Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asserted that India is moving towards self-reliance only because the government has shown full faith in the achievements of the common citizens of the country. He was speaking after receiving the Lokmanya Tilak National Award on behalf of Tilak Swarajya Sangh and Lokmanya Tilak Smarak Trust in Pune today.
 
The award presented by Dr. Deepak Tilak, consists of a turban and a piece of cloth as used by Lokmanya, a citation, a memento, and Rupees one lakh in cash. The Prime Minister announced that the cash amount would be given to the Namami Gange campaign. He also dedicated the national award to 140 crore citizens of the country. Mr. Modi said that India will emerge as a powerful superpower in the world and we are carrying forward the same work that Lokmanya Tilak did to inculcate freedom in the minds of the countrymen during independence. The Prime Minister gratefully mentioned about Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj,  Mahatma Jotiba Phule, Savitribai Phule, and freedom fighters Krantiveer Chapekar Bandhu, Swatantryaveer Savarkar, Gopal Ganesh Agarkar, and Vishnu Shastri Chiplunkar. Speaking on this occasion former Union Minister Sharad Pawar expressed satisfaction that the Prime Minister is included in the list of great people who received this award and congratulated him. Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said that Lokmanya Tilak became popular with his achievements, equally the administration of the Prime Minister in the last 9 years has received recognition from crores of Indians. Governor of Maharashtra Ramesh Bais, Former Union Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar, President of Tilak Smarak Trust Dr. Deepak Tilak along with other members of the Tilak family were present on the occasion.