New Delhi:

Maharashtra could join the list of states that have a law against forced conversions and “love jihad” with the state government setting up a panel to study the aspects that can be covered under a future legislation. The seven-member panel will be headed by the director general of police, the top cop in the state, and include officials from the women and child welfare, minority affairs, law and judiciary, social justice, special assistance and Home departments. 

“Love jihad” is a term used by some to allege a conspiracy by Muslim men to lure Hindu women to marry them and then convert them to Islam.

In a government resolution issued on Friday, the BJP-led government in Maharashtra said the committee will suggest steps to deal with complaints of forced conversions and “love jihad”, and study the laws of other states to recommend legislation to prevent such acts. 

Thanking Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Maharashtra minister and senior BJP leader Mangal Prabhat Lodha said the state government is taking steps to curb incidents of “love jihad”. 

“Love jihad is a serious issue, and the state government is working towards preventing such incidents. The committee established to address cases of love jihad will work for the protection of women and preservation of cultural values,” he was quoted as saying by news agency PTI. 

Mr Lodha also pointed out that when he was in charge of the Women and Child Development department under the previous government led by Eknath Shinde, he had set up the Interfaith Marriage Coordination Committee, which helped bring such incidents to light. 

“Shraddha Walkar was brutally murdered by Aftab Amin. Rupali Chandanshive was killed by Iqbal Sheikh. Poonam Kshirsagar was murdered by Nizam Khan. Yashashree Shinde from Uran was killed by Dawood Sheikh. Sonam Shukla from Malad lost her life at the hands of Shahjib Ansari,” he said. 

Lok Sabha MP and NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) Working President Supriya Sule, however, said the government should focus on tackling economic issues rather than love and marriage, which are personal choices. 

“If the economy is impacted, the entire country will suffer,” she said. 

Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat are among the states that already have laws to deal with cases of “love jihad”.

Last year, the Uttar Pradesh Assembly had passed the UP Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion (Amendment) Bill, 2024 with provisions for 20-year imprisonment or a life sentence if a person was converted under threat or a promise of marriage.  

Pune:

When pilots of the flight carrying ex-Maharashtra minister Tanaji Sawant’s son and his two friends to Bangkok were asked to return to Pune, they thought it to be a “hoax” message, but complied after verification from aviation authorities, an airline executive said on Wednesday.

The chartered flight, operated by a private firm, carrying Rishiraj Sawant (32) and his two friends returned to the Pune airport between 8 pm and 8.30 pm on Monday, abruptly cutting short a trip to the Thailand capital which was not disclosed to the Shiv Sena leader and his family.

The decision to divert the airborne plane to Pune was made only after due verification, insisted the executive of the company operating the airline.

In a dramatic turn of events, Rishiraj Sawant and his two friends, heading to Bangkok on what they later claimed was a “business trip”, were hurriedly brought back to Pune after police registered a kidnapping case following an anonymous call and intervention of his father Tanaji Sawant.

“When we received the first call (from family members) asking us to turnaround the flight, we did not believe it. We cannot believe these kinds of calls as they could be hoax. But after due verification from the Ministry of Civil Aviation and DGCA and knowing it pertained to a kidnapping case being probed by police, the decision to turnaround the flight was taken and it returned to Pune,” said the executive from the airline operator.

He said civil aviation regulator DGCA appreciated his company for the decision to recall the flight mid-way.

The executive maintained it was perhaps the first-of-its-kind instance in which a flight was recalled mid-way citing registration of a criminal case against a passenger.

“Such things happen only in case of some sort of emergency such as medical or technical emergency,” he said.

When the flight was asked to return to the Pune airport it was flying over Port Blair (Sri Vijaya Puram) in the UT of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and the trio was not informed about the diversion to avoid ruckus or arguments with the pilots and crew members, explained the executive.

“The screen in front of the passengers showing maps and navigation were already switched off, and they had no inkling their plane was returning to Pune without their knowledge. They were relaxing after having food.

“After touching down at the Pune International Airport, the passenger (Rushiraj) and the two others were surprised and angrily questioned the pilots. The pilot-in-command told them they were just following instructions,” he said.

“Once the flight touched down at the Pune airport, CISF personnel quickly went inside and escorted them out of the plane,” according to the executive.

The flight operator received a few calls from the DGCA and provided all necessary information, he said, adding “We explained everything to them and presented the SOPs that were followed.” It all began after the Pune police received an anonymous call at around 4 pm that Rishiraj Sawant was taken away by some unidentified persons on Monday.

