You are a Puneite by conviction, if not by birth. You love hence the Pune feel, the famous Ganeshotsav, for instance. You are, moreover, in to academics, and teach in an educational institute that is a DES satellite. Given these major and minor premises, what would be the inevitable syllogistic conclusion? Yes, that you adore Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak like a devotee, right? Yes, that precisely and perfectly describes me!
I revere Lokmanya. I do believe most fervently that but for his national appeal that in those days transcended the class/region/language differences that dog our footsteps today, the movement for independence would not have begun in the first place. In that sense, he truly is the father of the freedom movement.
The way he used the Ganapati festival and the Shivaji memorial to organise, galvanise and synthesize a society that had forgotten its moorings and had lost any hopes for a future fused with freedom is truly radical and yet simply practical.
Sure, if he were to be around today, he would have re-energised the contemporary contexts lost to consumerism. Remember the "Swadeshi" movement? In brief, as much is he needed today as he was then. As an extremely well-read intellectual, moreover, sure he would have fine-tuned his position on a few issues.
Anyways, his opposition was to the coloniser interfering in "our" Swadeshi matters, right? Hence his insistence on political independence, while societal freedom could be ours to negotiate within rather than imposed by the unknowing foreigner! I think, that was his oppositional stance. I do not think he was rejecting social reform whole scale.
Yes, I do think that a brilliant scholar cum activist leader like him is a pretty rare combination. Whatever might be the contexts he would have to face, he is sure to deal with them in a thoughtful way, I believe. In that sense, the prayer in the title of our blog today!
Pratima@ When we were school children, my parents encouraged us to celebrate such National festivals at home, too. Just as she would make us a palakhi to carry around, Aai used to make us give speeches on Tilak, for instance. Ah, to be a child of such parents/who our thinking thus did crescent!
