DADABHAI NAOROJI

Dadabhai Naoroji - He sought to reform the socio-political structure of India
Dadabhai Naoroji was generally popular as the Grand Old man of India.
Dadabhai Naoroji (September 6, 1825 – June 30, 1917) was a Parsi intellectual, educator, cotton trader, and an early Indian political leader. His book, Poverty and Un-British Rule in India, brought into the limelight the drain of India's wealth into Britain. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) in the British House of Commons between 1892 and 1895, and the first Asian to be a British MP. He is also credited with the founding of the Indian National Congress, along with A.O. Hume and Dinshaw Edulji Wacha.

Early years
The son of Maneckbai and Naoroji Palanji Dordi, born into a poor family of Parsi-Zoroastrian priests in Navsari in Southern Gujarat, Naoroji was educated at Elphinstone College. At the early age of 25, he was appointed Assistant Professor at the Elphinstone Institution in 1850, becoming the first Indian to hold such an academic position. Being an Athornan (ordained priest), Naoroji founded the Rahnumae Mazdayasne Sabha (Guides on the Mazdayasne Path) on 1 August 1851 to restore the Zoroastrian religion to its original purity and simplicity. In 1854, he also founded a fortnightly, the Rast Goftar (or The Truth Teller), to clarify Zoroastrian concepts. By 1855 he was Professor of Mathematics and Natural philosophy in Mumbai. He travelled to London in 1855 to become a partner in Cama & Co, opening a Liverpool location for the first Indian company to be established in Britain. Within 3 years, he had resigned on ethical grounds. In 1859 he established his own cotton trading company, Naoroji & Co. Later he became professor of Gujarati at University College London.

In 1867 Naoroji helped establish the East India Association, one of the predecessor organizations of the Indian National Congress. In 1874 he became Prime Minister of Baroda and was a member of the Legislative Council of Mumbai (then Bombay) (1885-88). He also founded the Indian National Association from Calcutta a few years before the founding of the Indian National Congress in Mumbai, with the same objectives and practices. The two groups later merged into the INC, and Naoroji was elected President of the Congress in 1886.

Naoroji moved to Britain once again and continued his political involvement. Elected for the Liberal Party in Finsbury Central at the 1892 general election, he was the first British Indian MP. He refused to take the oath on the Bible as he was not a Christian, but was allowed to take the oath of office in the name of God on his copy of Khordeh Avesta. In Parliament he spoke on Irish Home Rule and the condition of the Indian people. In his political campaign and duties as an MP, he was assisted by Muhammed Ali Jinnah, the future Muslim nationalist and founder of Pakistan. In 1906, Naoroji was again elected president of the Indian National Congress. Naoroji was a staunch moderate within the Congress, during the phase when opinion in the party was split between the moderates and extremists.

Naoroji was known as the 'Grand Old Man of India', a mentor to both Gopal Krishna Gokhale and Mahatma Gandhi. He was married to Gulbai from the age of eleven. He died in Mumbai June 30, 1917, at age 92.

Works
 The manners and customs of the Parsees (Bombay, 1864)
 The European and Asiatic races (London, 1866
 Admission of educated natives into the Indian Civil Service (London, 1868)
 The wants and means of India (London, 1870)
 Condition of India (Bombay, 1881)
 Poverty of India: A Paper Read Before the Bombay Branche of the East India Association, Bombay, Ranima Union Press, (1876)
 C. L. Parekh, ed., Essays, Speeches, Addresses and Writings of the Honourable Dadabhai Naoroji, Bombay, Caxton Printing Works (1887). An excerpt, "The Benefits of British Rule", in a modernized text by J. S. Arkenberg, ed., on line at Paul Halsall, ed., Internet Modern History Sourcebook.
 Lord Salisbury’s Blackman (Lucknow, 1889)

References
1. ^ Sumita Mukherjee, “‘Narrow-majority’ and ‘Bow-and-agree’: Public Attitudes Towards the Elections of the First Asian MPs in Britain, Dadabhai Naoroji and Mancherjee Merwanjee Bhownaggree, 1885-1906”, Journal of the Oxford University History Society, 2 (Michaelmas 2004).
2. ^ "Dr. Dadabhai Naoroji, 'The Grand Old Man of India'", Vohuman.org
3. ^ "Dadabhai Naoroji, 1825-1917", Migration Histories. On line.

GOPAL KRISHNA GOKHALE

Gopal Krishna Gokhale - Gokhale wan an early Indian champion for public education
Gopal Krishna Gokhale, (May 9, 1866 - February 19, 1915) was one of the founding social and political leaders during the Indian Independence Movement against the British Empire in India. Gokhale was a senior leader of the Indian National Congress and founder of the Servants of India Society. Through the Society as well as the Congress and other legislative bodies he served in, Gokhale promoted not only or even primarily independence from the British Empire but also social reform. To achieve his goals, Gokhale followed two overarching principles: avoidance of violence and reform within existing government institutions.

Background and Education
Gopal Krishna Gokhale was born May 9, 1866 in Kotaluk, Maharashtra, a state on the western coast of India that was then part of the Bombay Presidency. Although they were Chitpavan Brahmin, Gokhale’s family was relatively poor. Even so, they ensured that Gokhale received an English education, which would place Gokhale in a position to obtain employment as a clerk or minor official in the British Raj. Being one of the first generations of Indians to receive a college education, Gokhale graduated from Elphinstone College in 1884. Gokhale’s education tremendously influenced the course of his future career – in addition to learning English, he was exposed to western political thought and became a great admirer of theorists such as John Stuart Mill and Edmund Burke. Although he would come to criticize unhesitatingly many aspects of the English colonial regime, the respect for English political theory and institutions that Gokhale acquired in his college years would remain with him for the rest of his life.

Indian National Congress and Rivalry with Bal Gangadhar Tilak
Gokhale became a member of the Indian National Congress in 1889, as a protégé of social reformer Mahadev Govind Ranade. Along with other contemporary leaders like Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Dadabhai Naoroji, Bipin Chandra Pal, Lala Lajpat Rai and Annie Besant, Gokhale fought for decades to obtain greater political representation and power over public affairs for common Indians. He was moderate in his views and attitudes, and sought to petition the British authorities by cultivating a process of dialogue and discussion which would yield greater British respect for Indian rights. Gokhale had visited Ireland and had arranged for an Irish nationalist, Alfred Webb, to serve as President of the Indian National Congress in 1894. The following year, Gokhale became the Congress’s joint secretary along with Tilak. In many ways, Tilak and Gokhale’s early careers paralleled – both were Chitpavan Brahmin (though unlike Gokhale, Tilak was wealthy), both attended Elphinstone College, both became mathematics professors, and both were important members of the Deccan Education Society. When both became active in the Congress, however, the divergence of their views concerning how best to improve the lives of Indians became increasingly apparent.

