| Anand Dighe | |
| Honorific Prefix: | Dharmaveer |
| Birth Name: | Anand Chintamani Dighe |
| Birth Date: | 27 January 1951 |
| Birth Place: | Apta, Colaba, Bombay State, India |
| Death Date: | [1] |
| Death Place: | Thane, Maharashtra, India |
| Nickname: | Dharmaveer Anand Dighe Saheb |
| Occupation: | Politician and social worker |
| Party: | Shiv Sena |
| Office1: | Thane Unit Chief of Shiv Sena |
| Term1: | 1984 - 2001 |
| Predecessor1: | M.D. Joshi |
| Successor1: | Eknath Shinde |
| Citizenship: | Indian |
Anand Dighe (27 January 1951- 26 August 2001), popularly known as Dharmaveer, was an Indian politician and social worker. He was a senior leader and Thane district unit chief of Shiv Sena.[2] [3] [4] He mentored many young politicians from the Thane region including Rajan Vichare, Eknath Shinde and Ravindra Phatak.
Dighe joined politics at young age. He became President of Shivsena's Thane Unit in 1984.[5] Dighe was a grassroot leader with a large fan base.[6] He was popularly known as Dharmaveer.[7] He was considered a powerful muscleman in Thane.[8] He would hold a daily Durbar at his Tembhi Naka residence to hear out/resolve issues faced by Thane citizens along with Shiv Sena party workers.[9]
In 1987 before demolition of Babri Masjid Anand Dighe decided to donate a brick for Ayodhya's Ram Mandir. For this Dighe requested to donate possible silver jewellery instead of money from Thane's every household.He succeeded in this and got 1.25 kg of Silver.Dighe made a brick from this.In presence of large crowd this brick was sent to Ayodhya. This activity was done to engage people in the work of Ram Mandir. It said that this was the first brick for Ram Mandir donated by people.
Dighe was accused in the murder of Shiv Sena party member Sridhar Khopkar, who had allegedly voted for Congress in 1989. Dighe was arrested under TADA and was out on bail.[10] The case continued until his death.
Dighe was admitted in August 2001 after a car accident. He suffered from minor injuries on his leg. During his treatment, hospital management announced that Dighe died of a heart attack. His followers believed that he died because of medical negligence and as a result, his followers burned the Sunitadevi Singhania Hospital in Thane where he died. Few followers believed that he was killed due to his popularity.[11] There are many conspiracy theories related to Anand Dighe's death.[12] [13]
In 2019 Narayan Rane said “what really happened to Anand Dighe. How the conspiracy was planned and how the death was shown as having happened in the hospital later.” The senior Rane, once a Sena leader who defected to the Congress in 2005 and later joined the BJP in 2019, disowned the statements by Nilesh Rane “I will not support something wrong. Dighe did not die because someone killed him. I was the last person to meet Dighe then, and he passed away a few seconds after I left. His condition was very serious when I went there. The Doctors were trying hard. I went outside and called Balasaheb (late Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray) and asked him to do something and send Dr Nitu Mandke (a renowned cardiologist)... Nitu Mandke spoke to me, but before he reached, Dighe passed away,” Narayan Rane said adding that allegations of foul play held no water.[14]
Dharmaveer biopic was based on Anand Dighe's life. In this biopic Anand Dighe's role is performed by actor Prasad Oak.[15]