National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval on Saturday stressed that freedom should not be understood merely as the liberty to do whatever one desires, urging the younger generation to reflect on Lokmanya Tilak’s vision for India and his contribution to nation-building.Addressing a ceremony, where he was conferred the Lokmanya Tilak National Award by Home Minister Amit Shah in Pune, Doval drew a contrast between the freedom enjoyed by the present generation and the difficult circumstances, in which Lokmanya Tilak lived and worked, saying the struggles and hardships of that era were difficult to imagine for today’s youth.”To truly understand Lokmanya Tilak’s life and the depth of his character, one must grasp the context of that era, the constraints and the wretched conditions of the time, realities that perhaps we, and especially the youth, struggle to fully imagine,” Doval said.His words came just days after a massive youth-led anti-NEET paper leak agitation led to the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and forced the government to bring a more stringent anti-paper leak legislation.The NSA urged the younger generation to reflect on Lokmanya Tilak’s words, his vision for India and the spirit of nation-building that he embodied.”Every Indian, especially our youth, needs to reflect on his words, consider the vision he held for India and the spirit of nation-building he embodied,” he said.Doval said the younger generation may sometimes misunderstand the true meaning of the freedom they enjoy today.”Young people today might assume that India has always been the way it is now, or they might mistake freedom for the mere liberty to do whatever one desires. But that is not what freedom truly means,” he said.His warning in Pune that contemporary young people risk misinterpreting freedom as the mere liberty to act without restraint arrives directly on the heels of unprecedented youth-led demonstrations against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration.Speaking on the occasion, Home Minister Amit Shah said that Doval has played an excellent role of a backroom adviser to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and he is behind every decision of the Prime Minister related to national security.Meanwhile the Pune Congress alleged that the police had barred the party from protesting along Shah’s travel route to the event’s venue.Congress Spokesperson Gopal Tiwari also claimed that notices had been served to several Congress leaders and workers and the police were “trying to detain them before the event”.The Congress had planned to show black flags, raise slogans, and demand Shah’s resignation as he made his way to the venue.