'Swaraj -- Our Birth-Right' "We want equality. We cannot remain slaves under foreign rule. We will not carry for an instant longer, the yoke of slavery that we have carded all these years. Swaraj is our birth right. We must have it at any cost. When the Japanese, who are Asians like us, are free, why should we be slaves? Why should our Mother's hands be hand- cuffed?" This was Tilak at his vociferous best.
Swaraj's alter blazed. The government was again alarmed and troubled.
The picture shows a stamp released by the Indian Government in honor of the Swaraj movement.
As days passed, Tilak began to stamp the slogan 'Swaraj is our birthright'on the minds of every Indian. Lokaman ya Tilak's popularity grew rapidly.Tilak was in fact, one of the leading lights of the Indian freedom movement. Best remembered for his slogan "Swaraj is my birth-right ", he was one of the first to call for complete freedom from British rule, and fought a long and sometimes lonely political struggle against the forces of "moderation" that held sway over the Indian National Congress in the early part of the last century. He gradually developed a more advanced nationalist perspective based on the pillars of nationalist education, Swaraj and Swadeshi (self-reliance). The Congress who under the leadership of Dadabhai Naoroji had accepted the demands put forth by the Tilak group for Swaraj, Swadeshi and National Education In 1916, Tilak decided to build a separate organization called the 'Home Rule League'. Its goal was swaraj. Tilak went from village to village, and explained the aim of his league to the farmers and won their hearts. He traveled constantly in order to organize the people.