Police swiftly registered a kidnapping case as panicked Tanaji Sawant rushed to the police commissioner’s office for help.

Investigations revealed Rishiraj Sawant, along with his two friends, had booked a chartered plane for Bangkok without informing his family, according to the police.

Rishiraj Sawant later told the police he kept his “business trip” to the Thailand capital secret to avoid his family’s wrath.

Meanwhile, local leaders of the opposition Shiv Sena (UBT) approached the Sinhgad Road police station, where the kidnapping offence was registered, and alleged former minister Tanaji Sawant misused the police machinery to bring his son back.

They questioned the police’s urgency in filing a kidnapping case after receiving a call from an anonymous person.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Nagpur:

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Saturday said his party will contest the upcoming elections to the various local bodies alone. Talking to reporters, the Rajya Sabha MP said the INDIA bloc and Maha Vikas Aghadi alliances were for the Lok Sabha and assembly polls.

“In an alliance, workers of individual parties don’t get opportunities, and it hampers organisational growth. We will contest polls to the Mumbai, Thane, Nagpur and other municipal corporations, zilla parishads and panchayats on our strength,” he said.

He said party chief Uddhav Thackeray gave the party indications that it should go alone.

Hitting out at Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar for indulging in a blame game over the MVA’s defeat in the state assembly, Raut said those who don’t believe in consensus and compromise have no right to be in an alliance.

He further claimed that the INDIA bloc did not hold a single meeting after the Lok Sabha elections.

“We were not able to appoint even a convenor for INDIA bloc. It isn’t good. As the largest party of the alliance, it was the Congress’s responsibility to convene a meeting,” the Sena (UBT) leader said.

Reacting to Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar’s remark that he has never mentioned farm loan waivers in his speeches, Raut said, “Even if he hasn’t spoken about it. Farm loan waiver and Rs 2,100 for Laadki Bahin beneficiaries are mentioned in the BJP’s poll manifesto. These two promises have to be implemented. He is the finance minister in the BJP government, and he will have to do it.” To a query on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remarks during his first podcast that he is human and can make mistakes, Raut said, “He (Modi) is god. I don’t consider him a human. God is god. If someone declares him an incarnation of god, how can he be a human? He is the 13th avatar of Vishnu. If someone who has been considered god says he is human, something is wrong. There is chemical ‘locha’.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Mumbai:

Even as his party continues to raise questions about the credibility of EVMs following its rout in last month’s Assembly elections, Uddhav Thackeray met Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in Nagpur on Tuesday for the first time after the polls and congratulated him.

Uddhav Thackeray’s son and senior Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader Aaditya Thackeray, who accompanied his father to the meeting, said the move was a step forward in working together for the interests of Maharashtra. 

“Our party chief Uddhav Thackeray met Chief Minister Fadnavis and Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar today. What we have done is a step forward… that both sides should show political maturity and work together in the interest of Maharashtra the country. We may be in the opposition and they may be in the ruling coalition, but we are all elected representatives of the people and they (the ruling parties) can also listen to us, which may lead to some good things happening,” the Worli MLA said in Hindi. 

Sources said the meeting – which took place in Mr Fadnavis’ chambers at the Vidhan Bhavan in Nagpur, where the winter session of the Assembly is on – was a courtesy one and Mr Thackeray congratulated Mr Fadnavis on the ruling coalition’s victory. 

Mr Thackeray, who led the united Shiv Sena at the time, was an ally of the BJP until 2019, when he walked out of the alliance following a disagreement over whether he or Mr Fadnavis should become the chief minister. In a shock move, he joined hands with the NCP and the Congress to assume the top post in Maharashtra.    

Mr Thackeray’s government, however, fell in 2022 after a senior leader from his party, Eknath Shinde, rebelled and sided with the BJP, taking most of the Shiv Sena MLAs with him. Mr Shinde then became the chief minister with Mr Fadnavis as his deputy. The alliance got another partner the folllowing year, when Ajit Pawar rebelled and formed a breakaway faction of the NCP. 

Mr Fadnavis and Mr Thackeray have been at loggerheads since the BJP and Shiv Sena parted ways and both have attacked each other several times, including over the version of ‘Hindutva’ practised by both of them. 

Rise And Fall

The coalition of Mr Thackeray’s Shiv Sena with the Congress and Sharad Pawar’s faction of the NCP pulled off a stupendous performance in the Lok Sabha polls, winning 30 of Maharashtra’s 48 Lok Sabha seats, but was routed in last month’s Assembly polls, winning just 46 of 288 constituencies while the BJP alone bagged 132. 

