Bal Gangadhar Tilak-Social reformer and freedom fighter
Bal Gangadhar Tilak was an independence activist who was also a journalist, teacher, social reformer and lawyer. He was born on July 23, 1856, and died on August 1 in the year 1920. He is better known for the quote “Swarajya is my birthright and I shall have it!”
Here are some lesser known facts about him that you should know bout Bal Gangadhar Tilar:
- Bal Gangadhar Tilak was the first leader of the Indian Independence Movement and led to the rise of Indian nationalism
- The Britishers called Bal Gangadhar Tilak, ‘The Father of the Indian unrest’
- He was also given the honourary title of ‘Lokmanya’, which means admired (or accepted) by the people
- Tilak is known as the ‘Father of Swarajya’ as he was one of the first independence activists to advocate ‘Swaraj’ and make it a part of the independence movement
- Bal Gangadhar Tilak joined the Indian National Congress (INC) in the year 1890 and started the fight of self-rule
- He was one of the first activists who came up with the concept of ‘Swaraj’
- In 1880, Bal Gangadhar Tilak started his own newspaper, Kesari which is still published to this day
- Bal Gangadhar Tilak started the Swadeshi movement in India. Jamshed Tata and Tilak found Bombay Swadeshi Co-op Stores to promote the movement
- Tilak had a political regime with Bipin Chandra Pal and Lala Lajpat Rai and they were referred as the ‘Lal-Bal-Pal triumvirate’
- Bal Gangadhar Tilak was against the Age of Consent Act, 1891. He opposed and protested at every level so that the government would regulate the Act
- In 2007, the Government of India released a coin to commemorate Tilak on his 150th birth anniversary
- Om Raut directed the film Lokmanya: Ek Yug Purush, which was released on January 2, 2015.
