Some people are born to be great, and in every field. Look at the life of Lokmanya Tilak, for instance, whose birth anniversary falls on July 23. He was a great patriot. The British knew absolutely that this "father of the Indian discontent" was the real danger to them, and their power in India.
Tilak was a radical in politics, and he supported the revolutionaries. Yet he consciously chose conservativism when it came to societal issues. His argument was "political independence precedes societal freedom", especially because in his opinion given this prioritisation, the coloniser could not interfere in the local religious/moral issues.
He knew the common man well enough to gauge with political acumen that a religious festival such as Ganeshotsav and a historical event such as Shiv Jayanti could be used to awaken the nationalistic fervour in the dormant society. He promoted using art forms such as the folk ''powada" to drama with political undertones to energise the societal conscience.
He was a scholar to whom goes the theory of the Arctic home of the Vedas which, however, currently is being misused to wedge a divide between the Southern non-Aryans to the Northern Aryans. He was a committed teacher who established the DES.
He was, I would like to maintain, the first few to understand and use the power of the media. His Marathi newspaper "Kesari" and English newspaper "Maratha" were the source of political unrest then.
Considered the leader of the downtrodden masses then, currently, however, given the dominant identity politics, he is the elitist leader. He would have fiercely attacked such intellectual chicanery! In my opinion, his genuine radicalism rests in such honesty.
He was radical enough to stand by unusual ideas so much so that apparently he advised his son that the young man can even be a cobbler, but THE BEST around. Fun it is when he is now judged from within a caste framework. Times, they, a-change, and the great, however superb, would be victims to this shift. For the knowing few, however, they are the lodestars who always lead to the right path.
Pratima@ The very affinity for the unique makes us special.
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