After the defeat, Mr Thackeray’s Shiv Sena, Mr Pawar’s NCP and the Congress have all claimed that the ruling coalition’s landslide victory was a result of EVMs being manipulated and also boycotted the swearing-in ceremony over this. The issue has also led to allegations and protests by the opposition in the Assembly. 

Mumbai:

Eleven key ministers from Maharashtra’s ruling alliance Mahayuti have been dropped from the brand new government headed by Devendra Fadnavis, giving rise to considerable disquiet among their supporters. Protests have broken out in pockets by supporters of some of the leaders – especially in Yeola by supporters of Chaggan Bhujbal.

Of the three constituents of the ruling alliance, Ajit Pawar’s faction of the Nationalist Congress Party have dropped the most – five of its key leaders, Chhagan Bhujbal, Dharmarao Baba Atram, Sanjay Bansode, Dilip Walse Patil and Anil Patil have been dropped. The corresponding number from the BJP and Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena are three each.

The BJP has dropped Ravindra Chavan, Sudhir Mungantiwar and Vijaykumar Gavit while the Sena has kept out Tanaji Sawant, Abdul Sattar and Deepak Kesarkar.

Chhagan Bhujbal has openly declared that he would not attend the assembly session any more and will return to Nashik, saying he has been disappointed. He also said he has been offered a Rajya Sabha seat but accepting it now will “not be fair” to the voters of Yeola.

The other big leader dropped, Sudhir Mungantiwar, has contradicted Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’s claim that he was dropped after a “long discussion”.

“We had a long discussion with Sudhir Mungantiwar on the expansion of the cabinet. If he does not get a ministerial berth, there is a possibility that he will be given some big responsibility by the party,” Mr Fadnavis had said.

Mr Mungantiwar refuted the claim, saying Devendra Fadnavis did not have a long discussion with him about the ministerial post. They spoke only spoke on the day of the expansion. Mr Fadnavis and state BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule had said that his name was on the list of ministers the day before the cabinet expansion, but it turned out otherwise, he added.

There are others who were apparently in the running for a cabinet berth but ended up empty-handed. The Sena especially is facing backlash, with one of its MLAs, Narendra Bhondekar, having already quit party posts.

Vijay Shivtare, the MLA from Purandar, said he was “not sad over ministership, but the treatment meted out”.

“The three leaders didn’t communicate properly. I will not take ministership even if given after 2.5 years,’ he told reporters, refering to the two-and-a-half-year formula for ministers who were inducted.

“Workers are not slaves. I am not needy, just the treatment was not good. Maharashtra is on the path of Bihar because we are not looking at regional balance but caste balance,” he added.

Prakash Surve, the MLA from Magathane, said he was the first MLA to join Mr Shinde after the rebellion.

“I am a simple man, achieved everything after a struggle and will continue to do so. Many who demanded (cabinet berths) are children of big names, I am not. Had to shift my family after I went with Shinde,” he said.

The murmurs of protest come amid Mr Bawankule’s assertion that there was no dispute over the allocation of cabinet portfolios. “There is no delay in allocating portfolios to the ministers. There is no dispute. I was also part of the talks and the matter stands finished. There is no dispute and it will be announced soon,” Mr Bawankule was quoted as saying by news agency IANS.

The new government has already promised audit of the new ministers. Mr Fadnavis, who made the announcement, said those from the Eknath Shinde cabinet not accommodated this time have been dropped because of their performance.

Twenty-Five new faces have found a place in the Cabinet — Chandrashekhar Bawankule, Ganesh Naik, Jaykumar Rawal, Pankaja Munde, Ashok Uike, Ashish Shelar, Dattatreya Bharne, Shivendraraje Bhosale, Manikrao Kokate, Jaykumar Gore, Narhari Jirwal, Sanjay Savkare, Sanjay Shirsat, Pratap Sarnaik, Bharat Gogavale, Makarand Patil, Nitesh Rane, Akash Fundkar, Babasaheb Patil, Prakash Abitkar, Madhuri Misal, Ashish Jaiswal, Pankaj Bhoyar, Meghna Bordikar, Indranil Naik.

Of the 39 ministers who took the oath, four women legislators have been inducted including Pankaja Munde, who had worked as the minister of woman and child welfare in the Devendra Fadnavis-led Cabinet between 2014 and 2019, Madhuri Misal and Meghana Bordikar (BJP) and Aditi Tatkare (NCP), who as the minister of woman and child welfare was involved in the implementation of the flagship Ladki Bahin Yojana ahead of the state assembly election.

