WATCH: Congress Stages Protest As Amit Shah Visits Pune For Lokmanya Tilak Award Ceremony

Pune: Union Home Minister Amit Shah arrived in Pune on Saturday to attend the Lokmanya Tilak National Award 2026 ceremony, even as the Congress staged a protest against his visit at City Pride Chowk. The demonstration prompted heavy police deployment to maintain law and order.

A large number of Congress workers gathered at the protest site and raised slogans against the Union government. Police personnel were deployed in large numbers and kept a close watch on the situation to prevent any untoward incident.

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The Congress said the protest was organised against the Delhi Police's alleged lathi charge on students protesting the NEET paper leak at Jantar Mantar last month. Party leaders held Amit Shah, in his capacity as Union Home Minister, politically responsible for the police action and demanded accountability.

Shah is in Pune to confer the Lokmanya Tilak National Award 2026 on National Security Adviser Ajit Doval. He is also scheduled to attend other official and party programmes in the city.

Ahead of the visit, the BJP criticised the Congress protest and said it would hold a counter-protest, accusing the opposition party of trying to politicise Shah's visit and disrupt an important public event.

In view of the political protests, Pune Police tightened security arrangements across key locations in the city. Additional personnel were deployed to ensure the programmes ran smoothly and to prevent any law-and-order issues.

Videos of the Congress protest have since gone viral on social media.