Sambhaji Bhide gets MSCW notice for 'no bindi' remark to female journalist

When approached by a female reporter, Sambhaji Bhide snubbed her and asked her to put a bindi on her forehead

Hindutva activist Sambhaji Bhide has yet again landed in a controversy when he refused to speak to a female television news reporter as she had not put a 'bindi' on her forehead.

Sambhaji Bhide, popularly known as Bhide Guruji, is the founder of Shree Shiv Pratisthan Hindustan, which aims to propagate the teachings of legendary Maratha warrior Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and his son Sambhaji Maharaj.

The incident took place on Wednesday when Sambhaji Bhide was in Mantralaya, the state secretariat in Mumbai, to meet Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.

When the female reporter approached him, Sambhaji Bhide snubbed her and asked her to put a bindi on her forehead.

"Every woman is like Bharat Mata and Bharat Mata is not widow….put a ‘bindi’, I will speak to you,” said the octogenarian.

The video clip has gone viral on social media platforms.

Late in the night, the Maharashtra State Commission for Women (MSCW) slapped a notice on Sambhaji Bhide.

“You refused to talk to a woman journalist because she did not put a bindi on her forehead. A woman is recognized by the quality of her work. Your statement is like bringing down the honor and social prestige of the woman,” MSCW Chairperson Rupali Chakankar said in the notice.

Sambhaji Bhide’s organisation is based in Sangli and he has several followers in the Western Maharashtra. He is a former RSS pracharak.

He has a PhD in Physics holds a gold medal in MSc, and works towards the conservation of forts.

It may be mentioned, during the run up to the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the then Gujarat Chief Minister and now Prime Minister Narendra Modi had met him.

It is not the first time that he has courted controversy — some time back he had claimed that couples were blessed with sons after eating mangoes from his farm.

Sambhaji Bhide’s name also figured during the Koregaon-Bhima incident.