Mumbai:

An MLA from Eknath Shinde’s faction of Shiv Sena, peeved at being denied a cabinet berth, has resigned from a party post. Narendra Bhondekar was the deputy leader of the Shiv Sena and party coordinator for Vidarbha, where the BJP-led ruling alliance Mahayuti  won 47 of 62 seats.

The MLA of Bhandara-Pavani Assembly Constituency, however, has not resigned from the assembly.

Mr Bhondekar — a three-time MLA of Shiv Sena – was promised a minister post. But he did not get a spot in the cabinet. He put in his papers today after his text messages to Eknath Shinde, senior leaders Uday Samant and Eknath Shinde’s son Shrikant Shinde drew no response. 

Uday Samant took oath as a minister in the new cabinet of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis today.

Mr Fadnavis today completed his cabinet expansion exercise as 39 MLAs took oath in Nagpur more than three weeks after the assembly election results were declared. 

Thirty-nine ministers took oath at a grand programme at the Raj Bhavan this evening. Nineteen of the ministers were from the BJP, eleven from the  Shiv Sena and nine from the NCP. Counting in Mr Fadnavis and his deputies, 42 berths are full now.  

The Sena’s list of ministers include Shambhuraj Desai, Dadaji Dagadu Bhuse, Sanjay Rathod, Uday Samant, Gulabrao Patil, and Sanjay Shirsat.

Besides Mr Bhondekar, PRI chief and Union minister Ramdas Athavale was also hopeful of getting a ministry for his party, which he he didn’t. He went public saying he’ll talk to Shah and Nadda because Fadnavis didn’t keep his word. 

Nationalist Congress Party’s  Chaggan Bhujbal, who didn’t find a spot in the cabinet either, was not present at the party gathering at Nagpur held before the oath ceremony. 

Deepak Kesarkar, Primary Education minister in Eknath Shinde’s government, did not go to the event. He told reporters that those who got a call went. 

At the Sai baba temple in Nagpur, he told reporters, “As an MLA I’ll have to attend the session, I’ll do that”. 

In the assembly election held earlier this year, the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance secured a landslide victory, winning 235 seats. The BJP emerged as the single largest party with 132 seats, while the Shiv Sena and the NCP scooped up 57 and 41 seats.

New Delhi:

Members of the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) on Sunday took oath as MLAs in the newly constituted Maharashtra assembly.

The opposition members had boycotted the oath-taking ceremony on Saturday, the first day of the special three-day session of the assembly, alleging misuse of EVMs in the recently-held state polls.

Congress’s Nana Patole, Vijay Wadettiwar and Amit Deshmukh, NCP (SP) leader Jitendra Awhad and Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Aaditya Thackeray were some of the prominent opposition MLAs who took oath as soon as the House reassembled for the day.

On Saturday, the opposition cited that it was also protesting against the curfew and arrests in Markadwadi village in the Malshiras assembly constituency in Solapur, where villagers sought a ‘repoll’ using ballot papers. 

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

The installation of Devendra Fadnavis as Chief Minister for the third time is set to change the politics of Maharashtra forever, with repercussions far beyond the state. Following an unprecedented victory in the Maharashtra assembly elections, the 54-year-old leader has signalled that he has finally arrived. Unlike many Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief ministers, Fadnavis is not faceless, and that is his strength. Like Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, Fadnavis has shown that he is a leader in his own right.

Fadnavis is the fourth Chief Minister from the Vidarbha region, following M. S. Kannamwar, Vasantrao Naik, and Sudhakarrao Naik. As Home Minister, Fadnavis may not have used a bulldozer, but he took a tough stance on issues like the Bheema-Koregaon case and ‘urban naxals’. He insists that the slogans “Batenge to Katenge” and “Ek Hai to Safe Hai” were calls of the hour, and there was no need to be apologetic about them.

With this victory, Fadnavis has placed himself among the foremost leaders in the BJP, alongside a select few. His rise has been supported by Prime Minister Narendra Modi since he emerged on the national stage. Fadnavis has always been grateful and loyal to his leader and shares his tact and patience.

Shiv Sena May Be The First Target

With Fadnavis firmly in control, observers believe that things will never be the same in one of India’s most industrial states. The first target on his list could be Uddhav Thackeray and his party, as Fadnavis might soon order the long-delayed elections to municipal corporations, including Greater Mumbai, to further weaken the Thackeray-led Shiv Sena. The old political principle of “strike while the iron is hot” seems to be in play.