Gokhale’s first major confrontation with Tilak centered around one of his pet projects, the Age of Consent Bill introduced by the British Imperial Government, in 1891-2. Gokhale and his fellow liberal reformers, wishing to purge what they saw as superstitions and abuses from their native Hinduism, wished through the Consent Bill to curb child marriage abuses. Though the Bill was not extreme, only raising the age of consent from ten to twelve, Tilak took issue with it; he did not object per se to the idea of moving towards the elimination of child marriage, but rather to the idea of British interference with Hindu tradition. For Tilak, such reform movements were not to be sought after under imperial rule when they would be enforced by the British, but rather after independence was achieved when Indians would enforce it on themselves. Despite Tilak’s opposition, however, Gokhale and the reformers won the day and the bill became law in the Bombay Presidency. [4] In 1905, Gokhale became president of the Indian National Congress. Gokhale used his now considerable influence to undermine his longtime rival, Tilak, refusing to support Tilak as candidate for president of the Congress in 1906. By now, Congress was split: Gokhale and Tilak were the respective leaders of the moderates and the "extremists" (the latter now known by the more politically correct term, 'aggressive nationalists') in the Congress. Tilak was an advocate of civil agitation and direct revolution to overthrow the British Empire, whereas Gokhale was a moderate reformist. As a result, the Congress Party split into two wings and was largely robbed of its effectiveness for a decade. The two sides would later patch up in 1916 after Gokhale died.

Servants of India Society
In 1905, when Gokhale was elected president of the Indian National Congress and was at the height of his political power, he founded the Servants of India Society to specifically further one of the causes dearest to his heart: the expansion of Indian education. For Gokhale, true political change in India would only be possible when a new generation of Indians became educated as to their civil and patriotic duty to their country and to each other. Believing existing educational institutions and the Indian Civil Service did not do enough to provide Indians with opportunities to gain this political education, Gokhale hoped the Servants of India Society would fill this need. In his preamble to the SIS’s constitution, Gokhale wrote that “The Servants of India Society will train men prepared to devote their lives to the cause of country in a religious spirit, and will seek to promote, by all constitutional means, the national interests of the Indian people.” [5] The Society took up the cause of promoting Indian education in earnest, and among its many projects organized mobile libraries, founded schoools, and provided night classes for factory workers. [6] Although the Society lost much of its vigor following Gokhale’s death, it still exists to this day, though its membership is small.

Involvement with British Imperial Government
Gokhale, though an earlier leader of the Indian nationalist movement, was not primarily concerned with independence but rather with social reform; he believed such reform would be best achieved by working within existing British government institutions, a position which earned him the enmity of more aggressive nationalists such as Tilak. Undeterred by such opposition, Gokhale would work directly with the British throughout his political career in order to further his reform goals.

In 1899, Gokhale was elected to the Bombay Legislative Council, where he served until he was elected to the Imperial Legislative Council in 1902. He there obtained a reputation as extremely knowledgeable and contributed significantly to the annual budget debates. Gokhale developed so great a reputation among the British that he was invited to London to meet with Lord Morley, with whom he established a rapport. Gokhale would help during visit to shape the Morley-Minto Reforms introduced in1909. Gokhale was appointed a CIE (Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire) in the 1904 New Year's Honours List, a formal recognition by the Empire of his service.

Mentor to both Jinnah and Gandhi
Gokhale was famously a mentor to Mahatma Gandhi in his formative years. In 1912, Gokhale visited South Africa at Gandhi's invitation. As a young barrister, Gandhi returned from his struggles against the Empire in South Africa and received personal guidance from Gokhale, including a knowledge and understanding of India and the issues confronting common Indians. By 1920, Gandhi would emerge as the leader of the Indian Independence Movement. In his autobiography, Gandhi calls Gokhale his mentor and guide. Despite his deep respect for Gokhale, however, Gandhi would reject Gokhale's faith in western institutions as a means of achieving political reform and ultimately chose not to become a member of Gokhale's Servants of India Society. Gokhale was also the role model and mentor of Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the future founder of Pakistan, who in 1912, aspired to become the "Muslim Gokhale". Gokhale famously praised Jinnah as an "ambassador of Hindu-Muslim Unity." (reference needed)

Gokhale Institute
The Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics (GIPE), commonly known as Gokhale Institute, is one of the oldest research and training institutes in Economics in India. It is located on BMCC Road in the Deccan Gymkhana area of Pune, Maharashtra. The Institute was founded with an endowment offered to the Servants of India Society by Shri R R Kale. The Servants of India Society are the trustees of the Institute.

Death
Gokhale continued to be politically active through the last years of his life. This included extensive travelling abroad: in addition to his 1908 trip to England, he also visited South Africa in 1912, where his protégé Gandhi was working to improve conditions for the Indian minority living there. Meanwhile, he continued to be involved in the Servants of India Society, the Congress, and the Legislative Council while constantly advocating the advancement of Indian education. All these stresses took their toll, however, and Gokhale died in 1915 at forty-nine years of age.

Impact on Indian Nationalist Movement
Gokhale's impact on the course of the Indian nationalist movement was considerable. Through his close relationship with the highest levels of British imperial government, Gokhale forced India's colonial masters to recognize the capabilities of a new generation of educated Indians and to include them more than ever before in the governing process. Gokhale’s firm belief in the need for a spiritualization of politics, social amelioration and universal education deeply inspired the next great man on the Indian political stage, Mohandas K. Gandhi; his ultimate faith in western political institutions and classical liberalism, though rejected by Gandhi, would come to ultimate fruition in the Westminster model of government adopted by an independent India in 1950.

References
1. ^ Stanley Wolpert, Tilak and Gokhale: Revolution and Reform in the Making of Modem India, Berkeley, U. California (1962), 22.
2. ^ Cited by John Hume in his acceptance speech for the 2001 Gandhi Peace Prize. Reported in Seminar Magazine No.511 March 2002, accessed at [1] July 26, 2006
3. ^ Jim Masselos, Indian Nationalism: An History, Bangalore, Sterling Publishers (1991), 95.
4. ^ D. Mackenzie Brown, Indian Political Thought from Ranade to Bhave, Los Angeles: University of California Press (1961), 77.
5. ^ Stanley Wolpert, Tilak and Gokhale: Revolution and Reform in the Making of Modem India, Berkeley, U. California (1962), 158-160.
6. ^ Carey A. Watt, “Education for National Efficiency: Constructive Nationalism in North India, 1909-1916,” in Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 31, No. 2 (May, 1997), 341-342, 355. ^ Jim Masselos, Indian Nationalism: An History, Bangalore, Sterling Publishers (1991), 157.

LALA LAJPAT RAI

Lala Lajpat Rai - Lala Lajpat Rai is popularly known as Sher-I-Punjab
Lala Lajpat Rai (1865-1928, Hindi: लाला लाजपत राय) was an Indian author and politician who is chiefly remembered as a leader in the Indian fight for freedom from the British Raj. The freedom fighter was popularly known as Punjab Kesari (The Lion of Punjab). He was also the founder of Punjab National Bank and Lakshmi Insurance Company.

