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Lokmanya
Bal Gangadhar Tilak
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Bal Gangadhar Tilak, born July 22, 1856, was universally
recognized as the Father of Indian Unrest. He was
one of the prime architects of modern India and
heralded Asian nationalism. His philosophy could
not survive after his death as India came under
sway of Mahatma Gandhi. Tilak was a brilliant politician
as well as a profound scholar who believed that
independence is the foremost necessity for the well
being of a nation and that to win it through extreme
measures should not be dispensed with. He was the
first intellectual leader to understand the importance
of mass support and subsequently became the first
mass leader of India.
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He
realized that the constitutional agitation in
itself was futile against the British and that,
moreover, India was ill prepared for an armed
revolt. As a result, although he was helpful to
revolutionaries such as Savarkar, Aurobindo Ghosh
and Chaphekar, he did not venture into it himself.
Instead, he martialled the extremist wing of Indian
National Congress. His movement was based on the
principles of Swadeshi (Indigenous), Boycott and
Education. It was he who, through his own example,
gave prestige to imprisonment in freedom struggle.
It is a tragedy that his work is not given the
recognition due to it.
Tilak is often misinterpreted. Perhaps it is so
because of his style of operation which raised
bitter controversies and still more bitter opponenents
even outside the beurocracy. Violent arguements
characterized his relationship with social reformists
such as Agarkar, Ranade and moderates like Ferozshah
Mehta. Many blame him for opposing the Age of
Consent Bill which raised the age limit for marriage
of girls to 12 (from 10). But is fact that at
the same time he had signed a counter-proposal
where in one of the clauses was that the girls
(boys) should not be married until they are 16
(20). He educated all of his daughters and did
not marry them till they were over 16. There are
instances when he privately paid for the education
of women. Still it remains true that he was a
reactionary and did not use his considerable influence
to give a much-needed support to the social reformists.
Probably, he did not want to offend the prevalent
rigid system - he, himself, having been brought
up in the culturally narrow surroundings of Pune.
It seems as if his canvas presented him no room
for active social reforms.
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He
had several discussions with Shankaracharya of Sankeshwar
and asserted that like Swami Vivekananda, the modern
Shankaracharya must be educated on modern lines.
Tilak received Bachelor of Arts degree from The
Deccan College, Pune in 1879 and L.L.B. from the
Elphinston College, Mumbai in 1882. He was among
the founders of the New English School, Pune (1881)
of which Prof Chiplunkar became the Principal. He
had a genius for organisation and with Agarkar,
the then foremost social reformist, started the
newspapers 'Kesari' and 'The Maratha' in 1881 and
in 1890's started the annual celebration of 'ShivajiFestival'
and 'Ganapati Festival' which served a platform
for people to join in the nationalist movement against
the British. Soon he came to be regarded as the
undisputed leader of Maharashtra and was honored
with the title 'Lokamanya' in 1893 which became
synonymous with him in the 1900.
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As the nation fumed over the partition of Bengal
(1905), Tilak assumed the national leadership with
his extremist attitude and stated his position unequivocally
as "Swarajya (self rule) is my birth right
and I shall have it."
Ganesh Festival and Shiv Jayanti
In order to inspire the common man he started these
two festivals which were celebrated across cast
and creed. There are many festive days and different
festivals in the Hindu religion, but they are celebrated
individually and privately. For national awakening
Tilak initiated Ganeshotsav and Shivaji Utsav in
1894. Shivaji Utsav started on Fort Raigad in 1894
and reached as far as Japan by 1905. In 1896 Ganeshotsav
attained national importance.
The next three years saw meteoric rise in his stature
and the British power which had long since considered
him their chief concern and had sent him to prison
twice already, decided on a firmer measure. Much
has been said of his trial of 1908. He utilized
his time in prison in scholarly pursuits and wrote
"GitaRahasya", a commentary on the Gita.
He returned to Indian political scene in 1915. The
political situation was fast changing under the
shadow of World War I. Mahatma Gandhi's star was
on rise with Satyagraha at Sabarmati in 1914.
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The
British charged Tilak in 1918. He fought those
charges both in India and England, and was judged
guilty. Amidst rumors of yet another sentence,
he headed the Home-Rule commission in England
to debate India's constitutional demands. By that
time, Gandhi had made preparations of the first
nation wide non-cooperation movement and, perhaps,
it was to make way for Gandhi that Tilak left
for England. Tilak was, probably, the only leader
who could have put brakes on Gandhi. Both had
conflicting approaches. Gandhi had the courage
to address and solve the issue of untouchability
once and forever. He, unlike Tilak, was a fluent
speaker in Hindi and could thus reach the masses
more easily.It is no secret that he had little
respect for Tilak's real politick and Tilak hated
adopting means which killed self pride of the
masses. Whereas Gandhi preached, "Overcome
hatred with love", Tilak pooh poohed moderates
saying, "There is no empire lost by a free
grant of concession by the rulers to the ruled."
In both world wars, Gandhi encouraged Indians
to fight for the British Empire unconditionally
whereas Tilak held that if Indians were to remain
slaves then it mattered little whether they joined
army or not. The Mahatma was modern with novel
methods.
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His was a welcome arrival both for the Moderates
who needed an answer to the Extremists and Tilak,
in particular, and the British who would rather
acknowledge and have a saint as the foremost adversary.
In
the 20's many of Tilak's followers, Dadasaheb
Khaparde and N.C. Kelkar being the most prominent
among them, supported Gandhi but none could have
his say in the new order. Aurobindo Ghosh had
retired to an ascetic life and Savarkar was serving
two life sentences in Andaman. The Lokamanya had
no worthy successor. Tilak's health continued
to deteriorate rapidly at end of July 1920 and
he went delirious and was unconscious for 3 days.
His last words in the final momentary recovery
were, "This happened in 1818 (End of Peshwai)
and this in 1918. A hundred years' history - what
a life of servitude...Unless Swaraj is obtained,
India shall not prosper. It is necessary for our
very own existence."
At
00:40 hrs (IST) on Aug 1, 1920, he was declared
dead. It is said that the British made an extraordinary
request that his brain be handed over to them
so that it could be studied, preserved and exhibited.
It was not complied with.
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