"स्वराज्य हा माझा जन्मसिद्ध हक्क आहे आणि तो मी मिळवणारच" - Remembering the Father of Indian UnRest...
Commemorating the 168th BirthDay of LokManya Bal Gangadhar Tilak...
To be conferred upon an illustrious league of educators nurturing bharatiya nationalism in eclectic & innovative ways on August 1st, Tilak’s 104th Punyatithi….
Do send in recommendations to editor@rethinkindia.in (if any) with elaborate notes…
On July 3rd, 1908, Bal Gangadhar Tilak was arrested for sedition by the British. He published fiery articles in his Marathi newspaper Kesari against the British. While in prison, Tilak read and wrote extensively and developed his ideas on the Indian nationalist movement.
Tilak launched the Indian Home Rule League in April 1916 at Belgaum. Annie Besant launched the Home Rule League in September 1916 at Madras. They had the common objective of achieving self-government in India.
Rabindranath Tagore gave the title of "Lokmanya" to "Balgangadhar Tilak".
On 30 April 1908, two Bengali youths, Prafulla Chaki and Khudiram Bose, threw a bomb on a carriage at Muzzafarpur, to kill the Chief Presidency Magistrate Douglas Kingsford of Calcutta fame, but erroneously killed two women traveling in it. While Chaki committed suicide when caught, Bose was hanged. Tilak, in his paper Kesari, defended the revolutionaries and called for immediate Swaraj or self-rule. The Government swiftly charged him with sedition. At the conclusion of the trial, a special jury convicted him by 7:2 majority. The judge, Dinshaw D. Davar gave him a six years jail sentence to be served in Mandalay, Burma and a fine of ₹1,000 (US$13). On being asked by the judge whether he had anything to say, Tilak said:
All that I wish to say is that, in spite of the verdict of the jury, I still maintain that I am innocent. There are higher powers that rule the destinies of men and nations; and I think, it may be the will of Providence that the cause I represent may be benefited more by my suffering than by my pen and tongue.