Sambhaji Bhide is a

Hindutva Hindutva () is the predominant form of Hindu nationalism in India. The term was formulated as a political ideology by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar in 1923. It is used by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), the ...

activist from

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

. Bhide, a native of

Sangli district Sangli district (Marathi pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, aːŋɡli is a Districts of Maharashtra, district of Maharashtra state in India. Sangli city is the district headquarters. It is bordered by Satara district, Solapur district to the ...

, was a full-time worker for the Hindu-nationalist organisation, the

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh ( ; , , ) is an Indian right-wing, Hindu nationalist, paramilitary volunteer organisation. The RSS is the progenitor and leader of a large body of organisations called the Sangh Parivar (Hindi for "Sangh family" ...

, before leaving to form his own organisation, the Shiv Pratishthan Hindustan, in the late 1980s. The organisation claimed to spread the teachings of

Shivaji Shivaji Bhonsale I (; 19 February 1630 – 3 April 1680), also referred to as Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, was an Indian ruler and a member of the Bhonsle Maratha clan. Shivaji carved out his own independent kingdom from the declining Adils ...

and his son

Sambhaji Sambhaji Bhosale (14 May 1657 – 11 March 1689) was the second Chhatrapati of the Maratha Empire, ruling from 1681 to 1689. He was the eldest son of Shivaji, the founder of the Maratha Empire. Sambhaji's rule was largely shaped by the ongoing ...

. He has a number of followers in

Sangli Sangli () is a city and the district headquarters of Sangli District in the state of Maharashtra, in western India. It is known as the Turmeric City of Maharashtra due to its production and trade of the spice. Sangli is situated on the banks o ...

Kolhapur Kolhapur () is a city on the banks of the Panchganga River in the southern part of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the administrative headquarter of the Kolhapur district. In, around 2 C.E. Kolapur's name was 'Kuntal'. Kolhapur is kn ...

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million ...

Belgaum Belgaum (ISO 15919, ISO: ''Bēḷagāma''; also Belgaon and officially known as Belagavi) is a city in the Indian state of Karnataka located in its northern part along the Western Ghats. It is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous ...

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

and Satara. He was described in a 2018 media report as being close to Indian Prime Minister

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament from ...

. In 2008, his followers ransacked movie halls showing the film,

Jodhaa Akbar ''Jodhaa Akbar'' is a 2008 Indian Hindi-language historical drama, epic historical romantic drama film directed by Ashutosh Gowariker. It stars Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in the titular roles. Set in the 16th centu ...

; Bhide was arrested for his role in the unrest.

Bhima Koregaon violence

On 2 January 2018, a

First Information Report __NOTOC__ A first information report (FIR) is a document prepared by police organisations in Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asian countries including Myanmar, India, Bangladesh and Pakistan when they receive information about the commissio ...

was filed against him and

Milind Ekbote Milind Ekbote is a resident of Shivaji Nagar, Pune. He is the president of Dharmaveer Sambhaji Maharaj Pratishthan and Samasta Hindu Aghadi (SHA), and the founder of Shiv Pratap Bhoomi Mukti Andolan. Members of his organisation, SHA, have been ...

for inciting the 1 January 2018 violence on Dalits in Bhima Koregaon. Bhide claimed that the roots of the violence lay in the Elgar Parishad of 31 December 2017. He demanded that leaders such as

Prakash Ambedkar Prakash Yashwant Ambedkar (IAST: Prakāśa Yaśavanta Āmbēḍakar) (born 10 May 1954), popularly known as Balasaheb Ambedkar, is an Indian politician, social activist, writer and lawyer. He is the president of political party called the Van ...

, who had spoken at the event be arrested. In August 2018, a petition was filed before the

Bombay High Court The High Court of Bombay is the high court of the states of Maharashtra and Goa in India, and the union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. It is seated primarily at Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay), and is one of the ol ...

seeking Bhide's arrest for his role in the Bhima Koregaon violence. 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 Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud (born 11 November 1959) is an Indian judge who is appointed as the List of chief justices of India, 50th and current Chief Justice of India. He is a former chief justice of the Allahabad High Court and a former ju ...

dissenting.

References

External links

BBC report fact-checking Bhide's educational qualifications (in Marathi)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bhide, Sambhaji Living people Place of birth missing (living people) Savitribai Phule Pune University alumni Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh members Marathi people 1933 births