There may have been many claims and counterclaims, both formally and informally, but everyone who matters in the Mahayuti, especially in the BJP, was convinced that the chief ministerial crown belonged to Fadnavis. It was a moment of reckoning for the leader from Nagpur, who has consistently faced attacks from the opposition, regardless of the provocation.

One of Fadnavis’s strengths as a leader is his ability to combine a soft face with hardline tactics and strategy. This approach has not only crushed his political opponents but also silenced detractors within his own party who either underestimated him or believed he could easily be marginalised because he is a Brahmin. While the Brahmin community may not be a dominant political force, it has traditionally done well in bureaucracy and other fields.

Will BJP Dominate Maharashtra?

Fadnavis is leading the state at a time when the opposition is either divided or has become faceless. He and his party succeeded in ensuring that Uddhav-led Shiv Sena’s Hindutva claims remained diminished as it allied with parties like the Congress and Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

These parties, along with Prakash Ambedkar’s Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) and Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), are in no position to challenge the BJP under Fadnavis, at least for now. Additionally, the Marathas, the dominant community in the state, have become ‘softer’ towards the BJP. The party has been accommodative and is no longer dominated by any single caste or group of castes, unlike the Congress, which used to be a party of Marathas, Dalits, and minorities.

The BJP is known for its “sahi disha, spasht niti” (correct direction, clear policy). Observers believe that it is inching closer towards becoming the most dominant political force in Maharashtra for years to come. The saffron sweep in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, and Uttar Pradesh in recent years has helped the party expand in Maharashtra.

The unexpected collapse of Congress in the traditional stronghold has made matters easier for the BJP, at least for now. Until Congress gets its house in order, regional parties, despite being weakened, remain the primary hurdle in the BJP’s expansion in Maharashtra.

Existential Threat To Many

Fadnavis’s re-emergence poses existential threats to Uddhav Thackeray, the NCP (Sharad Pawar), and the Congress. The BJP’s prime objective is to make Maharashtra “shat pratishat” (100%), meaning to expand and strengthen the party so that it no longer depends on allies and faces little resistance from its detractors.

The rise of Fadnavis comes at a time when Nitin Gadkari’s status within the party and the government appears to be declining. Gadkari, a former BJP President, played a pivotal role in bringing Fadnavis into politics. Fadnavis is a second-generation politician; his late father, Gangadhar, was an MLC during Sharad Pawar’s tenure in state politics.

Fadnavis’s rise has been meteoric. He began his political career in the mid-nineties. In 1992, at the age of 22, he became a corporator, and five years later, in 1997, he became the youngest Mayor of the Nagpur Municipal Corporation.

(Sunil Gatade is a former associate editor with PTI. Venkatesh Kesari was an assistant editor with The Asian Age.)

Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author

Mumbai:

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, in his first comments to the media after the oath ceremony and his first cabinet meeting this evening, expressed hope that the state would not see the kind of political turmoil it has seen over the last few years. The ruling alliance Mahayuti will provide a stable government for the next five years, he told reporters.

“From 2019 to mid-2022, we saw a lot of changes. We hope that there are no more similar shocks in the future,” he told reporters an indirect jibe at the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi.

The 54-year-old, who took oath for the top post for the third time today, also played down the two-week delay in the process of government formation, caused by resistance from Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena. The party wanted the top post for its chief, arguing that it was his government’s welfare measures that steered the ruling  alliance to victory. 

Mr Fadnavis recounted the changeable nature of posts, underscoring that it made no difference to their relationships. Earlier too, he has called the post a “technicality”.  

“In 2014 I was the Chief Minister and Shinde was with us. In 2019, for 72 hours, Ajit Dada and I were Chief Minister and deputy Chief Minister. After that, Shinde was the Chief Minister and Ajit Dada and I were Deputy Chief Ministers. Now I am the Chief Minister and they both are Deputy Chief Ministers,” he said. 

“Our roles have changed but the direction is the same, the pace is the same… You will not see anything different when you talk about the relation between the three of us,” he added. 

“This is a government of very fast decisions. Today on the occasion of the oath ceremony, I say the pace at which Maharashtra is going we will not stop,” he said, “We have to make sure that all the decisions are well-thought, made at the same pace”. 

Mumbai:
BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis will take oath as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra for the third time today. The event in Mumbai will also see Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde and NCP’s Ajit Pawar as Deputy Chief Ministers in the newly formed cabinet.

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