Author and philanthropist Sudha Murthy is on the centre of an argument after a video of her apparently touching the toes of right-wing chief Sambhaji Bhide has gone viral. Sambhaji Bhide was in the news recently for refusing to talk to a journalist who was not sporting a bindi. For the incident, he was served a discover by the Maharashtra Women Commission. The video of Sudha Murthy, spouse of Infosys co-founder Narayan Murthy, is from Sangli the place the author was at a promotional occasion for her books. The video went viral with many marvelling on the courteous gesture of the mother-in-law of the UK’s new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

An aide to Sudha Murthy confirmed to PTI that Murthy didn’t know who Sambhaji Bhide was and bowed out of respect for a senior individual.

Row over Sambhaji Bhide and Sudha Murthy

An enormous controversy started after some accounts emerged claiming that Sudha Murthy was ‘pressurised’ to satisfy Sambhaji Bhide. A Facebook publish by Yojana Yadav, the editorial head of Mehta Publishing House, which organised the Sangli occasion went viral after the video surfaced. In her publish, Yojana Yadav claimed that Sudha Murthy met Sambhaji Bhide on the insistence of the police. Sambhaji Bhide and his supporters arrived on the occasion with none invitation. But the police requested Murthy to satisfy Bhide as a lot of supporters of the right-wing chief had been ready exterior the auditorium.

“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,” Yojana instructed PTI.

“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 minute for him,” Yadav mentioned including that she at the moment solely instructed Sudha Murthy that the assembly might be used later for propaganda.

In September this yr, Sudha Murthy was embroiled in an analogous controversy after she touched the toes of Promada Devi Wadiyar of Mysuru’s royal household.