Political leaders to attend 2nd Marathi social media sammelan at SPPU
Uday Samant, higher and technical education minister; Satej Patil, information and technology state minister; Yashomati Thakur, minister of women and child welfare; Aditi Tatkare, minister of information-PR; Vinod Tawade, former minister; MLA Siddharth Shirole; and MP Girish Bapat to remain present for event
The second edition of the Marathi social media sammelan (meet) to be held between April 29 and May 1 at the Savitribai Phule Pune university campus will be attended by leaders from various political parties including Uday Samant, higher and technical education minister; Satej Patil, information and technology state minister; Yashomati Thakur, minister of women and child welfare; Aditi Tatkare, minister of information-PR; Vinod Tawade, former minister; MLA Siddharth Shirole; and MP Girish Bapat. The social media meet will be organised by the Digital Media Premi Mandali.

Between 4.30pm and 6pm on the first day, there will be an interaction on the topic, ‘social media and politics and how young political leaders look toward social media and its role in the economics and politics of Maharashtra’. Other topics like cybercrime and laws and research on social media will also be discussed. The first day will conclude with a cultural event. On the second day of the sammelan, topics including how social media can be used for creative content, video content, social media content and employment and positivity will be discussed. The highlight of the second day will be filmmaker Nagaraj Popat Manjule of Sairat fame who will speak on the subject, ‘the use of regional languages on social media’.
The meet will focus on topics like cultural heritage and social media, social media and its role in journalism, role of social media in pandemic management and role of social activists in the presence of Dr Vishwajit Kadam and Dr Nitin Karmalkar. The highlight of the programme will be the live online presentation of Union minister for road, transport and highways, Nitin Gadkari, from 1pm to 2pm.
Speaking about the event, Mangesh Wagh, said, “This sammelan is a celebration of the democratisation of media. It is a celebration of the socialist movement, creativity and expression of eagerness to communicate. We are having this offline because we want people to meet in person and get to know each other better.”
Participant Saby Pereira said, “The Marathi writers’ fraternity on social media is not connected. Whatever is represented on social media should be expressed and addressed in a proper way. We want the social writers to get connected with one another and share ideas.”
Another participant Arvind Jagtap said, “Social media has a responsibility and not only popularity. The content in the media should contribute and provide help to the society through facts. Lots of constructive ideas can be put on social media. It can lead to revolution or it can also make people help one another during a crisis.”