Mumbai: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Maharashtra on June 14 for a one-day visit. He is expected to inaugurate the Sant Tukaram Maharaj Temple in Pune and open the Jal Bhushan building and Gallery of Revolutionaries at Raj Bhawan in Mumbai.
The gallery is a bunker, founded by former governor C Vidyasagar Rao in 2016. The British used this bunker as secret storage for arms and ammunition. It was renovated in 2019 and then a museum was developed to commemorate the contributions of freedom fighters and revolutionaries from Maharashtra.
The gallery offers tributes to the contributions of Vasudev Balwant Phadke, the Chapekar brothers, the Savarkar brothers, Madam Bhikaji Cama, VB Gogate, and the Naval Mutiny in 1946, among others.
The PM will inaugurate Sant Tukaram Maharaj Temple in Dehu, Pune at around 1.45pm. Sant Tukaram was a Warkari saint and poet, famously known for Abhanga devotional poetry and community-oriented worship through spiritual songs known as kirtans. He lived in Dehu. A Shila Mandir was built after his demise, but it was not formally structured like a temple. It has been rebuilt in stone masonry with 36 peaks and also carries an idol of Sant Tukaram.
He will also inaugurate the Jal Bhushan building, the office, and residence of the Governor of Maharashtra which has a history of nearly 200 years. The present building has undergone several modifications and renovations. President Ram Nath Kovind laid down the foundation stone for the new building in August 2019. The newly constructed building preserves the distinctive features of the old building.
Modi will also participate in the 200th-anniversary celebrations (Dwishatabdi Mahotsav) of ‘Mumbai Samachar’ for reaching the landmark of publishing for two centuries at Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) in the evening. The printing of this newspaper as a weekly was started on July 1, 1822, by Fardunjee Marzban. It was a weekly till 1832, a bi-weekly till 1855, and a daily since then. To commemorate this unique feat, Modi will also release a postal stamp on the occasion.