BAL GANGADHAR TILAK

ABOUT: - Keshav Gangadhar Tilak, often referred to as Bal Gangadhar Tilak, was a
journalist, teacher, and activist for Indian freedom. The Indian Independence Movement’s
first leader was Bal Gangadhar Tilak. He was one of the three people who made up the Lal
Bal Pal trio. He was referred to by British colonial officials as “The Father of Indian
Unrest.’’

BIOGRAPHY: - Bal Gangadhar Tilak was born on July 23, in the year 1856. He was
born in Ratnagiri district, Bombay State, British India, which is now Maharashtra, India, to
a Marathi Hindu Chit Pavan Brahmin family. Shri Gangadhar Tilak was Bal Gangadhar
Tilak’s father, and Paravti Bai Gangadhar was his mother. Bal Gangadhar Tilak’s ancestral
home was in Chikhali. Tilak’s father, Gangadhar Tilak, was a Sanskrit scholar and a
schoolteacher who passed away when Tilak was sixteen years old.

He earned an honours Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics from Pune’s Deccan College in

1877. In the midst of the semester, he left his M.A. programme to enrol in the LL. B
programme. He received his LL. B from Government Law College in 1879.

POLITICAL CAREER: - In the year 1890, Bal Gangadhar Tilak became a member of
the Indian National Congress (INC). He quickly began expressing his vehement opposition
to the party’s moderate ideas on self-rule. The British, he claimed, could not be defeated
by basic constitutional agitation. As a result, he decided to challenge popular
Congressman Gopal Krishna Gokhale.

He desired an armed uprising to drive the British out. Bal Gangadhar Tilak enthusiastically
aced the Swadeshi (Indigenous) movement and the boycott of British products after Lord
Curzon divided Bengal.
Tilak and his supporters were viewed as the extreme wing of the Indian National Congress
Party as a result of this basic philosophical disagreement. Lala Lajpat Rai of Punjab and
Bipin Chandra Pal of Bengal both backed Tilak’s nationalist endeavours. The Lal-Bal-Pal
was the name given to the trio as a whole. The moderate and radical Indian National
Congress Party factions engaged in bitter conflict during the party’s 1907 national session.
As a result, Congress got divided into two parts.

INDIAN INDEPENDENCE MOVEMENT: - Bal Gangadhar Tilak battled for

Indian freedom from British domination throughout his lengthy political career. Prior to
Gandhi, he was the most well-known politician in India. He started a large-scale campaign
for independence by focusing on religious and cultural revitalization. Tilak was a social
conservative as well as a radical nationalist.

After the Partition of Bengal, Tilak supported the Boycott and Swadeshi movements,
which were part of Lord Curzon’s strategy to weaken the nationalist cause. The campaign
included a social boycott of any Indian who used foreign items as well as a boycott of
foreign products. The Swadeshi movement pushed people to buy goods created close to
home. Domestic demand has to step in to fill the hole left by the boycott of foreign goods.

ALL INDIA HOME RULE LEAGUE: - In 1915, as the political climate in India
was rapidly shifting under the shadow of World War I, Bal Gangadhar Tilak came home.
Following the liberation of Bal Gangadhar Tilak, there was unheard-of joy. After that, he
went back to politics with a more mature attitude. Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Joseph Baptista,
Annie Besant, and Muhammad Ali Jinnah established the All-India Home Rule League in
1916 after deciding to reunite with his fellow nationalists. The league had 1400 members
by April 1916, and by 1917, there were 32,000.

SOCIAL REFORM: - Bal Gangadhar Tilak, after completing his studies, decided to
devote himself to the greater cause of national awakening rather than accepting the
lucrative offers of government service. He was a remarkable reformer who spent his
entire life fighting for the rights of women to education and empowerment.

Ganesh Chaturthi and Shivaji Jayanti grand celebrations were suggested by Bal Gangadhar
Tilak. He believed that by celebrating these occasions, Indians would become more united
and patriotic.

BOOKS: - Books written by Bal Gangadhar Tilak are: -

. Geeta Rahasya
. The Artic Homes in The Vedas
LEGACY: - On 28 July 1956, a portrait of B. G. Tilak was put in the Central
Hall of Parliament House. The portrait of Tilak, painted by Gopal Deuskar, was
unveiled by the then Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru.
Tilak Smarak Ranga Mandir, a theatre auditorium in Pune is dedicated to him.
In 2007, the Government of India released a coin to commemorate the 150th
birth anniversary of Tilak. The formal approval of the government of Burma
was received for the construction of clafs-cum-lecture hall in the Mandalay
prison as a memorial to Lokmanya Tilak. ₹35,000 (US$440) were given by the
Indian Government and ₹7,500 (US$94) by the local Indian community in
Burma.
Several Indian films have been made on his life, including: the documentary
films Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak (1951) and Lokmanya Tilak (1957) both
by Vishram Bedekar, Lokmanya: Ek Yugpurush (2015) by Om Raut, and The
Great Freedom Fighter Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak – Swaraj My
Birthright (2018) by Vinay Dhumale.