Lokmanya Tilak

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Tilak is famous for his multi-faceted personality as a philosopher, a mathematician, promoter of Dharma and a legal expert. It is his principled and unrelenting personality that earned him the title of ‘Lokmanya’. The tough and fiery journalism of Lokmanya Tilak was instrumental in initiating the movement during pre-independence period for bringing about change in the mental setup of the people. * He was a traditionalist- both personally and ideologically. For him, throwing the Britishers out was the first priority.

* He led a simple life, and offered himself- his body and soul, to the service of his country. Tilak had no property. His clothes were very simple. He dressed in a dhoti, a shirt, a shawl on the shoulder and a red 'Pagadi' (a Marathi cap) on his head. In many ways he was the architect of India’s Freedom Struggle. His ideas and efforts were carried on by equally worthy next generation of leaders Gandhi ji, Patel, Nehru and others.

* Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak was born in Ratnagiri on July 23 1856, a year before the first war of Independence fought in 1857. Lokmanya was a title conferred on him by the public while the British called him the “father of Indian unrest”. He was an Indian nationalist, social reformer, teacher, journalist, editor, Sanskrit scholar, a great mathematician and freedom fighter who was the first popular leader of the Indian Independence Movement. “Swaraj ha maza janmasidha adhikar aahe ani to mi milavinach” [meaning: “Swaraj (self rule) is my birthright and I shall have it.”] This statement made by him is world famous even today and has inspired thousands to stand up for their rights.

* Bal Gangadhar Tilak was a bright child and very good at mathematics. The problems which would take minutes for a person to solve on the paper, Bal Tilak would do them mentally and give the answer. He also had a sense of fairness and justice from very early age. He was very independent minded and did not falter at expressing his opinions.

* The British colonial authorities called him the great leader as “Father of the Indian unrest”. He was also conferred with the honorary title of Lokmanya, which literally means “Accepted by the people (as their leader)”.

Early Life: * When Tilak was ten years old, the family moved from Ratnagiri to Poona (modern day Pune). The move proved beneficial for Bal Gangadhar Tilak’s education. He joined the Anglo-Vernacular School which had renowned teachers. Within a few months, his mother passed away. When Bal was just 16 years old, his father passed away. Bal was married to a girl named Satyabhama who was 10 years old. * He graduated with B.A and LLB degrees. The desire to serve his country was instilled in him by the stories his grandfather told him. He believed that “Religion and practical life are not different. To take to Sanyasa (renunciation) is not to abandon life. The real spirit is to make the country your family instead of working only for your own. The step beyond is to serve humanity and the next step is to serve God.” * Bal Gangadhar Tilak was a strong critic of the Western education system, feeling it demeaned the Indian students and disrespected India’s heritage. He organized the Deccan Education Society with a few of his college friends, including Gopal Ganesh Agarkar, Mahadev Ballal Namjoshi and Vishnu Krishna Chiplunkar whose goal was to improve the quality of education for India’s youth. * The Deccan Education Society was set up to create a new system that taught young Indians nationalist ideas through an emphasis on Indian culture. Tilak began a mass movement towards independence that was camouflaged by an emphasis on a religious and cultural revival. He taught Mathematics at Fergusson College. * The concept of “Swaraj” was unfamiliar and Tilak thought a good education could promote patriotism. With his classmate Gopal Ganesh Agarkar and Vishnushastry Chiplunkar, Tilak founded the New English School. It soon blossomed and transformed into the “Deccan Education Society”. This society founded the Fergusson College in Pune and today runs Fergusson College and the Greater Maharashtra Commerce and Economics College in Pune, the Willington College in Sangli and the Bombay College in Bombay as well as a number of high schools. * The trio also started two newspapers “Kesari” in Marathi and “Maratha” in English. * In 1890, due to differences with the board of Deccan Education Society, Tilak was forced to resign. With a heavy heart, he bid farewell to the very institutes he founded and worked for ten years. He then became active politically. * From 1890 to 1897, he waged his war against the British rulers through his columns in his newspapers. His first ever priority was to throw out the British from India. * He transformed local celebrations of Ganapathi Festival and the birthday of the Shivaji into national festivals. He was a member of the Municipal Council of Pune, a member of the Bombay Legislature, and an elected 'Fellow' of the Bombay University, he was also taking a leading part in the Congress sessions. He also wrote and published his maiden work 'Orion'. * In 1896, famine and plague spread from Mumbai to Pune. The assistant collector of Pune, Mr. Rand mishandled the humanitarian catastrophe with brutal methods. His methods included destroying houses, transporting healthy people to hospitals, burning all the belongings and sending military men with guns into the houses. And around the same time, the British Government continued with the celebrations for Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria’s reign. Tilak wrote a scathing article in his newspaper and quoted “no blame could be attached to anyone who killed an oppressor without any thought of reward”. Mr. Rand and his assistant were killed and Tilak was arrested and charged with inciting the murder. In the court he made his most famous statement, “Swaraj is my birthright and I shall have it.” In his jail sentence, he wrote “The Arctic home in the Vedas”. * In 1905, when Lord Curzon divided Bengal on communal lines, Tilak called for the boycott of English goods and the movement came to be known as the ‘Swadeshi Movement’. He opposed the moderate views of Gopal Krishna Gokhale and his nationalist views were supported by Lala Lajpat Rai and Bipin Chandra Pal. The trio became ‘Lal-Bal-Pal’. * In the annual Congress meeting in 1907 at Surat, Congress split into the Jahal Matavadi (the extremist) and the ‘Maval Matavadi’ (the moderates).

