Sambhaji Bhide

Sambhaji Bhide is a Hindutva activist from Maharashtra. Bhide, a native of Sangli district, obtained a MSc degree in physics (Gold medalist) from Savitribai Phule Pune University, and worked for a period as a lecturer at Fergusson College in Pune. He left this position to become a full-time worker for the Hindu-nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, before leaving to form his own organisation, the Shiv Pratishthan Hindustan, in the late 1980s. The organisation aimed to spread the teachings of Shivaji and his son Sambhaji.[2]

He has a number of followers in Sangli, Kolhapur, Pune, Belgaum, Mumbai and Satara.[2] He was described in a 2018 media report as being close to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In 2008, his followers ransacked movie halls showing the film, Jodhaa Akbar;[3] Bhide was arrested for his role in the unrest.[2]

In June 2018, Bhide was reported as having said at a rally that eating the fruits of a mango tree from his orchard had helped couples conceive male children. An advisory committee under the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) (PCPNDT) Act asked the Nashik Municipal Corporation to file a court case against him.[4][5]

On 2 January 2018, a First Information Report was filed against him and Milind Ekbote for inciting the 1 January 2018 violence on Dalits in Bhima Koregaon.[6] Sambhajirao claimed that the roots of the violence lay in the Elgar Parishad of 31 December 2017. He demanded that leaders such as Prakash Ambedkar, who had spoken at the event be arrested.[7] In August 2018, a petition was filed before the Bombay High Court seeking his arrest for his role in the Bhima Koregaon violence.[6] Activists approached the Supreme Court of India to demand an independent probe as to why the Pune police had not arrested Bhide till date despite multi-city searches and the addition of UAPA provisions. This petition was dismissed by the three judge bench with Justice Dhananjaya Y. Chandrachud dissenting.[8]