Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak: Life, Contributions, and Legacy

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The **Union Home Minister** and **Defence Minister** recently paid national tributes to **Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak** on his birth anniversary.

**Bal Gangadhar Tilak** was an Indian nationalist, teacher, journalist, and social reformer. The British called him the **Father of the Indian Unrest**, while **Jawaharlal Nehru** described him as the **Father of India's Revolution** for leading the radical wing of the **Indian National Congress** before the arrival of Gandhi.

Tilak was born on **July 23, 1856**, into a middle-class family in **Ratnagiri, Maharashtra**.
To spread nationalist education among youth, he co-founded the **Deccan Education Society** in **1884**, which later set up **Fergusson College** in **Pune**.
He strongly opposed untouchability and declared that he would not accept even God if God sanctioned social discrimination.

He mobilized the masses with his famous slogan, **Swaraj is my birthright, and I shall have it!**, leading the **Lal-Bal-Pal** nationalist group after the **1905** **Partition of Bengal**.
In **1897**, British authorities arrested and convicted him of sedition because of his revolutionary writings in **Kesari**.
Between **1908 and 1914**, he served six years of imprisonment in **Mandalay Prison** in **Burma**, where he spent time writing scholarly books.
He established the **Indian Home Rule League** in **1916** at **Pune** and helped sign the historic **Lucknow Pact** in **1916** to bring the Congress and **Muslim League** together.

He published **Kesari**, a Marathi daily newspaper, to spread nationalistic ideas among common people.
He also edited **Mahratta**, an English weekly newspaper, to criticize British policies.
In **1915**, while serving time in prison, he wrote **Gita Rahasya**, a commentary on the Bhagavad Gita that emphasizes selfless action.
In **1903**, he wrote **The Arctic Home in the Vedas**, offering a new theory about the original home of Aryan ancestors.

He co-founded the **Deccan Education Society** in **1884** to promote patriotic education across Maharashtra.
He joined the **Indian National Congress** in **1889** and soon emerged as the prominent leader of its radical nationalist wing.
He formed the **Indian Home Rule League** in **1916** to demand self-governance across Maharashtra, Karnataka, Central Provinces, and Berar.
He transformed **Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav** and **Shivaji Jayanti** into public community festivals to unite people and bypass British bans on political gatherings.

He passed away on **August 1, 1920**, in Mumbai at the age of **64**.
His death occurred on the exact day Mahatma Gandhi launched the **Non-Cooperation Movement**, marking the transition from the Tilak era to the Gandhian era in India's freedom struggle.