* On April 30, 1908 two youths Prafulla Chaki and Khudiram Bose, threw a bomb on a carriage with the intentions to kill District Judge Douglass Kenford. Instead they killed some women traveling in the carriage. Tilak, in his paper Kesari, defended the two and reiterated his demand for Swaraj. He was charged with sedition and arrested.
Tilak asked a young Mohammed Ali Jinnah to represent him. Tilak was sentenced to Mandalay Burma from 1908-1914. Tilak was 52 years old then and had diabetes. The masses were not sure he would last his prison term. His rigorous imprisonment was reduced to simple imprisonment which enabled him to read and write. During this time he wrote “Geeta Rahasya” in Marathi. He also learnt German and French through the “teach yourself” books. Meanwhile, in India, his wife passed away while Tilak was serving his term in Mandalay. * After completing his term, Tilak rejoined the Congress in 1916. From 1916-1918 he also helped in founding the All India Home Rule League with Joseph Baptista, Annie Besant and Mohammed Ali Jinnah. A journalist named Chirol who was visiting India, charged Tilak as “leader of violent revolution in India”.
Tilak took him to the courts in England and had to travel and spend 13 months there. During his stay in England, he addressed hundreds of meetings and intensified the Home Rule movement. He also built good relationships with leaders of the labor party. * “Jallianwala Bagh Massacre” made Tilak to rush back to India. He asked the Indians not to stop their movement no matter what happened, till their demands were met. The jail term at Mandalay, Burma ravaged his old body. Tilak was feeling very weak but would not stop his efforts of awakening the spirit for freedom in the masses. He visited Sangli, Hyderabad, Karachi, Solapur and Kashi where he addressed large crowds. He arrived in Bombay. In the early hours of August 1 1920, his old body gave up and the Kesari (lion) of India breathed his last.
Bal Gangadhar Tilak’s Political Career
Journalism
* Tilak co-founded two newspapers with Gopal Ganesh Agarkar, Vishnu Shastri Chiplunkar and other colleagues: Kesari, which means “Lion” in Sanskrit and was a Marathi newspaper, and ‘The Maratha’, an English newspaper in 1881. In just two years ‘Kesari’ attracted more readers than any other language newspaper in India.

* The editorials in the newspaper were generally about the people’s sufferings under the British. These newspapers called upon every Indian to fight for his or her rights. Tilak used to say to his colleagues: “You are not writing for the university students. Imagine you are talking to a villager. Be sure of your facts. Let your words be clear as daylight.”

* Tilak strongly criticized the government for its brutality in suppressing free expression, especially in the face of protests against the division of Bengal in 1905, and for denigrating India’s culture, its people and heritage. He demanded that the British immediately give Indians the right to self-government.
Indian National Congress * Tilak joined the Indian National Congress in 1890. He opposed its moderate attitude, especially towards the fight for self government. In 1891, Tilak opposed the Age of Consent bill wherein the age at which a girl could get married was raised from 10 to 12.
The Congress and other liberals supported it, but Tilak was set against it, terming it an interference with Hinduism. His own daughters were married at 16.

