PM Modi in Maharashtra on June 14, to inaugurate Saint Tukaram temple in Dehu near Pune

Security heightened in Pune ahead of the visit; PM to be presented with special Tukaram pagadi

@the_news_21

Mumbai: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be on a day-long official visit to Pune and Mumbai on June 14, where he will be inaugurating a temple dedicated to the 17^th century Bhakti poet-saint Tukaram at the latter’s birthplace in Dehu near Pune. 

In his second visit to Pune in three months, the Prime Minister will inaugurate the ‘Jagatguru Shri Sant Tukaram Shila (rock) Mandir’ on Tuesday. A shila temple was built after the death of Tukaram, who was famous for devotional poetry known as abhangas and community-oriented worship through spiritual songs known as kirtans.  

While the rock structure was not formally structured as a temple, the mandir has been rebuilt in stone masonry with 36 peaks, with an idol of Sant Tukaram in it. The site for centuries has been the starting point of the Wari – the annual pilgrimage to the shrine of Lord Vithoba in Pandharpur made by devotees (warkaris) carrying palanquins bearing the footprints of the Bhakti saints Dnyaneshwar (from Alandi) and Tukaram (from Dehu). 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be presented with a special memento on the occasion in the form of a ‘designer’ Tukaram pagadi (headgear) and uparne (shawl).  

The white-coloured Tukaram pagadi, made of silk cloth, has all the trappings of Warkari heritage and has been created by Pune’s renowned Murudkar Zendewale and Phetewale, known for making traditional turbans and flags. The headgear will also have a couplet of Tukaram’s abhang inscribed on it. 

Security has been heightened ahead of the Prime Minister’s visit with a strong security shield to be in place on Tuesday.  The temple trustees disclosed that the entry of devotees into the Sant Tukaram temple has been allowed in a restricted manner on Sunday and Monday while it will be prohibited on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Modi had earlier visited Pune city on March 6 this year to inaugurate the Pune Metro and a slew of other projects. Following his function in Dehu, the Prime Minister is to inaugurate the Jal Bhushan Building (the official residence of the Maharashtra Governor since 1885) and the ‘Gallery of Revolutionaries’ at the Raj Bhawan in Mumbai.  

The gallery has been developed in the bunker (that was discovered in the Raj Bhawan premises in 2016) as a one-of-a-kind museum to commemorate the contributions of the State’s freedom fighters and revolutionaries like Vasudev Balwant Phadke, the Chaphekar brothers, Savarkar brothers and Madam Bhikaji Cama among others. He will also be participating in a bicentennial function of the Mumbai Samachar newspaper at Mumbai’s Bandra Kurla Complex later in the evening.