Pune, 10 February 2026: Manjusha Nagpure, newly elected Mayor of the Pune Municipal Corporation from Ward No. 35 (Suncity–Manikbagh), described the moment not as a triumph of position, but as the culmination of years of struggle, resilience, and discipline.
Originally from Dhule district and born in Thane, Nagpure moved with her family to Pune in the late 1980s after her father, an electrical engineer, was sent to Kuwait for work. The family’s situation took a drastic turn when the Kuwait–Iran war broke out. Her father was detained, communication stopped, and the family’s only source of income disappeared.
With expenses mounting, relatives cheated the family, forcing her mother to sell valuables to survive. Eventually, support came from her maternal uncle. Due to the financial crisis, Nagpure’s elder sister had to stop her education, while Nagpure continued her studies because of her strong academic record.
While studying after Class 10 in Shirur, Nagpure began teaching spoken English classes in 1995–96 to support the household. At the same time, the family made repeated appeals to authorities, writing to the President and Prime Minister for help in tracing her father. In 1999, with assistance from the Red Cross, he finally returned home.
“It was an emotional moment we can never forget,” Nagpure recalled. “My mother fainted when she saw him. He had been kept in isolation for years and barely spoke. After medical treatment, he slowly recovered.”
During her college years, Nagpure became active in the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad and later worked closely with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. She credits both family values and organisational discipline for shaping her life. “The values at home and the training I received helped me stand firm during the most difficult phases,” she said.
She entered electoral politics with the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2012. Now, as mayor, Nagpure says her focus will be on practical governance rather than ceremonial authority.
“As mayor, my priority will be women’s sanitation facilities, traffic congestion, and encroachments,” she said. “These are everyday issues for citizens, and they need planned, time-bound solutions.”
Nagpure’s rise, forged through personal loss and perseverance, is being seen as a story of leadership built not on privilege, but on endurance, and one that now carries the responsibility of guiding Pune’s civic future.