Early life
Born in Jagraon, on January,28, India in 1865, Rai created a career of reforming Indian policy through politics and writing. When studying law in Lahore, Rai continued to practice Hinduism. He became a large believer in the idea that Hinduism, above nationality, was the pivotal point upon which an Indian lifestyle must be based. Hinduism, as Rai believed, led to practices of peace to humanity; when nationalist ideas were added to this peaceful belief system, a non-secular nation could be formed. His involvement with Hindu Mhasabhaite leaders gathered criticism from the Bharat Sabha as Mhasabhas were anti-secularism, which did not conform with the system laid out by Congress. This focus on Hindu practices in the subcontinent would ultimately lead him to the continuation of peaceful movements to create successful demonstrations for Indian independence.

Political Life
As the need for partition and independence took an important turn for the possible, Rai’s involvement became imperative to the Indian Independence Movement. His actions in anti-imperialist movements led to numerous arrests which were eventually acquitted. Rai became an important member of the Arya Samaj. This political group was full of English-educated Indians who believed that Hinduism had a specific and direct impact on what it meant to be Indian. The group also took the ideas of a merged western and eastern world and promoted that the subcontinent had benefitted from its coagulation. The involvement of the Arya Samaj in constitutional reform supported the freedom movement which took hold of the Indian population. Rai led political rallies which taught how the history of the subcontinent had always been heading to the philosophical idea that it would become an independent nation.

Rai presided over the first session of the All India Trade Union Congress in 1920. In 1923, he became a member of the Imperial Legislative Assembly. He also went to Geneva to attend the eighth International Labour Conference in 1926 as a representative of Indian labour. He had an opportunity to watch the labour movement in the USA and England where he was required to prolong his stay for political reasons.

Rai led the Punjab protests against the Amritsar Massacre (1919) and the Non-Cooperation Movement (1919 - 1922). He was repeatedly arrested. Rai however disagreed with Mohandas Gandhi's suspension of the movement due to the Chauri Chaura incident, and formed the Congress Independence Party, which was particularly pro-Hindu in voice and policy.

He was not only a good orator but also a prolific and versatile writer. His journal Arya Gazette concentrated mainly on subjects related to the Arya Samaj. Bande Mataram and People, contained his inspiring speeches to end oppression by the foreign rulers. He founded the Servants of the People Society, which worked for the freedom movement as well as for social reform in the country. He also wrote an autobiography in English titled The Story of My Life.

Simon Commission protests
Rai led a procession with Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya to demonstrate against the Simon Commission. During this procession, Rai became the target of a lathi led by British police. He was injured in the precession. A meeting was held the same evening where he spoke with such vigour that his words, "Every blow aimed at me is a nail in the coffin of British imperialism", became historic. Though he recovered from the fever and pain within three days, his health had received a permanent setback and on November 17, 1928, he died of his injuries. His death led to great disturbances in the country and it inspired national struggle for freedom.

Author
Rai’s journey to the United States during WWI helped him to gather knowledge of how an independent nation formulates a nationalist identity. This is where he gathered information about how foreign nations, specifically Britain’s imperialist hold on India, have negative effects on the people, the lifestyles, and the ability to generate bonds with other nations. Rai wrote articles that perpetuated foreign nations to bond with the subcontinent’s struggle for independence. By accepting that westernized ideals are positive to the creation of nationalities, Rai gained support for breaking from Britain. In Europeanization and the Ancient Culture of India, Rai wrote that nationalization of India was imperative to spread western ideology to the rest of the world. Since the westernization of India had successfully been adapted while continuing traditions remained a large part of the culture, Rai believed that India no longer needed an overbearing imperialist government. He wrote that: “at first sight it seems absurd to give on name to all Indian civilization. But a close examination for facts and data amply proves the unity of Indian civilization, at least for the present geological period.” These ideas were passed to foreign countries in order to show that despite the cultural differences from the western world, India’s society had become a sustainable, functional nation which deserved its own nationality as opposed being overseen by an inferior western country.

Writings by Lala Lajpat include Josiah Wedgwood - The Man And His Work, The United States of America: A Hindu's impressions and a study, History of the Arya Samaj, Swaraj and social change, England’s Debt to India: A historical narrative of Britain's fiscal policy in India, The Problems Of National Education In India and Unhappy India: Being a reply to Katherine Mayo's "Mother India", published in 1928. (Mother India was a polemical account of India's self rule by American historian Katherine Mayo.)

Inspiration and memorial
The Lala Lajpat Rai Memorial Trust was formed in 1959 on the eve of his Centenary Birth Celebration, to promote education. The trust was founded by a group of Punjabi philanthropists (including R.P Gupta and B.M Grover) who have settled and prospered in the Indian State of Maharashtra.

A statue of Lajpat Rai stands at the central square in Shimla, India. Lajpat Nagar and Lajpat Nagar Central Market in New Delhi, Lala Lajpat Rai Hall of Residence at Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) in Kharagpur and Lala Lajpat Rai Institute of Engineering and Technology, Moga are named in his honor. Also many institutes, Schools and Library in his hometown of Jagraon, district Ludhiana are named after him.

References
1. ^ Lala Lajpat Rai. Encyclopedia Britannica. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/ topic/328063/Lala-Lajpat-Rai
2. ^ S. K. Mittal and Irfan Habib. “Towards Independence and Socialist Republic: Naujawan Bharat Sabha”. Social Scientist Vol. 8 2, 1979.
3. ^ Norman G. Barrier. “The Arya Samaj and Congress Politics in the Punjab, 1894-1908.” The Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 26, 1967.
4. ^ Norman G. Barrier. “The Arya Samaj and Congress Politics in the Punjab, 1894-1908.” The Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 26, 1967. ^ Lal Lajpat Rai. “Europeanization and the Ancient Culture of India.” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science Vol. 145, 1929.”

SARDAR BHAGAT SINGH

Sardar Bhagat Singh - His name is written in blood in India's History for freedom
Bhagat Singh (September 27, 1907 – March 23, 1931) was an Indian freedom fighter, considered to be one of the most influential revolutionaries of the Indian independence movement. He is often referred to as Shaheed Bhagat Singh (the word shaheed means "martyr").

Born to a family which had earlier been involved in revolutionary activities against the British Raj in India, Singh, as a teenager, had studied European revolutionary movements and was attracted to anarchism and communism. He became involved in numerous revolutionary organizations. He quickly rose through the ranks of the Hindustan Republican Association (HRA) and became one of its leaders, converting it to the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA). Singh gained support when he underwent a 63-day fast in jail, demanding equal rights for Indian and British political prisoners. He was hanged for shooting a police officer in response to the killing of veteran freedom fighter Lala Lajpat Rai. His legacy prompted youth in India to begin fighting for Indian independence and also increased the rise of socialism in India.