Social Contribution * In 1894, Tilak transformed household worshipping of Ganesha into Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav and he also made Shiva Jayanti (birth anniversary celebrations of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj) as a social festival. It is touted to be an effective demonstration of festival procession.

* Gopal Ganesh Agarkar was the first editor of Kesari, a prominent Marathi weekly in his days which was started by Lokmanya Tilak in 1880-81. Gopal Ganesh Agarkar subsequently left Kesari out of ideological differences with Bal Gangadhar Tilak concerning the primacy of political reforms versus social reforms, and Gopal Ganesh Agarkar started his own periodical Sudharak.

* Bal Gangadhar Tilak often said, “I regard India as my Motherland and my Goddess, the people in India my kith and kin, and loyal and steadfast work for their political and social emancipation my highest religion and duty”.

Later years and legacy
After Tilak’s death on August 1, 1920, on the first day of Gandhi’s first non-cooperation campaign, Gandhi paid his respects at his cremation in Mumbai.
Gandhi called Tilak “The Maker of Modern India”. To that effect, Tilak’s personality bore resemblance to that of Benjamin Franklin. Both were early activists in independence movements of their respective countries.
Role as Editor in Kesari:

Tilak had explained about the nature of ‘Kesari’ as – ‘Kesari will fearlessly and impartially discuss all problems. The increasing mentality of appeasing the British is not in the interest of this country. The articles published in ‘Kesari’ will be apt for its name ‘Kesari (lion)’.

Torture he had to go through for his principle of fearless journalism:

Tilak came to know that the British Government was repressing the ‘Maharaja’ of Kolhapur through his manager Shri Barwe. An article was then published in ‘Kesari’ alleging that Barwe was plotting conspiracy against Maharaja. Shri Barwe filed a case against ‘Kesari’ for such accusation. Tilak and Agarkar were sentenced to 4 months imprisonment. After this first sentence, Tilak started feeling the need to take part in political activities and he left the prison with certain resolve. He opted for politics and started working as the Editor of ‘Kesari’ and ‘Maratha’.

Educated people about the shortcomings in administration:
In the year 1896-97, there was a severe famine in Maharashtra and people were starving. Tilak wrote an article in ‘Kesari’ and brought it to the notice of the British Government what were its duties under the ‘Famine Relief Code’. He also warned the officers who were trying to throttle the rights of the citizens and made an appeal to the people to fight for justice. Tilak showed how effectively one can serve the people, remaining within the frame of law.

Journalism exposing suppression by the Government:

The Government was waiting for an opportunity to quash the ‘Jahal (fierce)’ movement and it got such opportunity due to an incident which took place at Muzaffarpur. Khudiram Bose, a young revolutionary threw a bomb on an English officer but it missed the target and fell on the car in which two English women were travelling; killing them in the blast. The Government was enraged. In his editorial published in ‘Kesari’, Tilak expressed his dislike towards such terrorist activities but argued that Government’s suppression policy was responsible for building up such radical attitude. Five very strong articles against the Government were published in ‘Kesari’ in connection with the bomb blast and Lokmanya was arrested on 24th June 1908 for sedition.

Tilak believed in journalism as a right to form public opinion

Lokmanya argued in the Court against the charges of treason leveled against him. He clarified that the newspapers have a right to form public opinion and it is the duty of a newspaper to bring to the notice of the Government the nature of powers created in the political life of a country and warn against such powers and he argued that he had not committed treason.

Tilak’s journalism based in his belief in God

The speech given by Tilak in the High Court was not an intellectual exercise to protect self but it showed his extra-ordinary qualities like his rationality in thinking, deep study of law, his love for the nation and his readiness to go through any punishment for his principles. All those who heard him pleading his case, experienced his nobility. He was looking at his future with the stance of an observer. His philosophy towards life was like his philosophy towards politics. He believed in unarmed movement along with armed revolution. We offer our humble regards to this principled leader who had firm belief in his ideals and who fought for his country throughout his life till his last breath!

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

* www.hindujagruti.org › Articles

* answers.encyclopedia.com/.../bal-Gangadhar-Tilak-journalist/

* www.wikipedia.com