Sudha Murthy meets former RSS leader Sambhajirao Bhide, triggers controversy
Author and philanthropist Sudha Murthy met Shiv Pratishthan founder Sambhajirao Bhide in Maharashtra’s Sangli on Monday, according to agency reports.
Murthy, wife of Infosys founder Narayana Murthy and mother-in-law of British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, took the blessings of Bhide, who is a former Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leader and interacting with him.
Maharashtra | Author & philanthropist Sudha Murthy met and took blessings from Shiv Pratishthan founder Sambhajirao Bhide during an event in Sangli yesterday pic.twitter.com/VYm34y1MNI
— ANI (@ANI) November 8, 2022
Murthy is a well-known author who has contributed to English and Kannada literature. She has also been a chairperson of the Infosys Foundation and retired on December 31, 2021.
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Booked for Bhima Karegaon violence
In 2018, Bhide was one of the men who was booked for instigating violence in Bhima Koregaon on January 1 which left one person dead and several others injured, including 10 policemen.
The violence erupted after some people, reportedly with saffron flags, pelted stones at cars heading towards the village for the commemoration of the 200 years of the Bhima-Koregaon war on New Year’s Day.
Dalit leaders and workers at the village had alleged that Hindutva activists Milind Ekbote and Sambhaji Bhide had instigated the violence.
Controversial remarks
On November 2, Bhide had sparked a controversy when he asked a young female journalist to wear a bindi or else he would not give her a byte. He had come out after meeting Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and the journalist wanted to know what did they discuss.
Rather than answering her question, an irritated Bhide told her to sport a bindi. He compared an Indian woman to Bharat Mata and that she should not appear like a “widow” by not sporting a bindi. This had prompted Maharashtra State Women’s Commission chairperson Rupali Chakankar to issue a notice to Bhide seeking an explanation for his remarks.
In 2018, Bhide had faced criticism for his comments that couples were blessed with sons after eating mangoes from his orchard.
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AAP leader Preethi Sharma Menon said that Sudha Murthy has shown her true colours. “Trust she wore a bindi. When people like Sudha Murthy meet bigots like Bhide, they reveal their true colours,” the AAP leader said.
What Murthy’s aide says
However, an aide to Sudha Murthy said the author wasn’t aware who Bhide was and had bowed to him out of respect for a senior citizen.
Yojana Yadav, editorial head at Mehta Publishing House – which organized the Sangli event – claimed local police insisted that Bhide should be allowed to meet Sudha, despite not being invited to the event.
“Sudha Murthy had refused to meet anyone but Bhide’s supporters arrived at the event without any invitation. With the presence of a large number of Bhide’s supporters outside the auditorium, the local police came under pressure and requested us to let Bhide meet Murthy, who was then interacting with the readers,” Yadav told a news agency.
“The pressure was so much that a visibly annoyed Sudha Murthy had to discontinue her interaction with her readers and went out to meet Bhide. She was not aware of who Bhide was, so she asked me his age. She bowed before him out of respect accorded to elders,” she said.
“She later told me that Bhide wanted to speak to her for one-and-a-half hours but she told him that she did not have more than one-and-a-half-minute for him,” Yadav said.
Yadav also said that she later cautioned Murthy that the visual of that meeting with Bhide could be used for propaganda.
(With Agency inputs)
