Unveiling of Jawaharlal Darda’s bust postponed

 Media Coverage  |  23-04-2025

Tributes paid to Pope Francis in presence of CM Fadnavis, DyCM Shinde, speaker Narwekar

The unveiling of the bust of veteran freedom fighter, visionary statesman and founder-editor of Lokmat Media Group ‘Karmayogi’ Jawaharlal Darda alias Babuji, in front of Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), was postponed due to the national mourning declared following the passing away of Pope Francis, head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State. The square in front of BSE had already been named after Jawaharlal Darda.

The bust was scheduled to be unveiled at the hands of Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis in the august presence of deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde, speaker of State Legislative Assembly Adv Rahul Narwekar, former Union minister and NCP national working president Praful Patel, Maharashtra minister for skill development, employment, entrepreneurship and innovation Mangal Prabhat Lodha, minister for soil and water conservation Sanjay Rathod, tribal development minister Prof Dr Ashok Uike, Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee president Harshwardhan Sapkal, BMC municipal commissioner Bhushan Gagrani, additional chief secretary (home) Iqbal Singh Chahal, managing director of Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation Manojkumar Suryawanshi, joint commissioner of police (traffic) Anil Kumbhare and the additional commissioner of police, South Region, Dr Abhinav Deshmukh.

However, as the Central government declared a three-day national mourning following the demise of Pope Francis, the bust unveiling ceremony was postponed. An announcement in this regard was made by the chairman of editorial board of Lokmat Media Group and former member of Rajya Sabha Dr Vijay Darda.

He said, “All of us believe in religious harmony. The passing away of His Holiness Pope Francis is deeply saddening. Since the government has declared a national mourning for three days, today’s bust unveiling ceremony is being postponed.”

Dr Darda expressed regret for the inconvenience caused to the dignitaries. Following this, he appealed to everyone to observe a two-minute silence as a tribute to Pope Francis. Accordingly, a two-minute silence was observed by all attendees.

Present on the occasion were editor-in-chief of Lokmat Media Group and former Maharashtra minister Rajendra Darda, managing director of Lokmat Media Group Devendra Darda, joint managing director and editorial director Rishi Darda, BJP MP Anil Bonde, MLA Devyani Pharande, MLA Vikas Thakre, MLC Parinay Phuke, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and MLA Milind Narvekar, MLA Balasaheb Mangulkar, MLA Kisanrao Wankhede, former MLA Kapil Patil, former MLA Kirti Gandhi, Kishor Darda, former MLA Nilay Naik, former MLA Khwaja Baig, former MLA Dr Wajahat Mirza, former MLA Atul Shah, BJP spokesperson Asif Bhamla, Congress leaders Sandesh Singalkar, Atul Kotecha, chairman of Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council and Mumbai BJP treasurer Kirit Bhansali, renowned singer Roopkumar Rathod, managing director and CEO of BSE Sundararaman Ramamurthy, chief regulatory officer Kamala K, chief financial officer Deepak Goyal, head of HR and staff policy Vivek Jain, chief information officer Subhash Kelkar, president of Bharat Jain Mahamandal C C Dangi, Kantilal Kothari, Dalpat Raj Bhandari, Ashish Ramesh Jain, renowned architect Hafeez Contractor, orthopedic surgeon from Bombay Hospital Dr M L Saraf, Dr Sanjay Kapote, Dr Amrish Vaidya, CMD of Ahmedabad’s J P ISKCON Group Pravinbhai Kotak, Shyam Bhandari, World Trade Centre director of operations Aakruti Bagwe, Maharashtra Water Commission member Shwetali Thakare, secretary of Yavatmal’s Vidya Prasarak Mandal Prakash Chopda, vice president Dr Lalit Nimodiya, assistant commissioners of BMC Jaideep More and Shivdas Gurav, deputy commissioner of South Zone (Traffic) Pragya Zedge, Zone 1 DCP Amogh Gavkar, Azad Maidan ACP Prerna Katte, senior inspector of MRA Marg Police Station Santosh Dhanawate, Azad Maidan traffic in-charge inspector Prashant Nagtilak, traffic inspector Chandrakant Koli, MRA Marg police inspectors Hemant Bendale, Vasanti Jadhav, Adv & writer Dhanpal Solanki, former editor of Lokmat Madhukar Bhave, group editor of Lokmat Media Group Vijay Baviskar, editor of Lokmat (Mumbai) Atul Kulkarni, executive editor of Lokmat (Jalgaon) Kiran Agrawal.

babuji’s bust unveiling postponed

The unveiling of the bust of veteran freedom fighter, visionary statesman, journalist and founder-editor of the Lokmat Media Group ‘Karmayogi’ Jawaharlal Darda alias Babuji, in front of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), was postponed due to the national mourning declared following the death of the Supreme Pontiff of the Holy See, His Holiness Pope Francis. Dignitaries who were present for the event paid tribute to the departed soul. They included Chief Minister of Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis, Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Speaker of the Legislative Assembly Rahul Narwekar, former Union Minister Praful Patel, Maharashtra minister for skill development, employment, entrepreneurship and innovation Mangal Prabhat Lodha, minister for soil and water conservation Sanjay Rathod, tribal development minister Prof Dr Ashok Uike, Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee president Harshwardhan Sapkal, additional chief secretary, home department, Iqbal Singh Chahal, Municipal Commissioner of BMC Bhushan Gagrani, joint commissioner of police (Traffic) Anil Kumbhar, MLA Devyani Farande, chairman of editorial board of Lokmat Media Group and former Member of Rajya Sabha Dr Vijay Darda, editor-in-chief of Lokmat Media Group and former Maharashtra minister Rajendra Darda, managing director of Lokmat Media Group Devendra Darda, joint managing director and editorial director Rishi Darda and others.

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