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SUBHAS CHANDRA BOSE

Subhas Chandra Bose - Founder of Indian National Army and a legendary hero
Subhas Chandra Bose (Bengali: সুভাষচন্দ্র বসু, Oriya- ସୁଭାଷ ଚନ୍ଦ୍ର ବୋଷ; born January 23, 1897; presumed to have died August 18, 1945 although this is disputed), popularly known as Netaji (literally "Respected Leader"), was a leader in the Indian independence movement.

Bose was elected president of the Indian National Congress for two consecutive terms but resigned from the post following ideological conflicts with Mahatma Gandhi. Bose believed that Mahatma Gandhi's tactics of non-violence would never be sufficient to secure India's independence, and advocated violent resistance. He established a separate political party, the All India Forward Bloc and continued to call for the full and immediate independence of India from British rule. He was imprisoned by the British authorities 11 times.

His stance did not change with the outbreak of the Second World War, which he saw as an opportunity to take advantage of British weakness. At the outset of the war, he went away from India and travelled to the Soviet Union, Germany and Japan, seeking an alliance with the aim of attacking the British in India. With Japanese assistance, he re-organised and later led the Indian National Army, formed from Indian prisoners-of-war and plantation workers from British Malaysia, Singapore, and other parts of Southeast Asia, against British forces. With Japanese monetary, political, diplomatic and military assistance, he formed the Azad Hind Government in exile and regrouped and led the Indian National Army in battle against the allies at Imphal and in Burma.

His political views and the alliances he made with Nazi and other militarist regimes at war with Britain have been the cause of arguments among historians and politicians, with some accusing him of fascist sympathies, while others in India have been more sympathetic towards the inculcation of realpolitik as a manifesto that guided his social and political choices.

Bose advocated complete freedom for India at the earliest, whereas the Congress Committee wanted it in phases, through a Dominion status. Other younger leaders including Jawaharlal Nehru supported Bose and finally at the historic Lahore Congress convention, the Congress had to adopt Purna Swaraj (complete freedom) as its motto. Bhagat Singh's martyrdom and the inability of the Congress leaders to save his life infuriated Bose and he started a movement opposing the Gandhi-Irwin Pact. He was imprisoned and expelled from India. But defying the ban, he came back to India and was imprisoned again.

He is presumed to have died on 18 August 1945 in a plane crash over Taiwan. However, contradictory evidence exists regarding his death in the accident.

Early life
Subhash Chandra Bose was born on January 23 1897 in Cuttack, the ninth child among 14, of Janakinath Bose, an advocate, and Prabhavati Devi. He is a brahmin. Bose studied in an Anglo school, Cuttack until standard 6 which is now known as Stewart School and then shifted to Ravenshaw Collegiate School of Cuttack. A brilliant student, Bose topped the matriculation examination of Calcutta province in 1911 and passed his B.A. in 1918 in Philosophy from the Scottish Church College of the University of Calcutta.

Bose went to study in Fitzwilliam Hall of the University of Cambridge, and his high score on civil service exams meant an almost automatic appointment. He then took his first conscious step as a revolutionary and resigned the appointment on the premise that the "best way to end a government is to withdraw from it." At the time, Indian nationalists were shocked and outraged because of the Amritsar massacre and the repressive Rowlatt legislation of 1919. Returning to India, Bose wrote for the newspaper Swaraj and took charge of publicity for the Bengal Provincial Congress Committee. His mentor was C.R. Das, spokesman for aggressive nationalism in Bengal. Bose worked for Das when the latter was elected mayor of Calcutta in 1924. In a roundup of nationlists in 1925, Bose was arrested and sent to prison in Mandalay, where he contracted tuberculosis.

He was a devout Hindu and spent much time in meditation. Strongly influenced by Swami Vivekananda's teachings, he was known for his patriotic zeal as a student.

National politics

Released from prison two years later, Bose became general secretary of the Congress party and worked with Jawaharlal Nehru for independence. Again Bose was arrested and jailed for civil disobedience; this time he emerged Mayor of Calcutta. During the mid-1930s Bose traveled in Europe, visiting Indian students and European politicians, as well as Hitler in 1936. He observed party organization and saw communism and fascism in action.

By 1938 Bose had become a leader of national stature and agreed to accept nomination as Congress president. He stood for unqualified Swaraj (independence), including the use of force against the British. This meant a confrontation with Mohandas Gandhi, who in fact opposed Bose's presidency, splitting the Congress party. Bose attempted to maintain unity, but Gandhi advised Bose to form his own cabinet. The rift also divided Bose and Nehru. Bose appeared at the 1939 Congress meeting on a stretcher. Though he was elected president again, over Gandhi's preferred candidate Pattabhi Sitaramayya, this time differences with Gandhi led to Bose's resignation. "I am an extremist, " Bose once said, and his uncompromising stand finally cut him off from the mainstream of Indian nationalism. Bose then organized the Forward Bloc aimed at consolidating the political left, but its main strength was in his home state, Bengal.

When war erupted in Europe, Bose was again imprisoned for civil disobedience and put under house arrest to await trial. He escaped and made his way to Berlin by way of Peshawar and Afghanistan. In Europe, Bose sought help from Germany for the liberation of India. He got Nazi permission to organize the Indian Legion of prisoners of war from Africa, but the legion remained basically German in training. Bose felt the need for stronger steps, and he turned to the Japanese embassy in Berlin, which finally made arrangements for Bose to go to Asia. Bose's impressive appearance and charisma attracted women admirers, including his Austrian secretary, whom he secretly married and by whom he had a daughter. It was also in Germany that Bose acquired his popular name, "Netaji."

Indian National Army
Arriving in Tokyo in May 1943, Bose attracted the attention of the Japanese high command, including Hideki Tojo, Japan's premier. The Japanese agreed to cooperate in founding an Axis-supported Indian National Army (INA) in Southeast Asia. Bose was flown to Singapore and became commander of the INA and head of the Free India provisional government. The INA included both Indian prisoners of war from Singapore and Indian civilians in Southeast Asia. The strength of INA grew to 43,000 and fought Allied forces in 1944 inside the borders of India at Imphal and in Burma. For Bose any means and any ally were acceptable in the struggle to liberate India. By the end of World War II none of Bose's Axis allies had helped, and Bose then turned to the Soviet Union. Three officers of the INA were tried after the war in Delhi; the trial attracted so much popular sympathy (including statements by Nehru and Gandhi that the men were great patriots) that the British decision to withdraw from India followed. Bose indirectly and posthumously achieved his goal of Indian independence.

Disappearance and alleged death
Officially, Bose died in a plane crash over Taiwan, while flying to Tokyo on 18 August 1945. It is believed that he was in route to the Soviet Union in a Japanese plane when it crashed in Taiwan, burning him fatally. However, his body was never recovered, and many theories have been put forward concerning his possible survival. One such claim is that Bose actually died in Siberia, while in Soviet captivity. Several committees have been set up by the Government of India to probe into this matter.

