Lok Sabha Speaker pays tribute to Bal Gangadhar Tilak on his birth anniversary

• Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla paid floral tributes to Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak in the Central Hall of Samvidhan Sadan on the occasion of his birth anniversary on July 23.

• The portrait of Lokmanya Tilak was unveiled in the Central Hall of Samvidhan Sadan (then Parliament House) on July 28, 1956 by the then Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, in recognition of his extraordinary contributions to the nation.

Who was Bal Gangadhar Tilak?

• Bal Gangadhar Tilak was a great social reformer who influenced generations of people with his ideas and ideals.

• He played a pioneering role in arousing mass political consciousness during the freedom movement. 

• He was one of the strongest advocates of ‘Self Rule’ (Swaraj). 

• His famous slogan “Swaraj is my birthright, and I shall have it” inspired millions during India’s freedom struggle.

• Widely known as ‘Lokmanya’, Tilak was also a great scholar and a visionary leader.

• Tilak was born on July 23, 1856 at Ratnagiri in Maharashtra.

• He was instrumental, along with his three friends G.G. Agarkar, M.A. Chiplunkar and Mahadev B. Namjoshi, in starting the New English School at Pune in 1880 and later in founding the Deccan Education Society and the Fergusson College, both at Pune, in the years 1884 and 1885, respectively.

• While working in the field of education, they took upon themselves the task of educating the people to a new height by launching two journals in 1881 — ‘Mahratta’, an English weekly and ‘Kesari’, a Marathi weekly.

• The period between 1900 and 1908 is characterised by the birth of revolutionary nationalism in India.

• Lokmanya Tilak, along with Bipin Chandra Pal and Lala Lajpat Rai emerged as the shining stars.

• The trio — Lal, Bal, Pal — championed Indian nationalism by strengthening the bonds of unity among the people.

• In 1907, Tilak wrote two articles in the ‘Kesari’', wherein he demanded that the government should try to understand the changing circumstances in the country. These articles, which were a scathing criticism of the governmental policies of oppression, invited the wrath of the British government.

• Consequently, he was arrested in 1908 on the charge of sedition and sentenced to a six-year imprisonment in the Mandalay Jail in Burma. 

• While in prison at Mandalay, he composed the ‘Gita Rahasya’, a monumental philosophical treatise containing the message of the Bhagwad Gita and his own interpretation of life.

• When Annie Besant founded her own independent Home Rule League, Tilak made an alliance with her.

• In 1918, Tilak visited England as president of the Indian Home Rule League and intensified the Home Rule Movement.

• He passed away on August 1, 1920.