Jumping into the cause for freedom

Tilak founded the Marathi daily Kesari (Lion) in 1880. In just two years 'Kesari' attracted more readers than any language news papers in India.The editorials gave a vivid picture of the people's sufferings and of actual happenings. They called upon every Indian to fight for his right. This was the objective that motivated Tilak and in what was reflected allegorically in the motto chosen by Tilak for the Kesari.

Tilak joined the Indian National Congress in the 1890s, but soon fell into opposition of its liberal-moderate attitude towards the fight for self-government. As he matured as a national leader, he became all too aware of the importance of Hindu-Muslim unity in the freedom movement. As early as 1893, Tilak had become conscious of how conflicts between Hindus and Muslims came about at the instigation of Anglo-Indian officers in the colonial administration. He was not oblivious to the 'Divide and Rule' policy of the colonial administrators, and knew how detrimental that was to the cause of freedom.

Picture 1: The Lal,Bal,Pal trio. These three were the extremist revolutionaries in the freedom struggle.
Picture2: Tilak with other leaders in a meeting

 

In 1908, there were few leaders (Hindu, Muslim or Sikh) of comparable stature in the Indian freedom movement, and in several ways, Tilak's ideas remain far ahead of Gandhi's. Any lover of Indian freedom and progress would have to be cognizant of that. Tilak's writings on non-violence are especially revealing of an advanced intellect. Tilak was neither a gun-fetishist nor an idealist rejecter of violence. In 1908, he saw non-violent resistance through mass civil disobedience as the preferred method of struggle only because he did not see the possibilities of winning an armed struggle against the British at that particular time. But neither did he reject the possibility that a time may come when the Indian masses would be able, ready and prepared for an armed struggle, if no other option of defeating the British seemed likely to succeed. For that reason, he was never prepared to condemn the armed revolutionaries, and defended each one as a legitimate fighter and martyr in the cause of Indian independence.