The decision to confer the prestigious Lokmanya Tilak National Award on Prime Minister Narendra Modi has sparked fierce opposition within the Maharashtra Congress, with the party’s Pune unit objecting to Mr. Modi being given the award on grounds that the Tilak Smarak Mandir Trust is controlled by Congress leader Rohit Tilak, a scion of Lokmanya Tilak’s family.
Spearheading the charge, Pune Congress city chief Arvind Shinde on July 12 said that Mr. Modi had not emulated any of ‘Lokmanya’ Bal Gangadhar Tilak’s ideals and that the award was being conferred upon him at a time when Rahul Gandhi and the Congress cadre were fighting the BJP on the streets, and that central agencies were being unleashed upon Opposition leaders by the Modi-led Central government.
“Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak is a towering figure of the early Congress and the freedom movement and his ideals are forever etched on the party…his grandson, Jayant Tilak and great-great-grandson Rohit Tilak are part of the Congress. Today, Rohit is a general secretary of the Maharashtra Congress unit… On the one hand, Rahul Gandhi and the party workers are battling PM Modi’s and the BJP’s policies which are hurtling the country towards dictatorship. How can one appease Mr. Modi at a time when the Congress cadre are fighting him? This double-standard is not acceptable to us,” Mr. Shinde said.
Mr. Shinde said that while the Pune Congress was not opposing the award, they were against it being given to Mr. Modi.
“How can they [the trustees] confer an award to a man with the blood of the Gujarat riots on his hands? And that too, at a time when the Opposition is being ruthlessly suppressed by the abuse of central agencies…This ought to have been understood by the Tilak family and Rohit Tilak,” said Mr. Shinde, adding that he had conveyed the disaffection of the Pune Congress to the top leaders in the State as well as the All-India Congress Committee.
He stressed that the Congress had not opposed when the award was given to the stalwart BJP leader and late Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in the past.
“We [the Congress] were happy when the award was given to Mr. Vajpayee, who upheld democratic and constitutional values…but here, Mr. Modi, who has influenced Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification, is being felicitated by a Congress leader [Rohit Tilak]. If you are going to honour him, then we will oppose it,” Mr. Shinde said.
Recently, Mr. Rohit Tilak had said that the trustees had unanimously suggested that the 41st Lokmanya Tilak National Award be given to Mr. Modi and that the Prime Minister had agreed to be part of the award ceremony in Pune on July 1.
Mr. Rohit Tilak is vice-president of the Tilak Smarak Mandir Trust. One of its members also includes former Maharashtra CM and senior Congress leader Sushilkumar Shinde, an ex-Union Minister.
That Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar is to be the chief guest at the function has raised eyebrows, given that the NCP chief and Mr. Modi will be sharing the dais days after the vertical split within the NCP engineered by Mr. Pawar’s nephew, Ajit Pawar, who joined the ruling BJP-Eknath Shinde government in the State.
Incidentally, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, along with Deputy CMs Ajit Pawar and Devendra Fadnavis, too, are to be part of the July 1 function.
Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole remarked that conferring the award was a matter for the Tilak Smarak Mandir Trust to decide. “Lokmanya Tilak would not have approved of the award being given to Mr. Modi had he been alive today,” Mr. Patole added.
Senior Congress leader from Pune, Anant Gadgil, said it was unthinkable that Mr. Modi was to be feted with an award given to a trust controlled by a Congress leader at a time when the party rank-and-file were fighting the BJP tooth-and-nail.
Likewise, Mumbai Congress leader Bhai Jagtap said the prestigious Tilak award was in danger of being “devalued” if it were given to a divisive figure like Mr. Modi.
Stressing the non-political nature and rationale behind the award, Mr. Rohit Tilak said that no one from the top Congress leadership had expressed their displeasure on the trust giving the award to Mr. Modi.
“Firstly, this is a non-political dais, not connected with any political party. Since its inception in 1983, we have given this award to wide spectrum of individuals who have made significant social contributions, regardless of their political hues. We have given this award to several notables from communists to industrialists and scientists. This time, the award was themed on Tilak’s call for self-reliance (Swadeshi) during the freedom movement… Going by the response and impact of the ‘Atmanirbhar’ scheme, the trustees unanimously suggested PM Modi’s name,” Mr. Rohit Tilak said.
He further clarified that the trust had sent a letter to the Prime Minister’s Office to inform him of the award and had requested Mr. Pawar to be chief guest for the July 1 function.
“We had also requested Mr. Pawar to speak with the PM regarding the event and our trust. This, Mr. Pawar duly did and accordingly informed me of the same as well,” Mr. Rohit Tilak said.