In May 1956, a four-man Indian team (known as the Shah Nawaz Committee) visited Japan to probe the circumstances of Bose's alleged death. The Indian government did not then request assistance from the government of Taiwan in the matter, citing their lack of diplomatic relations with Taiwan.

However, the Inquiry Commission under Justice Mukherjee, which investigated the Bose disappearance mystery in the period 1999-2005, did approach the Taiwanese government, and obtained information from the Taiwan Government that no plane carrying Bose had ever crashed in Taipei. The Mukherjee Commission also received a report originating from the US State Department, supporting the claim of the Taiwan Government that no such air crash took place during that time frame. The revelation made it clear that disappearance of Bose was a mystery which could not be simplified by the story of his death.

The Justice Mukherjee Commission of Inquiry submitted its report to the Indian Government on November 8, 2005. The report was tabled in Parliament on May 17, 2006. The probe said in its report that as Bose did not die in the plane crash, the ashes at the Renkoji Temple are not his. However, the Indian Government rejected the findings of the Commission, though no reasons were cited.

Mysterious monk
Several people believed that the Hindu sanyasi named Bhagwanji, who lived in Faizabad, near Ayodhya and died in 1985, was Subhas Chandra Bose in exile. There had been at least four known occasions when Bhagwanji said he was Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. The belongings of the sanyasi were taken into custody after his death, following a court order. These were later subjected to inspection by the Justice Mukherjee Commission of Inquiry. The commission refuted this belief, in the absence of any "clinching evidence". The independent probe done by the Hindustan Times into the case provided hints that the monk was Bose himself. The life and works of Bhagwanji remain a mystery even today.

Political views
Subhas Chandra Bose, believed that the Vedanta and the Bhagavad Geeta were the sources of inspiration for the struggle against the British. Swami Vivekananda's teachings on universalism, his nationalist thoughts and his emphasis on social service and reform had all inspired Subhas Chandra Bose from his very young days. The fresh interpretation of the India's ancient scriptures had appealed immensely to him. Many scholars believe that Hindu spirituality formed the essential part of his political and social thought through his adult life, although there was no sense of bigotry or orthodoxy in it. Subhas who called himself a socialist, believed that socialism in India owed its origins to Swami Vivekananda. As historian Leonard Gordan explains "Inner religious explorations continued to be a part of his adult life. This set him apart from the slowly growing number of atheistic socialists and communists who dotted the Indian landscape".

Bose's correspondence (prior to 1939) reflects his deep disapproval of the racist practices of, and annulment of democratic institutions in Nazi Germany. However, he expressed admiration for the authoritarian methods (though not the racial ideologies) which he saw in Italy and Germany during the 1930s, and thought they could be used in building an independent India.

Bose had clearly expressed his belief that democracy was the best option for India. The pro-Bose thinkers believe that his authoritarian control of the Azad Hind was based on political pragmatism and a post-colonial recovery doctrine rather than any anti-democratic belief.[citation needed] However, during the war (and possibly as early as the 1930s) Bose seems to have decided that no democratic system could be adequate to overcome India's poverty and social inequalities, and he wrote that an authoritarian state, similar to that of Soviet Russia (which he had also seen and admired) would be needed for the process of national re-building. Accordingly some suggest that Bose's alliance with the Axis during the war was based on more than just pragmatism, and that Bose was a militant nationalist, though not a Nazi nor a Fascist, for he supported empowerment of women, secularism and other democratic ideas; alternatively, others consider he might have been using populist methods of mobilisation common to many post-colonial leaders. Bose never liked the Nazis but when he failed to contact the Russians for help in Afghanistan he approached the Germans and Italians for help. His comment was that if he had to shake hands with the devil for India's independence he would do that.

LAL BAHADUR SHASTRI

LAL BAHADUR SHASTRI - The man who gave us Jai Jawan- Jai Kisan
Lal Bahadur Shastri (Hindi: लालबहादुर शास्त्री Lālbahādur Śāstrī; 2 October 1904 - 11 January 1966) was the third (second, and acting, being Gulzarilal Nanda) Prime Minister of the Republic of India and a significant figure in the Indian independence movement.

Early life
Lal Bahadur was born on 2nd October in the year 1904 in Ram Nagar, Mughalsarai, United Provinces, British India as Lal Bahadur Srivastava. His father Sharada Prasad was a poor school teacher, who later became a clerk in the Revenue Office at Allahabad. When Lal Bahadur was three months old, he slipped out of his mother's arms into a cowherd's basket at the ghats of the Ganges. The cowherd, who had no children, took the child as a gift from God and took him home. Lal Bahadur's parents lodged a complaint with the police, who traced the child, and returned him to his parents.

Lal Bahadur's father died when he was only a year and a half old. His mother Ramdulari Devi took him and his two sisters to her father's house and settled down there. Lal Bahadur stayed at his grandfather Hazari Lal's house till he was ten. Since there was no high school in their town, he was sent to Varanasi where he stayed with his maternal uncle and joined the Harischandra High School. While in Varanasi, Shastri once went with his friends to see a fair on the other bank of the Ganges. On the way back he had no money for the boat fare. Instead of borrowing from his friends, he jumped into the river and swam to the other bank.

As a boy, Lal Bahadur loved reading books and was fond of Guru Nanak's verses. He revered Bal Gangadhar Tilak, the Indian nationalist, social reformer and freedom fighter. After hearing a speech of Mahatma Gandhi at Varanasi in 1915, he dedicated his life to the service of the country. He also dropped his surname, as it indicated his caste and he was against the caste system. During the non-cooperation movement of Mahatma Gandhi in 1921, he joined processions in defiance of the prohibitory order. He was arrested but let off as he was a minor. He then enrolled at the nationalist Kashi Vidyapeeth in Varanasi. During his four years there, he was greatly influenced by the lectures of Dr. Bhagawandas on philosophy. Upon completion of his course at Kashi Vidyapeeth in 1926, he was given the title Shastri ("Scholar"). The title was a bachelor's degree awarded by the Vidya Peeth, but it stuck as part of his name. He also enrolled himself as a life member of the Servants of the People Society and began to work for the upliftment of the Harijans at Muzaffarpur. Later he became the President of the Society.

In 1927, Shastri married Lalita Devi of Mirzapur. In spite of the prevailing hefty dowry tradition, Shastri accepted only a charkha and a few yards of khadi as dowry. In 1930, he threw himself into the freedom struggle during Mahatma Gandhi's Salt Satyagraha. He was imprisoned for two and a half years. Once, while he was in prison, one of his daughters fell seriously ill. He was released for fifteen days, on the condition that he not take part in the freedom movement. However, his daughter died before he reached home. After performing the funeral rites, he voluntarily returned to prison, even before the expiry of the period. A year later, he asked for permission to go home for a week, as his son had contracted influenza. The permission was given, but his son's illness was not cured in a week. In spite of his family's pleadings, he kept his promise to the jail officers and returned to the prison.

