Hindutva hardliners charged with inciting row
PUNE: The two men booked for violence that brought Pune, Mumbai and other parts of Maharashtra to a standstill fancy themselves as protectors of cows, Hindutva, and Maratha pride.
Sambhaji Bhide, a gold medallist in physics, and Milind Ekbote were booked for the violence that left one dead and angered Dalits.
Violence broke out at Koregaon Bhima, 40km from Pune, where hundreds of thousands of people, most of them Dalits, had gathered to mark the anniversary of an 1818 war between the British and Peshwa Bajirao II.
Many Dalit leaders believe the war was won by the British with the help of Dalit soldiers who defeated a large army of Peshwa, who allegedly instituted oppressive caste practices. Despite security, some groups waving saffron flags allegedly pelted stones at the gathering and it degenerated into a riot. Bhide and Ekbote were booked for stirring trouble.
Ekbote, a former corporator who unsuccessfully contested the 2014 assembly election on a Shiv Sena ticket, refuted the charge, saying few organisations were trying to shift the blame to Hindutva outfits. “We condemned the violence at Koregaon Bhima. Me or my organisation has never discriminated between Dalits and non-Dalits,” he said.
Bharipa Bahujan Samaj leader Prakash Ambedkar accused Ekbote and Bhide of instigating violence by visiting Vadu village.
Tension gripped Vadu, 3km from Koregaon Bhima, last week after 49 people were booked for allegedly vandalising a nameplate at the tomb of Govind Mahar Gaikwad. A Dalit farmer, Gaikwad had defied Aurangzeb to arrange the final rites on Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj, who was murdered by soldiers of the Mughal Emperor.
Ekbote, a known hardliner, and his followers are often in news for cow vigilantism in Pune and neighbouring districts. The 60-year-old has 12 cases against him, with most pertaining to promoting enmity between various groups. He and his Hindu Ekta Aghadi members regularly intercept vehicles carrying cows and have got police complaints filed against those trafficking animals for slaughter.
Two days before the Koregaon Bhima anniversary, Ekbote had addressed a press conference here and spoken against a Dalit event planned at Shaniwarwada area of the city on December 31 to commemorate the battle.
Bhide is a former RSS worker and came of his own in the late 1980s when he launched Shiv Pratisthan after falling out with the BJP’s ideological parent. He formed the Shiv Pratisthan and considers an ardent follower of of Maratha warrior king Chhatrapati Shivaji and every year takes youngsters for a tour of Maratha forts across the state.
Bhide, who considers himself a keeper of Maratha pride, faced a police case for tearing off posters of Jodhaa Akbar for alleged controversial references in the film.
Sangli and adjoining towns had observed a complete shutdown when Bhide was hurt during a cane charge in February 2008 after he and his workers stopped the screening of the film.
He was in the news during 2014 when PM Narendra Modi visited the Raigad fort on his invitation.
Bhide hails from Satara. He taught in a college for a few years before he moved to Sangli in 1975 and became an RSS pracharak. Though he gave up his RSS membership, he continues to be a staunch Hindutva activist.