At the Lokmanya Tilak National Award ceremony in Pune, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and NCP Chief Sharad Pawar joined the stage in a unique sight. The award was given to Modi in honor of his “supreme leadership” and for “awakening the feeling of patriotism among citizens”. Seven years have passed since the two last shared a stage.
According to PTI, Pawar refused demands from opposition INDIA coalition members to share the platform with Modi. Saamana, a spokeswoman for the Shiv Sena (UBT), said today that it is “a bone of contention” because Sharad Pawar himself is honoring and presenting an award to the PM.
“Sharad Pawar’s individual choice”
Sharad Pawar’s choice to share the platform with Modi at the award ceremony in Pune, according to senior Congressman Prithviraj Chavan, was made on the NCP leader’s own accord. Chavan, though, questioned if it was proper for a PM to receive an award from a private organization and wanted to know why.
“I have never heard of a sitting prime minister collecting a prize from a private organization. It is false to claim that some prior PMs have won this prize. Atal Bihari Vajpayee received it when he was an MP, Indira Gandhi received it posthumously, and Manmohan Singh received it while serving as the Union finance minister, according to Chavan.
He continued by saying that the private organization has the right to decide how to distribute its prize. The heroic independence warrior Tilak. He has connections to Congress. Our disagreement is about whether the PM ought to personally receive this honor from a private organization, the Congress leader said.
Supriya Sule, defending her father’s choice, said to the Indian Express that attending the event was appropriate since it honored the country’s Prime Minister rather than the BJP Prime Minister.
The Tilak Smarak Mandir Trust established the award in 1983 to honor the memory of the independence warrior Lokmanya Tilak, and PM Modi will be the 41st winner. The honor is given to those who have contributed to the nation’s prosperity and development and whose work can only be described as unique and amazing. Every year on August 1, which is also the anniversary of Lokmanya Tilak’s death, it is given.
