Dalits. However, then CM Devendra Fadnavis gave him a clean chit, saying, “There is no evidence to substantiate his role in the flare-up.”
