3 min readPuneMay 7, 2026 10:56 PM IST
Posters and banners across Pune city have hailed Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis as the “Architect of New Pune”, but in the same city, crimes against women have sharply increased, said MPCC chief Harshwardhan Sapkal on Friday.
“In just three months, from January to March, 700 cases of sexual exploitation were reported, with one rape occurring every day. Drugs are being sold openly, sickle gangs are creating terror, and criminal interference in the Gultekdi Market Yard has risen. Are these developments also part of Devendra Fadnavis’s ‘architecture’?” Sapkal said.
Sapkal was speaking at a ceremony organised at Constitution Square in Wanowrie to inaugurate a 45-metre flagpole conceptualised by Congress corporator Prashant Jagtap from Pune Municipal Corporation. A Congress workers’ interaction meet was also held on the occasion.
Sapkal attended the event and interacted with party workers on the Congress party’s contribution towards honouring the national tricolour and other issues. The programme began with tributes being paid to the four-year-old victim from Nasrapur, Pune, and other victims of crimes against women and children.
Sapkal also criticised the proposed 54-kilometre underground road project in Pune worth Rs 34,000 crore, alleging massive corruption in it. He said no public hearing was conducted before announcing the project and elected corporators were not consulted. According to him, the project would only deepen corruption in Pune and people must raise their voices against it.
The US is also dictating that India should not purchase crude oil from Russia, while Narendra Modi has remained silent because he has “surrendered”, Sapkal alleged.
Speaking about the national flag, Sapkal said thousands of people took bullets to their chests for the Tricolour and never allowed it to be insulted.
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He explained that the saffron colour in the flag symbolises sacrifice, white symbolises truth and light, green represents prosperity and fertility, while the Ashoka Chakra signifies progress and dynamism. He alleged that the BJP and the RSS were trying to distort the meaning and spirit of these three colours.
Sapkal claimed the RSS opposed the Tricolour and did not hoist it at its offices for nearly 50–55 years after Independence. He said people must stand up against such tendencies. “Our fight is between the black caps opposing the Tricolour and the ideology of Manusmriti opposing the Constitution,” he said.
