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NCP to protest against PM during award function where Sharad Pawar also likely to be present
When PM Modi visits Pune, members of various political parties will wave black flags, led by prominent social activist Baba Adhav
PUNE:
Even though Nationalist Congress Party supremo Sharad Pawar is expected to attend an event where Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be presented with the Lokmanya Tilak Award on August 1, opposition parties including the Congress, NCP (Sharad Pawar camp), and some social organisations have decided to stage a joint protest against the Prime Minister.
When PM Modi visits Pune, members of various political parties will wave black flags, led by prominent social activist Baba Adhav.
When asked about agitation against the Prime Minister when Sharad Pawar will also be present at the event as chief guest, NCP city unit president Prashant Jagtap said their protest is limited to PM Modi not visiting Manipur despite being affected by conflict.
“When there is unrest in Manipur, the Prime Minister is not showing any concern over the issue but coming to Pune to accept the award. We demand that the PM should visit Manipur first.”
In Pune, Modi will be conferred with Lokmanya Tilak National Award for 2023 in recognition of his ‘supreme leadership’ and for ‘awakening the feeling of patriotism among citizens’.
According to Rohit Tilak, great-grandson of freedom fighter Bal Gangadhar Tilak and vice president of Tilak Smarak Mandir Trust, which organises the award ceremony, Pawar has confirmed his presence at the function.
“Even as the Lok Sabha’s monsoon session is underway, Pawar will be attending the event and may leave for Delhi immediately,” Tilak said.
While Pawar has not spoken about his presence, he in the past had acknowledged that the call to Prime Minister Modi for confirmation for attending the award ceremony was made by himself days before his nephew Ajit rebelled and took away the majority of party MLAs on July 2.
Congress vice president for Maharashtra unit Mohan Joshi said, “Prime Minister has time to visit foreign countries but no time to visit Manipur. He doesn’t even have time to speak about Manipur in parliament. To condemn this, we have decided to protest, and senior activist Baba Adhav will lead the agitation.”
The Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray) faction has also decided to participate in the protest. “PM is doing Maan Ki Baat but not speaking at a constitutional platform like parliament. It is an insult to democracy,” said the party’s city unit chief Sanjay More.
Communist Party of India’s Ajit Abhyankar said, “Workers unions supported these agitations.”
