Sambhaji Bhide booked for remarks on Mahatma Gandhi

Congress party members protest against Bhide’s remarks on Mahatma Gandhi

The police in Maharashtra's Amravati district on Saturday registered a case against right-wing activist Sambhaji Bhide for his alleged derogatory remarks on Mahatma Gandhi, a day after the Congress raised the matter in the assembly, an official said.

The Rajapeth police have registered the case against Bhide under Indian Penal Code section 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony), the official said. Congress workers held a protest in Amravati demanding that the sedition charge be also invoked against Bhide, while demonstrators tore the Hindutva leader's banners in Yavatmal.

The Congress has accused Bhide, the founder of Shri Shiv Pratishthan Hindustan outfit, of making offensive remarks about the Father of the Nation in his speech during a programme at Bharat Mangal Hall in Badnera Road area in Amravati district on Thursday. It had prompted Congress state secretary Nandkishore Kuyate to file a complaint against Bhide at Rajapeth police station here, demanding that a case be registered against him.

On Friday, Maharashtra Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Balasaheb Thorat demanded strict action against Bhide, terming his comments shameful. "Sambhaji Bhide has a twisted mindset. His comments about the Father of the Nation have disturbed the country. He repeatedly makes controversial comments and it needs to be found out who is backing him for political interests. We want strict action against him," said the former minister.

Without taking names, he claimed that a machinery was working to finish off progressive ideology. Thorat's colleague and former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan sought Bhide's arrest. "If such a person is making a defamatory statement regarding Mahatma Gandhi, then he has no right to roam (freely) in the state," Chavan said in the assembly.

Meanwhile, Congress workers led by party MLA Yashomati Thakur and former minister Sunil Deshmukh protested at Rajkamal Square in Amravati city on Saturday. Thakur demanded that the sedition charge be also invoked against Bhide and he is arrested. Workers of Congress and a few Ambedkarite organisations staged protests in Yavatmal city and tore banners of Bhide, who was there to deliver a lecture and take part in other programmes. In the past too, Bhide has drawn flak for his controversial comments.

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