Maharashtra recommends Bhima-Koregaon clash accused for Padma Shri
Mumbai: The right-wing leader from Sangli Manohar alias Sambhaji Bhide, an accused of inciting the Bhima-Koregaon violence, had been recommended for a Padma award by the BJP government in Maharashtra in 2016.
Bhide, 84, who is also known as Bhide Guruji, is a controversial figure. His name was in the First Information Report (FIR) with another right wing leader Milind Ekbote. They have been accused of inciting villagers, who attacked Dalit groups paying tributes to the Mahar regiment soldiers who they believe defeated the Peshwas.
A committee, comprising 10 senior ministers, had recommended Bhide’s name for the Padma Shri. Significantly, the recommendation had been made by the committee using its discretion, even though the government had not received any application for it.
Bhinde, a former RSS worker, also faces charges of instigating communal riots in Miraj-Sangli in Sangli district during Ganpati emersion, over an arch sporting a poster depicting the slaying of Afzal Khan. A demand was made for his arrest, but the then Congress-NCP government did not take any action against him. He was also in the news nationally when the organisation ransacked theatres to protest the Hindi movie Jodha-Akbar in 2008.
Bhide is founder of Shiv Pratishthan Hindustan, an outfit which has been active for the past three decades in spreading awareness about the life of Maratha warrior king Shivaji.
Prakash Ambedkar, grandson of Dr BR Ambedkar and a Dalit leader, criticised the government’s decision, terming it ‘intellectual bankruptcy’.
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