UNION Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday conferred the Maharashtra Bhushan Award to spiritual leader and social activist Dattatreya Narayan alias Appasaheb Dharmadhikari and said it was very rare to see the tradition of social service being passed from one generation to another. Lakhs of followers of Dharmadhikari attended the grand function held on a sprawling 306-acre ground in Kharghar area of Raigad district.

 

Flower petals were showered from a helicopter on the activist, dignitaries present on the dais and others who were part of the gathering. Dharmadhikari has a massive following in the State due to his tree plantation drives, blood donation and medical camps as well as de-addiction work in tribal areas. The ground was packed with people and equipped with audio/video facilities for followers of Shree Sadasya (Dharmadhikari’s organisation)towitness thefunction. TheMaharashtraBhushan award was instituted when the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alliance came to power in 1995. Itwasinitiallygiventopersonalities in the fields of literature, sports and science, before being expanded to include those from social work, journalism, public administration and health services. Shah conferred the award to Dharmadhikari and presented him a shawl, a citation and memento and a chequeofRs25lakh,besides a 10-feet garland of roses. DharmadhikarisaidtheRs 25 lakh given to him will be donated to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund. Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Deputy CM Devendra FadnavisandUnionMinister Kapil Patil were present on the occasion. “I have been a student of history.

 

I have seen certain families doing good in academics,whileothersaregood inbusinessacumenfromone generation to the next. But in Appasaheb Dharmadhikari and his fatherlate Nanasaheb, I saw a very rare flow of tradition ofsocialservicebeingpassed onfromonegenerationtothe next,” Shah said. He said bestowing the MaharashtraBhushanAward on Appasaheb Dharmadhikari was an apt choice ofMaharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Fadnavis. By honouring the right person, the Maharashtra Government has taken the award to great heights, he said. “Maharashtra has shown three major streams. One that started with Shivaji Maharaj and was taken furtherbyVDSavarkar,Vasudev Balwant Phadke, Chapekar brothersandLokmanyaTilak whobelievedinsacrificinglife fortheserviceofthenation,” he said. “The (second) Bhakti movement started with seer Ramdas, was followed by Tukaram Maharaj and continuedbyNamdev.The third movement is found in a few states which focus on social services. It started with MahatmaJyotiraoPhuleand Savitribai Phule, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar and the mantle was carried forward by Nanasaheb Dharmadhikari and his son Appasaheb,” the BJP leader said.