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By:

Quaid Najmi

4 January 2025 at 3:26:24 pm

‘End defamation of Lohagad Fort’

Prominent mountaineering institute urges CM to take steps over digital defamation Mumbai: A prominent mountaineering institute has taken strong objection to the vilification of the historic Lohagad Fort in Pune – now a UNESCO World Heritage (2025) along with 12 Maratha forts – which shot into limelight last month for an alleged murder. Pune-based Akhil Maharashtra Giryarohan Mahasangh (AMGM) has shot off a memorandum to the Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis seeking an end to the ‘digital...

‘End defamation of Lohagad Fort’

Prominent mountaineering institute urges CM to take steps over digital defamation Mumbai: A prominent mountaineering institute has taken strong objection to the vilification of the historic Lohagad Fort in Pune – now a UNESCO World Heritage (2025) along with 12 Maratha forts – which shot into limelight last month for an alleged murder. Pune-based Akhil Maharashtra Giryarohan Mahasangh (AMGM) has shot off a memorandum to the Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis seeking an end to the ‘digital defamation’ of Lohagad Fort which stands as a symbol of valour of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. It has referred to the shocking alleged murder incident of June 18 of a Pune realtor Ketan Agarwal which was ostensibly masterminded by his fiancée Siya Goyal and her purported boyfriend Chetan Chaudhary, both arrested and currently under judicial custody. The gruesome incident has taken social media by a storm with a disturbing trend in which this 2000-year-old World Heritage Monument and the site of the alleged killing is now blatantly referred to as ‘Siya Point’. Disturbing Trend The AMGM claimed that besides the social media, it is reportedly ‘rechristened’ on certain digital mapping platforms, urging thrill-seekers to visit the site -- “which is a disturbing trend”. In the past few weeks, a commanding cliff in the Lohagad Fort has been repeatedly touted as ‘Siya Point’, sparking curiosity among the masses. However, the AMGM lamented that turning the site of a tragedy into a public attraction is deeply unfortunate and sets a dangerous precedent for other heritage monuments all over India by creating new macabre tourist landmarks. “Linking the identity of the historic fort to an isolated crime, assigning new names to locations within the fort, circulating memes, reels, jokes and sensational digital content, amounts to disrespecting both history and public sentiments. It must be immediately stopped,” an agitated AMGM President Umesh Zirpe told ‘The Perfect Voice’. Trekkers’ Pilgrimage In the presentation to the CM, the AMGM said that Lohagad Fort represents the history of Swarajya and is like a pilgrimage for trekkers, historians and lakhs of devotees of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. Zirpe, along with AMGM Executive Yadav and Secretary Dr. Rahul Warange raised another concern that has repeatedly drawn flak from various quarters – the rampant commercial exploitation of forts for pre-wedding shoots, fashion photography, music videos, reels by social media influencers or other promotional advertising, disregarding their historical significance, cultural sanctity or environmental sensitivity. They pointed out globally, there are prohibitions or stringent regulations on commercial filming and photography at such World Heritage Sites, and the same must be made applicable to monuments in India and Maharashtra. “While individual visitors/tourists should be allowed to click personal photos/videos, all other commercial activities must be curbed or regulated through a robust policy, mandatory prior permissions, adhering to a strict code of conduct and punitive measures against violators,” suggested the AMGM.

Clever seat selection helped BJP to secure historic win

The party won 65 seats against Congress, 37 against NCP (SP) and 29 against Shiv Sena (UBT)

Clever seat selection

Mumbai: The BJP’s strategic seat sharing with the allies has proved beneficial for the party. An analysis of the Assembly election results show that the BJP has scored over its main rival, the Congress, in a big way because of the direct fights.


The analysis shows that BJP defeated all three constituents of the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) – Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP) – in the direct fights. This is attributed as one of the reasons for the BJP’s historic poll success.


The BJP contested 147 out of 288 seats. In 76 constituencies, it faced Congress. BJP secured victory in 65 seats and lost only 11 seats, making it a whopping 86 per cent of the total direct fights. This was followed by an even stronger performance against NCP (SP). Of the total 39 fights with Sharad Pawar’s party, BJP captured 37 seats making it 95 per cent of the total fights with NCP (SP). BJP and Shiv Sena (UBT) were head-to-head in 32 constituencies, of which BJP emerged victorious in 29 seats, making this 91 per cent of the total direct contests.


According to a BJP strategist the party had bargained hard with its allies, Shiv Sena and NCP to get the desired constituencies in the seat sharing formula. “We had studied to potential candidates of the MVA. That helped us in choosing the seats where we can register comfortable victories,” the strategist said.


BJP spokesperson Niranjan Shetty attributed the success to all the party workers who worked hard to boost development, infrastructure in the state. He gave credit to Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for his contribution to the party’s success.


Shetty pointed out that in 2019, Uddhav Thackeray had stalled all the “novel” and “legendary” projects that Fadnavis had started when he had taken over as CM, making it very easy for the people of Maharashtra to strike a comparison between both the leaders and the potential they had for serving the people. “Devendra Fadnavis gave up his post very easily for the larger good. There are many such examples like Venkaiah Naidu who was BJP National President and later worked as the Vice President of India because that was the need of the hour. We seldom care about our posts,” Shetty told The Perfect Voice.


Congress spokesperson Atul Londhe refused to call the election results as the people’s mandate. “This is not at all a Janata mandate. Despite Maharashtra struggling with so many basic social issues, how can BJP acquire such a huge mandate is the question. If a student copies and fails with just passing marks, it can go unnoticed, but if a student copies and bags the number one position, something is fishy. Why is the BJP scared of ballot papers?” he said.

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