Sudha Murthy bowing before right wing leader, sparks row | Watch viral video

Sudha Murthy, wife of Infosys co-founder Narayan Murthy was seen touching the feet of Sambhaji Bhide in the video. Bhide was also served a notice by the State Women’s Commission for refusing to talk to a woman journalist because she had no ‘bindi’ on her forehead.

As per PTI reports, Bhide had asked the woman journalist to apply ‘bindi’ on her forehead before having a conversation with him and not to be ‘like a widow’ by not applying it on the centre of the forehead.

The video went viral from western Maharashtra’s Sangli, where where Sudha Murthy was on Monday to interact with her readers at a promotional event of her books, many of which have been translated into Marathi.

Take a look at the video below:

This video has started arguments between the two sides, Murthy and Maharashtra’s right-wing outfit. A functionary of Bhide’s Shiv Pratishthan outfit said his leader met Sudha Murthy for help in the installation of a golden throne at Raigad fort, the erstwhile capital of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, PTI reported.

However, an aide to Sudha Murthy, mother-in-law of UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, clarified that the author wasn’t aware who Bhide was and had bowed to him out of respect for a senior citizen.

Yojana Yadav, editorial head at Mehta Publishing House – which organized the Sangli event – claimed local police insisted that Bhide should be allowed to meet Sudha, despite not being invited to the event.

Speaking to PTI about the video, Yadav said, “Sudha Murthy had refused to meet anyone but Bhide’s supporters arrived at the event without any invitation. With the presence of a large number of Bhide’s supporters outside the auditorium, the local police came under pressure and requested us to let Bhide meet Murthy, who was then interacting with the readers.”

“The pressure was so much that a visibly annoyed Sudha Murthy had to discontinue her interaction with her readers and went out to meet Bhide. She was not aware of who Bhide was, so she asked me his age. She bowed before him out of respect accorded to elders,” she added.

“She later told me that Bhide wanted to speak to her for one and a half hours but she told him that she did not have more than one and a half minutes for him,” Yadav further said.

She also said that she later cautioned Sudha Murthy that the visual of that meeting with Bhide could be used for propaganda.

Reacting to the meeting, Aam Aadmi Party national executive member Preeti Sharma Menon tweeted, “Trust she wore a bindi. When people like Sudha Murthy meet bigots like Bhide, they reveal their true colors.”

Social activist Vishwambhar Choudhari tweeted,” There is something messed up with us, or else Sudha Murthy would not have buckled under pressure to meet Bhide, leave aside touching his feet.”

(With PTI inputs)