Later, he worked as the Organizing Secretary of the Parliamentary Board of U.P. in 1937. In 1940, he was sent to prison for one year, for offering individual Satyagraha to support the freedom movement. On 8 August 1942, Mahatma Gandhi issued the Quit India speech at Gowalia Tank in Mumbai, demanding that the British leave India. Shastri, who had just then come out after a year in prison, traveled to Allahabad. For a week, he sent instructions to the freedom fighters from Jawaharlal Nehru's home, Anand Bhavan. A few days later, he was arrested and imprisoned until 1946. Shastri spent almost nine years in jail in total. During his stay in prison, he spent time reading books and became familiar with the works of western philosophers, revolutionaries and social reformers. He also translated the autobiography of Madam Curie into Hindi language.

In government
Following India's independence, Shastri was appointed Parliamentary Secretary in his home state, Uttar Pradesh. He became the Minister of Police and Transport under Govind Ballabh Pant's Chief Ministership. As the Transport Minister, he was the first to appoint women conductors. As the minister in charge of the Police Department, he ordered that Police use jets of water instead of lathis to disperse unruly crowds.

In 1951, he was made the General Secretary of the All-India Congress Committee, with Jawaharlal Nehru as the President. He was directly responsible for the selection of candidates and the direction of publicity and electioneering activities. He played an important role in the landslide successes of the Congress Party in the Indian General Elections of 1952, 1957 and 1962.

In 1951, Nehru nominated him to the Rajya Sabha. He served as the Minister of Railways and Transport in the Central Cabinet from 1951 to 1956. In 1956, he offered his resignation after a railway accident at Mahbubnagar it led to 112 deaths. However, Nehru did not accept his resignation. Three months later, he resigned accepting moral and constitutional responsibility for a railway accident at Ariyalur in Tamil Nadu that resulted in 144 deaths. While speaking in the Parliament on the incident, the then Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, stated that he was accepting the resignation because it would set an example in constitutional propriety and not because Shastri was in any way responsible for the accident. Shastri's unprecedented gesture was greatly appreciated by the citizens.

In 1957, Shastri returned to the Cabinet following the General Elections, first as the Minister for Transport and Communications, and then as the Minister of Commerce and Industry. In 1961, he became Minister for Home. As Union Home Minister he was instrumental in appointing the Committee on Prevention of Corruption under the Chairmanship of K. Santhanam.

Prime Minister
Jawaharlal Nehru died in office on 27 May 1964 and left a void. The then Congress Party President K. Kamaraj was instrumental in making Shastri as Prime Minister on 9 June. Shastri, though mild-mannered and soft-spoken, was a Nehruvian socialist and thus held appeal to those wishing to prevent the ascent of conservative right-winger Morarji Desai.

In his first broadcast as Prime Minister, on 11 June 1964, Shastri stated:
“ There comes a time in the life of every nation when it stands at the cross-roads of history and must choose which way to go. But for us there need be no difficulty or hesitation, no looking to right or left. Our way is straight and clear – the building up of a socialist democracy at home with freedom and prosperity for all, and the maintenance of world peace and friendship with all nations. ”

Shastri worked by his natural characteristics to obtain compromises between opposing viewpoints, but in his short tenure was ineffectual in dealing with the economic crisis and food shortage in the nation. However, he commanded a great deal of respect in the Indian populace, and he used it to advantage in pushing the Green Revolution in India; which directly led to India becoming a food-surplus nation, although he did not live to see it. During the 22-day war with Pakistan, Lal Bahadur Shastri created the slogan of "Jai Jawan Jai Kisan" ("Hail the soldier, Hail the farmer"), underlining the need to boost India's food production. Apart from emphasizing the Green Revolution, he was instrumental in promoting the White Revolution. Greatly impressed by a visit to the Kaira district in October 1964, he urged the rest of the country to learn from the successful experiment at Anand. The National Dairy Development Board was formed in 1965 during his tenure as Prime Minister.

Though he was Socialist, Shastri stated that India cannot have a regimented type of economy. During his tenure as Prime Minister, he visited Russia, Yugoslavia, England, Canada and Burma in 1965.

War with Pakistan
The chief problem for Shastri's administration was Pakistan. Laying claim to half of the Kutch peninsula, Pakistan sent incursion forces in August 1965, which skirmished with Indian tank divisions. In his report to the Lok Sabha on the confrontation in Kutch, Shastri stated:

“ In the utilization of our limited resources, we have always given primacy to plans and projects for economic development. It would, therefore, be obvious for anyone who is prepared to look at things objectively that India can have no possible interest in provoking border incidents or in building up an atmosphere of strife... In these circumstances, the duty of Government is quite clear and this duty will be discharged fully and effectively... We would prefer to live in poverty for as long as necessary but we shall not allow our freedom to be subverted. ”

Under a scheme proposed by the British PM, Pakistan obtained 10%, in place of their original claim of 50% of the territory. But Pakistan's aggressive intentions were also focused on Kashmir. When armed infiltrators from Pakistan began entering the State of Jammu and Kashmir, Shastri made it clear to Pakistan that force would be met with force. Just in September 1965, major incursions of militants and Pakistani soldiers began, hoping not only to break-down the government but incite a sympathetic revolt. The revolt did not happen, and India sent its forces across the Ceasefire Line (now Line of Control) and threatened Pakistan by crossing the International Border near Lahore as war broke out on a general scale. Massive tank battles occurred in the Punjab, and while Pakistani forces made some gains, Indian forces captured the key post at Haji Pir, in Kashmir, and brought the Pakistani city of Lahore under artillery and mortar fire.

On 17 September 1965, while the Indo-Pak war was on, India received a letter from China. In the letter, China alleged that the Indian army had set up army equipment in Chinese territory, and India would face China's wrath, unless the equipments are pulled down. In spite of the threat of aggression from China, Shastri declared "China's allegation is untrue. If China attacks India it is our firm resolve to fight for our freedom. The might of China will not deter us from defending our territorial integrity". The Chinese did not respond, but the Indo-Pak war resulted in great personnel and material casualties for both Pakistan and India.

The Indo-Pak war ended on 23 September 1965 with a United Nations-mandated ceasefire. In a broadcast to the nation on the day the of ceasefire, Shastri stated:

“ While the conflict between the armed forces of the two countries has come to an end, the more important thing for the United Nations and all those who stand for peace is to bring to an end the deeper conflict... How can this be brought about? In our view, the only answer lies in peaceful coexistence. India has stood for the principle of coexistence and championed it all over the world. Peaceful coexistence is possible among nations no matter how deep the differences between them, how far apart they are in their political and economic systems, no matter how intense the issues that divide them. ”

After the declaration of ceasefire, Shastri and Pakistani President Muhammad Ayub Khan attended a summit in Tashkent (former USSR, now in modern Uzbekistan), organised by Kosygin. On 10 January 1966, Shastri and Khan signed the Tashkent Declaration.

