Saturday, August 01, 2015
The leader of the Indian Independence Movement, Bal Gangadhar Tilak died on August 1, 1920. On his 95th death anniversary, here are some quotes by him about nationalism and the struggle for the Indian Independence.
1. A common language is an important element of nationality.
He used Hindi as the language of the movement. His speeches were either in Maratha or Hindi. He realized the need to avoid the usage of English, and mentioned the same in one of his speeches. Tilak was the first Congress leader to suggest that Hindi written in the Devanagari script be accepted as the sole national language of India.
Tilak is not much known for his contribution to Hindu-Muslim unity, but he was the first Congress leader outside Bengal to recognise the potential of Bengal disruption. The partition of the province struck him as an Indian opportunity. He offered his support to the anti-partition movement and to the new extremist leaders in Bengal.
2. Protests are of no avail. Mere protest, not backed by self reliance will not help people.
There was a conflict between the ideologies of the Father of the Nation (Mahatma Gandhi) and Father of the Indian unrest (Bal Gangadhar Tilak). Tilak did not support Gandhi's way of achieving Independence. Unlike, Gandhi, Tilak was open to the idea of extreme forces to attain freedom.
3. Good wishes between master and slaves are impossible.
The measures used by Britishers to get things done were of oppression and tyranny. To spread awareness regarding this, he published many articles in his paper - Kesari. He wrote about how according to the Bhagavad Gita, no blame can be attached to anyone who killed an oppressor without any thought of reward. After this, he was charged with incitement to murder and was sentenced for 18 months. It was after his release that he adopted the slogan, "Swaraj is my birthright and I shall have it."
4. Swadeshi and swadeshi will be our cry forever and by this we will grow in spite of the wishes of the ruler.
Tilak founded the All India Home Rule League in 1916 with Muhammad Ali Jinnah and 
Annie Besant. He was imprisoned many times by the British government and despite this he continued with the work for Home Rule League which fought for self-rule. He traveled to various villages to seek support from farmers and locals. He drew his inspiration from the Russian Revolution. He wanted a federal system for Free India where every religion and race co-existed and were equals.
Annie Besant. He was imprisoned many times by the British government and despite this he continued with the work for Home Rule League which fought for self-rule. He traveled to various villages to seek support from farmers and locals. He drew his inspiration from the Russian Revolution. He wanted a federal system for Free India where every religion and race co-existed and were equals.
5. Swaraj is my birthright, and I shall have it!
This is Tilak's most famous quote, he was labelled as the "Father of Indian Unrest" by the British government in India. A radical who promoted self-rule to overcome the British oppression, he was conferred the title of "Lokmanya" meaning accepted by people.
Activists to take pledge for statehood
NAGPUR: Supporters of Vidarbha statehood would undertake a mass pledge at Variety Square in Sitabuldi on Saturday under the aegis of Vidarbha Rajya Andolan Samiti. This will be followed by bonfire of electricity bills to protest against high tariff in the state and long hours of load-shedding in rural Vidarbha.
August 1 marks death anniversary of Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak. Paying tributes to the eminent freedom fighter, members of the Samiti will take a pledge underlining "Vidarbha is my birthright and I shall achieve it," said Dilip Narwadia, president of Samiti's city unit.
The decision for the agitation was taken at a meeting presided over by senior core committee member and former DGP Prabir Kumar Chakravorty recently. The Samiti has taken a stand that people of Vidarbha would henceforth not pay power bills with tariffs that are highest in the country. "Electricity is generated using coal, land and water of this region. The thermal power plants produce pollution that people here suffer. Despite all this, people of this region get power at exorbitant rates and have to suffer outages stretching to 18 hours," said Narwadia
An expert committee of the Samiti headed by economist Shrinivas Khandewale said in its interim report that power production cost in Vidarbha could be around Rs 2.50 per unit. "Hence people of this region should not be charged more than that. We will intensify our agitation demanding roll back of the tariff. On Aug 2, protest by activists from sox districts of Nagpur division will be staged in front of chief engineer (power) office in the city. Similarly on August 9, a demonstration by activists of five districts of western Vidarbha will be held at Amravati," Narwadia said in a release.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/followceleb.cms?alias=Vidarbha Rajya Andolan Samiti,Variety Square,Shrinivas Khandewale,Economist,DGP Prabir Kumar Chakravorty
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Lokmanya Tilak Awarad
Sheila Dixit was chosen to receive the Lokmanya Tilak Awarad for 2010. The president of the Lokmanya Tilak Smarak Mandir Trust, Deepak Tilak announced on 22 July 2010 about the decision to honor Dixit with the award. Sheila Dixit would be given the award in recognition of her contribution to politics. The award would be given out on 1 August 2010 at the Tilak Smarak Mandir on the occasion of the 89th death anniversary of Lokmanya Tilak. The award established in 1983 includes a gold medal, a memento, a citation and Rs.1 lakh. The previous recipients of this award included: Indira Gandhi (posthumous), Manmohan Singh, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, M.S. Swaminathan, Rahul Kumar Bajaj, Sivathanu Pillai, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, and Pranab Mukherjee. In 2009 the Lokmanya Tilak Journalist Award was given to N. Ram, Editor-in-Chief of The Hindu.
