Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday met the kin of the victims of the Pahalgam terror attack and assured them of all help.

“I strongly condemn the cowardly terrorist attack in Pahalgam. My heartfelt tributes to the ones who lost lives. My deepest condolences to the families who lost their loved ones. We stand strongly with the bereaved families. Praying for speedy recovery of the injured ones. We are in touch with the senior officials of the J&K administration,” he said in a post on X.

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“Called up and spoke to Kashmir’s Divisional Commissioner Vijaykumar Bidari and took detailed information. As per the information received so far, two tourists from Maharashtra have lost lives, namely Dilip Disle and Atul Mone. As per the information given by the local administration, two persons from Maharashtra are injured in this terrorist attack.

“One of them is Manik Patel from Panvel and the other is S Bhalchandra Rao. Fortunately, the condition of both is stable,” he said.

After Fadnavis spoke to family members of tourists from Nagpur and Pune, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde made a telephonic request to Union Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu, to arrange a special flight to bring back the bodies of some tourists from Maharashtra who were injured in Tuesday night’s terror attack.

According to an official release issued by the office of Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Wednesday, Naidu has accepted Shinde’s request and agreed to arrange for a special flight to bring back the injured tourists from Maharashtra.

“Five tourists from the state of Maharashtra have died in the attack in Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir. Their relatives are also waiting for their return,” a release from Shinde’s office said.

“After getting the list of Maharashtrian tourists from the Jammu and Kashmir administration, arrangements will be made to bring everyone back soon,” the release stated.

Meanwhile, several social organisations and political leaders in Maharashtra mourned the loss of lives of tourists from Maharashtra. Three tourists, namely Hemant Joshi, Sanjay Lele, and Atul Mone, all hailing from different areas of Dombivli city in Maharashtra’s Thane district, were among the around 26 tourists who were killed in the terror attack on Tuesday night.

Local BJP and Shiv Sena leaders have contacted the grieving families, assuring them of all necessary support and assistance.

Lele, who worked as an accountant at a private firm in Thane city, lived in a joint family at a bungalow in Pandurang Wadi on Mahatma Phule Road in Dombivli (West). His son also suffered a gunshot wound on hand in the terror attack.

Mone, who is a resident of Thakurwadi area of Dombivli worked as an engineer at a workshop in Mumbai, was also accompanied by his wife and daughter on the trip to Pahalgam.

Condemning the Pahalgam terror attack, the BJP held protests at various places on Wednesday. The BJP’s Mumbai Minority Front protests at the state office to protest the cowardly attack. A large number of office bearers and activists of the BJP’s Minority Front raised slogans protesting against the attack and held placards which read, ‘Pakistan Murdabad’ and ‘Terrorist Murdabad’.

Placards with the message ‘Amitbhai Aage Badho Hum Tumhare Saath Hai’ were raised. BJP Minority Front President Wasim Khan, Vice President Salman Khan, Masook Siddiqui, Hussain Khan, Altaf Sheikh, Adil Sheikh and Jahangir Khan were at the venue.

A protest march was also organised in North Mumbai. On the occasion, BJP MLAs Atul Bhatkhalkar, Yogesh Sagar, Manisha Chaudhary, former BJP MP Gopal Shetty, senior BJP leader Bhai Girkar as well as North Mumbai District BJP President Ganesh Khankar were present.

Reacting to the Pahalgam terror attack, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) founder president Raj Thackeray asked the central government to launch “the strongest possible action” like Israel did against Palestinian militants, after the Munich terrorist attack, in which Israeli Olympic athletes were killed in 1972.

“I have no doubt that the central government will be tough in doing all this and all the political parties in this country will stand behind them. This incident is very serious and the MNS will fully stand by the government in this situation. The central government should now take such measures against these attackers that even the next ten generations of these attackers will shudder while remembering them.

“In 1972, during the Munich Olympics, Palestinian terrorists attacked Israeli athletes. After this, Israel killed these terrorists, the masterminds of this attack, in such a way that terror was instilled in the minds of the Palestinian people for a long time. We hope that the central government will follow in the footsteps of the Israeli government and eliminate these terrorists as well as their entire backers forever,” Raj Thackeray stated.

Meanwhile, Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut stated on Wednesday that the ruling BJP’s “politics of hate” is responsible for the terror attack in Pahalgam town, in Jammu & Kashmir, in which at least 26 persons were killed on Tuesday night.

Speaking to media persons on Wednesday noon, Raut alleged that Amit Shah is a “failed home minister” and demanded his resignation. “Amit Shah is a failed home minister in the history of the country. The entire country is seeking his resignation. He has no right to occupy that post even for a day,” Raut said.

“If terrorists ask for the religion of their victims before killing them, then it means that the BJP’s politics of hate is responsible for it” The politics of hate is bound to boomerang someday. This incident is a result of the hate that is being spread from West Bengal to Jammu Kashmir,” Raut stated.

“They (BJP-led Mahayuti alliance) are busy 24 hours in forming and toppling governments as well as putting opposition leaders in jail. How will they protect people?” Raut said.

Raut claimed that the Modi government will carry out some dramatic “surgical strike” and do politics because the Bihar elections are around the corner.

“After demonetisation, the PM had claimed that it would end terrorism in the country, but the instances of terror attacks are only increasing and they keep lying in Parliament about terror-related incidents. They never allow information about the incidents to come out in public,” Raut said.