Prime Minister Narendra Modi was conferred with the Lokmanya Tilak National Award in Pune on Tuesday. He said that he was honoured to receive a prize named after Tilak, who was at the forefront of the freedom struggle, and added that he would donate the award money of Rs 1 lakh to the Namami Gange project.
After receiving the award, PM Modi addressed the event and said, “The vision of ‘Vyavastha Nirmaan se Sanstha Nirmaan’, ‘Sanstha Nirmaan se Vyakti Nirmaan’, ‘Vyakti Nirmaan se Rasthra Nirmaan’ acts like a roadmap for building the nation. India is diligently following this roadmap, today.”
On being conferred with the award, he said, “I have decided to donate the prize money to the Namami Gange project and I want to dedicate this award to 140 crore people of the country.”
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At the ceremony, he shared the stage with chief guest and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Sharad Pawar. Pawar’s party was split recently, with the breakaway faction led by Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar joining the BJP-Shiv Sena coalition government in the state.
Ajit Pawar, who rebelled against his uncle and took away a significant chunk of the NCP MLAs to join the NDA government in the state, was also present at the event.
Pawar’s attendance at the event honouring PM Modi led to protests by the Opposition with leaders from the Congress and Uddhav faction of the Shiv Sena gathering at Pune’s Lokmanya Tilak statue in Mandai. The INDIA-led protest has also found support from some Manipur groups and tribal committees’ organisations.
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Meanwhile, during his Pune visit, PM Modi also open the new Metro rail line extension that will make commuting between Pimpri-Chinchwad and Pune easier and faster, along with inaugurating and laying the foundation stones for development projects at the Parade ground of the Shivajinagar police headquarters.