Days after the right-wing activist from Maharashtra Sambhaji Bhide allegedly claimed that a number of couples were ‘blessed with sons’ after eating mangoes from his orchard, the Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC) has sent him a notice asking him to name those ‘childless couples’ and also provide their addresses, a PTI report said.
The corporation had sent him a show cause notice last week in this regard and asked him to prove that mangoes from his orchard helped those ‘childless’ couples have boys.
The man, an accused in the January 1 Bhima-Koregaon caste violence case and head of Shiv Pratishthan Hindustan, was quoted as saying by The Indian Express, “I have never shared this with anyone except my mother. I have planted these mango trees on my farms. Till now, 180 childless couples took the fruit from me and 150 of them have had children.”
While assuring childless couples that mangoes from his orchard would work wonders for them, he reportedly said,“If a couple wants a male child they will have it after eating these mangoes. This mango is useful for those facing infertility.”
Bhide had made this statement while addressing a public rally earlier this month. The rally was a part of his mission to reinstate the golden throne at Raigad, which once upon a time used to be the capital of Maratha king Chhatrapati Shivaji.
He also gave a number of references from the Ramayana and Mahabharata and also sit out at present political and social system. Some people who were intrigued by his ‘mangoes’ comments, took to social media to troll him.
The commission has sent him the notice after a man approached the health authorities rebutting his claim, a civic official has said.