The next day Shastri, who had suffered two heart attacks earlier, died supposedly of a heart attack at 1:32 AM.. However, Shastri’s wife and family suspected that Shastri was poisoned by the cook of Indian ambassador in Moscow, who was responsible for preparing his meal in Tashkent. He was the only Indian Prime Minister, and indeed probably one of the few heads of government, to have died in office overseas.

Memorial
All his lifetime, Shastri was known for honesty and humility. He was the first person to be posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna, and a memorial "Vijay Ghat" was built for him in Delhi. Several educational institutes, roads, public squares and monuments in India are named after him. The Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh , also the Lal Bahadur Shashtri National Academy of Administration (Mussorie) is after his name these were some examples.

In 2005, the Government of India opened the Lal Bahadur Shastri Memorial and set up a library in New Delhi, as part of the Lal Bahadur Shastri Centenary Celebrations. Doordarshan produced a docu-drama on his life, and a national award was instituted in his name. Also, a chair was created in his name in the field of democracy and governance in Delhi University.

Personal life
Lal Bahadur Shastri had two sons,Anil Shastri andSunil Shastri, who are politicians.

Quotes
"Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan" ("Hail the soldier, Hail the farmer")

"If one person gives up one meal in a day, some other person gets his only meal of the day", spoken during the food crisis to encourage people to evenly distribute food.

"Perhaps due to my being small in size and soft of tongue, people are apt to believe that I am not able to be very firm. Though not physically strong, I think I am internally not so weak."

References
1. ^ "Lal Bahadur Shastri: The Fatherless Child". http://www.freeindia.org/biographies/%20greatleaders/shastri/page4.htm. Retrieved on 2007-03-13.
2. ^ "Lal Bahadur Shastri: The Loving Grandfather". http://www.freeindia.org/biographies/ greatleaders/shastri/page5.htm. Retrieved on 2007-03-13.
3. ^ "Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri - A Profile". Government Of India. http://pmindia.nic.in/ pm_shastri.htm. Retrieved on 2007-03-13.
4. ^ "Lal Bahadur Shastri: Strong and Self-respecting". http://www.freeindia.org/biographies/ greatleaders/shastri/page6.htm. Retrieved on 2007-03-13.
5. ^ "Lal Bahadur Shastri: Tilak and Gandhi". http://www.freeindia.org/biographies/ greatleaders/shastri/page8.htm. Retrieved on 2007-03-13.
6. ^ "Lal Bahadur Shastri: The Young Satyagrahi". http://www.freeindia.org/biographies/ greatleaders/shastri/page9.htm. Retrieved on 2007-03-13.
7. ^ "Lal Bahadur Shastri (1904-1966)". Research Reference and Training Division, Ministry Of Information And Broadcasting, Government Of India. http://rrtd.nic.in/lalbahadurshastri.htm. Retrieved on 2007-03-13.
8. ^ "Lal Bahadur Shastri: The Servants of the People Society". http://www.freeindia.org/ biographies/greatleaders/shastri/page9.htm. Retrieved on 2007-03-13.
9. ^ "Lal Bahadur Shastri: Freedom's Soldier". http://www.freeindia.org/biographies/greatleaders/ shastri/page11.htm. Retrieved on 2007-03-13.
10. ^ "Lal Bahadur Shastri: Sense of Honor". http://www.freeindia.org/biographies/ greatleaders/shastri/page12.htm. Retrieved on 2007-03-13.
11. ^ "Prime Minister's address at the inauguration of centenary year celebrations of late Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri". Prime Minister's Office, Government Of India. 2005-10-02. http://pmindia.nic.in/ speech/content.asp?id=30. Retrieved on 2007-03-13.
12. ^ "Lal Bahadur Shastri: In Prison Again". http://www.freeindia.org/biographies/greatleaders/ shastri/page13.htm. Retrieved on 2007-03-13.
13. ^ LiveIndia.com − Lal Bahadur Shastri
14. ^ "Lal Bahadur Shastri: The Responsibility of Freedom". http://www.freeindia.org/biographies/ greatleaders/shastri/page15.htm. Retrieved on 2007-03-13.
15. ^ "Lal Bahadur Shastri: I Am Responsible". http://www.freeindia.org/biographies/greatleaders/ shastri/page17.htm. Retrieved on 2007-03-13.
16. ^ "Prime Minister Inaugurates Lal Bahadur Shastri Memorial: Text Of Dr Manmohan Singh's Speech". Press Information Bureau, Government Of India. 2005-05-07. http://pib.nic.in/ release/release.asp?relid=9089. Retrieved on 2007-03-13.
17. ^ "Lal Bahadur Shastri: The Might of Peace". Press Information Bureau, Government Of India. 2006-09-29. http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=21051. Retrieved on 2007-03-13.
18. ^ "Lal Bahadur Shastri: Force will be met with force". http://www.freeindia.org/biographies/ greatleaders/shastri/page24.htm. Retrieved on 2007-03-13.
19. ^ "Lal Bahadur Shastri: China Cannot Frighten Us". http://www.freeindia.org/biographies/ greatleaders/shastri/page25.htm. Retrieved on 2007-03-13.
20. ^ "The Dawn". Dawn. http://www.dawn.com/weekly/books/archive/080713/books2.htm. Retrieved on 2009-03-28.
21. ^ "Lal Bahadur Shastri: Shastriji is Immortal". http://www.freeindia.org/biographies/ greatleaders/shastri/page27.htm. Retrieved on 2007-03-13.
22. ^ "PM's speech at conclusion of Lal Bahadur Shastri Centenary Celebrations". Prime Minister's Office, Government of India. 2005-10-04. http://pmindia.nic.in/speech/content.asp?id=205. Retrieved on 2007-03-13.
23. ^ The Shastri saga

Further reading
John Noyce. Lal Bahadur Shastri: an English-language bibliography. Lulu.com, 2002.

Lal Bahadur Shastri, 'Reflections on Indian politics', Indian Journal of Political Science, vol.23, 1962, pp1-7

L.P. Singh, Portrait of Lal Bahadur Shastri (Delhi: Ravi Dayal Publishers, 1996) ISBN 81-7530-006-X

(Sir) C.P. Srivastava, Lal Bahadur Shastri: a life of truth in politics (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1995) ISBN 0-19-563499-3

(Sir) C.P. Srivastava, Corruption: India's enemy within (New Delhi: Macmillan India, 2001) chapter 3 ISBN 0-333-93531-4

LOKMANYA BAL GANGADHAR TILAK

Bal Gangadhar Tilak - "Swaraj is my Birthright"
Bal Gangadhar Tilak (Marathi: बाळ गंगाधर टिळक) 23 July 1856(1856-07-23)–1 August 1920 (aged 64), was an Indian nationalist, teacher, social reformer and independence fighter who was the first popular leader of the Indian Independence Movement. The British colonial authorities derogatorily called him the "Father of the Indian unrest", a title which the Indian Nationalists paradoxically considered a badge of Honor. He was also conferred upon the honorary title of "Lokmanya", which literally means "Accepted by the people (as their leader)".

