The cultural tour that mobilises the youth, organised by the Shri Shivpratishthan is called the organisation’s Hindusthan’s Dharatirth Yatra (between January 23-26); organised as a religio-politcal-cultural tour, this year’s expedition to various historical forts will proceed from Fort Lohagad to Bhimgad (Bhivgad), via the Rajmachigad route near Kolhapur. Claiming that the objective of this trip is to shape the values of “youth with the ideals of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj, the web portal of the organisation has listed requirements of food supplies sufficient for 8-10 days, two water containers, thin sleeping mat and sheet and a fee of Rs 50 per head. “Everyone must wear regular attire along with a white cap in Indian style, and must carry a wooden staff reaching up to ear height. On the concluding day, i.e. 26 January, it is compulsory for every participant to tie a ‘Bhagwa Pheta’ (saffron turban).” Besides physical fitness is important: “As part of advance preparation, every participant should immediately begin regular exercises such as running, dand-baithak (push-ups and squats), Surya Namaskar, and should also start regular reading of the text ‘Raja Shri Shivchhatrapati”.
Who is Shambhaji Bhide?
A former active member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Bhide formed the SPH in the mid-1980s and has developed some following among hardliners in west Maharashtra’s Sangli, Satara, Kolhapur and Belgaum districts.
Interestingly, Bhide and another right-wing hardliner by the name of Milind Ekbote were named in an FIR in January 2018 for their alleged role in the violence in Bhima Koregaon, near Pune. The violence erupted during an annual event that Dalits organise to commemorate the Battle of Bhima Koregaon. Thanks to the active involvement of then then dominant political leadership under Devednra Fadnavis, in 2022, the criminal case against hm was dropped for “lack of evidence.”
There have been previous occasions when Bhide was also accused of indulging in violence. In 2008, reportedly, members of his outfit ransacked cinema halls for screening the film Jodha Akbar, which they had labelled “anti-Hindu” (Indian Express). The following year, members of his outfit were linked to the riots in Miraj in Sangli that started over the erection of an arc depicting Shivaji killing the Adilshahi commander Afzal Khan. In 2017, an FIR was lodged against Bhide and activists for allegedly obstructing a procession in Pune. In the Miraj case, police later arrested a local NCP leader for masterminding the riots. The cases related to the protest against Jodha Akbar were dropped by the government. Some years ago, Bhide invited sharp criticism for claiming that if a married couple eats mangoes from his orchard, they would be blessed with a male child. The comments led to a series of PILs and police complaints being filed against the Hindutva activist.
In a brazen instance of hate speech reported by the India Today group’s Mumbai Tak, Bhide had on June 7, 2023, exhorted “Hindus” to hack Muslim men who engage in love jihad, i.e. who fall in love with Hindu women. The controversial video is available online here.
In August 2025, several followers of Bhide, inspired by his brand of vitriol reportedly were responsible for the mob lynching of 20-year-old Suleman Pathan in a village near Jamner town of Maharashtra’s Jalgaon district. The incident had occurred on August 11, when Pathan was sitting in a café with a Hindu girl in Jamner town. Incensed, a mob of Hindu men dragged him out, assaulted him, kidnapped him and assaulted him at various spots en route to his village Betawad Khurd, where his family too was assaulted by the mob. Pathan died soon after.
This is one example of the posters and Instagram visual of his organisation’s page.
The Wire found a total of 53 different accounts in the name of Bhide’s Shiv Pratisthan Hindustan on Instagram and other social media platforms. Its growing popularity has meant that there are now separate accounts for the outfit’s local branches – small Maharashtra towns like Jamner, Baamni, Mulshi, Talegaon, Ratnagiri, Shirpur, Ghodoli, Karad, Kasarwadi and Bhiwapur have active Shiv Pratisthan Instagram pages, apart from pages representing bigger cities like Mumbai and Pune.
These pages use content which is strongly provocative, exhorting young Hindus to arm themselves in defence of their faith and ‘any incursions’ from outsiders. This can be interpreted differently and with mal-intent. The Shiv Prathisthan’s Jamner unit page has over 8,000 followers already, a sizeable number for a small outfit in a town which has just over 46,000 people residing, according to the 2011 Census.
It is not coincidental that the outfit and its members live on the margin of the law, benefitting from an administration that benefits from its crude and divisive mobilisation. For example, soon after Pathan’s lynching, the outfit organised a silent morcha against love jihad, with many holding placards and banners decrying such inter-faith relationships. It has even put up posts abusing Pathan as a balatkari (rapist) and jihadi and sought to defend his lynching.
This year as this effort at ‘igniting’ and ‘mobilising’ youth has the potential also of leaving a trail of divisive polarisation behind.
Related:
Tushar Gandhi lodges police complaint against Sambhaji Bhide over insults to Mahatma Gandhi
HC directs police to file report on Sambhaji Bhide’s role in violence: Bhima-Koregaon Case
Sambhaji Bhide was recommended for Padma Sri by Maharashtra Government!