Few know that the dhoti-wearing, 84-year-old Sambhaji Bhide, booked by the Shikrapur police for incitement in the Koregaon Bhima violence on January 1, once held forth on complex physics.
'Professor' Bhide, a PhD in physics with a gold medal in MSc, relinquished this identity when he quit his job at Fergusson College in Pune in the 1980s to pursue his passion to mobilize youths to conserve Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's forts.
Bhide was reluctant to speak about his past when a TOI reporter met him at his residence in Sangli on Friday." Mazhi mahiti pahije asel tar pahile mazya mohimet sahabhagi vha," (If you want to know about me, join my movement to conserve the forts), he said. "If I am found guilty, then give me dehadand (death)," Bhide said, adding that he has not visited Koregaon Bhima in the last two and half years.
"Check the videos (of rioting). Allegations were also levelled against Bhagwan Shri Krishna that he stole a jewel. The allegation was proved wrong. History will repeat in my case too," he said. According to him, "The violence at Koregaon Bhima was triggered by power hungry people. One needs to look at the chain of events in the recent past." "First, the fire was lit in the name of farmers with an irrational demand for a complete loan waiver. Then there was a demand for reservation for Marathas. The demand made by Lingayats for a separate status is also a part of this strategy. Then, there was a demand that those who are now in power should quit. We should see where the shoe pinches. They are ready to do anything to get power. And these people are from all political parties," Bhide said.
His supporters say Bhide guruji cannot indulge in violence. They point out that the octogenarian leads a simple life and they can vouch for him as they have known him for 40 years. They marched in Sangli on Thursday to protest against the police move to book him. "He could have easily led a comfortable life in Pune. He was a gold medallist and a scholar," a supporter said.
Kiran Shaligram, a member of the governing body of Deccan Education Society that runs Fergusson College, confirmed that Bhide was a professor of physics at the college but said he would have to check records about his period of service. He lives in a small room in one corner of an apartment in anarrow lane behind a school in the old area of Sangli.
A separate staircase leads to his room. "He has been living here for the last 40 years. He uses an old bicycle to travel and walks barefoot. He has no belongings except books and the jute sacks he uses as a mattress and a towel as a pillow," his neighbour Vaishali Bapat told TOI. She added that he keeps the door to his room open. Malati Kulkarni, another neighbour, said he exercises every day even at his age and inspires youths to perform surya namaskars every morning.
(This article was originally published in The Times of India)
