Remarking that Lokmanya Tilak was a great institution builder and a nurturer of traditions, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday accepted the prestigious Lokmanya Tilak National Award at a power-packed event in Pune where he shared the stage with Opposition leader and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) patriarch Sharad Pawar.
Mr. Modi, who visited the city’s iconic Dagdusheth Halwai Ganapati temple before the award ceremony, was greeted with protests staged by several groups as well as the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition, which included Mr. Pawar’s own NCP faction. The protesters waved black flags and held placards demanding that the Prime Minister speak on the violence in Manipur.
In his acceptance speech, Mr. Modi said, “Tilak ji completely changed the direction of the Indian freedom movement with his ‘Swarajya is my birthright’ claim. Even the British were forced to acknowledge him as the ‘father of Indian unrest’. Mahatma Gandhi had hailed him as the creator of a Modern India,” the PM said, after being presented with the 41st Lokmanya Tilak award on the occasion of the freedom fighter’s 103rd death anniversary.
