Controversial right wing leader Sambhaji Bhide slams PM Modi’s UN remark of India giving Buddha to the world and not war

Pune: Controversial leader of right wing outfit “Shiv Prathishtan Hindustan” Sambhaji Bhide alias “Bhide Guruji”, has once again stirred fresh controversy by objecting to the statement in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech at the 74th United Nations General Assembly in which the PM said that India had given the Buddha to the world and not wars.

Speaking at a function in Sangli here on Saturday, the controversial leader remarked that the teachings of the Buddha were of no use. Bhide Guruji argued that it was the ideals and principles of the Maratha warrior kings, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and his son, Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj, were required to keep peace in the world and not that of the Buddha.

Bhide Guruji further said “the Prime Minister says that India has given the Buddha to the world, that may be so, but the Buddha’s teachings are of no use now. The PM has spoken erroneously. The right code of conduct and behaviour (dharma neeti) were demonstrated by Shivaji and Sambhaji. But Maharashtra can rectify this error (in Prime Minister’s UN address) by perpetuating the tradition of “Shiv Jayanti”.

Bhide’s remarks dubbing the Buddha as “irrelevant” drew a storm of criticism from the opposition, as well as from pro-Maratha outfits like the Sambhaji Brigade. Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) president Balasaheb Thorat remarked “the Buddha has shown India and the world the path of peace, but while the PM talks about the Buddha at world forums, his ‘guru’ (Sambhaji Bhide) says something altogether different”.

Lambasting Bhide, NCP leader Jitendra Awhad said to understand the teachings of the Buddha, one first ought to have some “buddhi” (brains). Criticising Bhide, Sambhaji Brigade leader Santosh Shinde said that the Hindutva leader was deliberately attempting to sow discord between the Maratha and Dalit communities as the latter had embraced Buddhism.

This is not the first time that the controversial right wing leader has courted controversy. Bhide Guruji was booked for allegedly orchestrating the Bhima-Koregaon clashes of 2018. A long-time member of the Rastriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Bhide had left the organization to found his own Shiv Prathishthan Hindustan outfit in the 1980s. He has a formidable following in the Western Maharashtra sugar-belt districts of Sangli, Satara and Kolhapur.

It may be recalled that soon after the January 2, 2018, Bhima-Koregaon clashes the police had registered First Information Reports (FIRs) against Bhide Guruji and Milind Ekbote who heads the fringe outfit ‘Samasta Hindu Aghadi’ and Sambhaji Bhide ‘Guruji’, is the founder of the Sangli-based, right-wing ‘Shiv Pratishthan Hindustan’.

Earlier this month, Bhide yet again raised eyebrows with his remarks after the Vikram Lander of the Chandrayaan 2 mission crash landed on the surface of the moon minutes. He claimed that the 39th attempt by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to send a spacecraft to the moon was successful because it was launched on ‘Ekadashi’ day as per the Indian system of time.

In June last year, the radical Hindutva leader drew the ire of opposition parties and rationalist organizations with a bizarre claim that eating mangoes from his farm could cure impotency. Incidentally, both Prime Minister Modi and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis rank among Bhide Guruji’s biggest admirers, regarding him as an exemplar of simple living and an ‘inspirational teacher’. Modi had visited Bhide’s home in Sangli in 2014 to seek his blessings during the 2014 Lok Sabha poll campaign.