Pune citizens will hold a rally on Sunday in support of anti-noise activist Vidyanand Bapat, who was assaulted on Thursday while speaking to reporters on Tilak Road. The demonstration will call for a DJ-free Ganesh festival and is scheduled to begin at 11 am near the Jhansi Rani statue at Balgandharva Chowk before proceeding to the Pune Municipal Corporation headquarters.
The rally follows Bapat’s assault and comes as his campaign against noise pollution during the Ganesh festival and other public events gains wider public attention. Bapat has said he intends to participate in the march being organised in his support.
“If I am alive I will participate in the march on Sunday,” Bapat said, according to the report. The statement has intensified attention on the incident and on the circumstances surrounding the campaign against amplified sound during public celebrations.
Pune Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar has said the incident is being taken seriously and that strict action will be taken against those responsible. Security has been deployed outside Bapat’s home in Narayan Peth, while protection has also been extended to his parents and people supporting his campaign against noise pollution.
The police have reiterated that citizens have a constitutional right to express an opinion and that violence cannot be tolerated as a response to differences of opinion. The statement places the assault within a wider question of how disagreements over public events and noise regulations are handled in the city.
Bapat has also announced that his campaign will be expanded and given a more organised collective form. He said he would continue creating public awareness about noise pollution during the Ganesh festival and other public events. The campaign’s immediate public demand is for celebrations without DJ music and excessive noise.
Bapat has asked supporters to focus on the issue rather than on him personally. “I do not want to make my own personality bigger. The issues I have raised should move forward instead of me,” he said, while appealing to citizens to support the demand for noise-pollution-free celebrations rather than focusing on social media posts or videos about the activist.
The Sunday march is expected to take the campaign from Balgandharva Chowk to the PMC headquarters. The organisers’ stated focus is the demand for a DJ-free Ganesh festival, while police protection remains in place following the assault and the authorities’ assurance that action will be taken against those responsible.