Tilak was one of the first and strongest advocates of "Swaraj" (complete independence) in Indian consciousness. His famous quote, "Swaraj is my birthright, and I shall have it !" is well-remembered in India even today.

Early life
Tilak was born in Madhali Alee (Middle Lane) in Ratnagiri, Maharashtra, into a middle class Marathi Chitpavan Brahmin family. His father was a famous schoolteacher and a scholar of Sanskrit. Unfortunately, he passed away when Tilak was sixteen. His brilliance rubbed off on young Tilak, who graduated from Deccan College, Pune in 1877. Tilak was among one of the first generation of Indians to receive a college education.

Tilak was expected, through Brahmin Marathi tradition, to actively participate in public affairs. He believed that “Religion and practical life are not different. To take to Samnyasa (renunciation) is not to abandon life. The real spirit is to make the country your family instead of working only for your own. The step beyond is to serve humanity and the next step is to serve God.” This dedication to humanity would be a fundamental element in the Indian Nationalist movement.

After graduating, Tilak began teaching mathematics in a private school in Pune and later became a journalist. He became a strong critic of the Western education system, feeling it demeaned the Indian students and disrespected India's heritage. He organized the Deccan Education Society with a few of his college friends, including Gopal Ganesh Agarkar, Mahadev Ballal Mamjoshi and Vishnu Krishna Chiplonkar whose goal was to improve the quality of education for India's youth. The Deccan Education society was set up to create a new system that taught young Indians nationalist ideas through an emphasis on Indian culture. Tilak began a mass movement towards independence that was camoflauged by an emphasis on a religious and cultural revival. He taught Mathematics at Fergusson College.

Political career
Journalism
Tilak co-founded two newspapers with Gopal Ganesh Agarkar, Vishnushastri Chiplunakar and other colleagues: Kesari, which means "Lion" in Sanskrit and was a Marathi newspaper, and 'The Maratha', an English newspaper in 1881. In just two years 'Kesari' attracted more readers than any other language newspaper in India. The editorials were generally about the people's sufferings under the British. These newspapers called upon every Indian to fight for his or her rights.

Tilak used to say to his colleagues: "You are not writing for the university students. Imagine you are talking to a villager. Be sure of your facts. Let your words be clear as daylight."

Tilak strongly criticized the government for its brutality in suppressing free expression, especially in face of protests against the division of Bengal in 1905, and for denigrating India's culture, its people and heritage. He demanded that the British immediately give Indians the right to self-government.

Indian National Congress
Tilak joined the Indian National Congress in the 1890. He opposed its moderate attitude, especially towards the fight for self government.

In 1891 Tilak opposed the Age of Consent bill. The act raised the age at which a girl could get married from 10 to 12. The Congress and other liberals supported it, but Tilak was set against it, terming it an interference with Hinduism. However, he personally opposed child marriage, and his own daughters married at 16.

When in 1897, plague epidemic spread from Mumbai (then Bombay) to Pune, the Government became jittery. The Assistant Collector of Pune, Mr. Rand, and his associates employed extremely severe and brutal methods to stop the spread of the disease by destroying even "clean homes." Even people who were not infected were carried away and in some cases, the carriers even looted property of the affected people. When the authorities turned a blind eye to all these excesses, furious Tilak took up the people's cause by publishing inflammatory articles in his paper Kesari, quoting the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad Gita, to say that no blame could be attached to anyone who killed an oppressor without any thought of reward. Following this, on 27 June, Rand and his assistant were killed. Tilak was charged with incitement to murder and sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment. When he emerged from prison, he had was revered as a martyr and a national hero and adopted a new slogan, "Swaraj (Self-Rule) is my birth right and I will have it."

Following the partition of Bengal in 1905, which was a strategy set out by Lord Curzon to weaken the nationalist movement, Tilak encouraged a boycott, regarded as the Swadeshi movement.

Tilak opposed the moderate views of Gopal Krishna Gokhale, and was supported by fellow Indian nationalists Bipin Chandra Pal in Bengal and Lala Lajpat Rai in Punjab. They were referred to as the Lal-Bal-Pal triumvirate. In 1907, the annual session of the Congress Party was held at Surat (Gujarat). Trouble broke out between the moderate and the extremist factions of the party over the selection of the new president of the Congress. The party split into the "Jahal matavadi" ("Hot Faction," or extremists), led by Tilak, Pal and Lajpat Rai, and the "Maval matavadi" ("Soft Faction," or moderates).

Arrest
On 30 April 1908 two Bengali youths, Prafulla Chaki and Kudiram Bose, threw a bomb on a carriage at Muzzafurpur in order to kill a District Judge Douglass Kenford but erroneously killed some women travelling in it. While Chaki committed suicide when caught, Bose was tried and hanged. Tilak in his paper Kesari defended the revolutionaries and called for immediate Swaraj or Self-rule. The Government swiftly arrested him for sedition. He asked a young Muhammad Ali Jinnah to represent him. But the British judge convicted him and he was imprisoned from 1908 to 1914 on the Andaman Islands. While imprisoned, he continued to read and write, further developing his ideas on the Indian Nationalist movement.

Much has been said of his trial of 1908, it being the most historic trial. His last words on the verdict of the Jury were such: "In spite of the verdict of the Jury, I maintain that I am innocent. There are higher powers that rule the destiny of men and nations and it may be the will of providence that the cause which I represent may prosper more by my suffering than my remaining free". These words now can be seen imprinted on the wall of Room. No. 46 at Bombay High Court.

Life after prison
Tilak had mellowed after his release in June 1914. When World War I started in August, Tilak, cabled the King-Emperor in Britain of his support and turned his oratory to find new recruits for war efforts. He welcomed The Indian Councils Act, popularly known as Minto-Morley Reforms which had been passed by British parliament in May 1909 terming it as ‘a marked increase of confidence between the Rulers and the Ruled’. Acts of violence actually retarded than hastened the pace of political reforms, he felt. He was eager for reconciliation with Congress and had abandoned his demand for direct action and settled for agitations ‘strictly by constitutional means’ - a line advocated his rival- Gopal Krishna Gokhale since beginning.

All India Home Rule League

Later, Tilak re-united with his fellow nationalists and re-joined the Indian National Congress in 1916. He also helped found the All India Home Rule League in 1916-18 with Joseph Baptista, Annie Besant and Muhammad Ali Jinnah. After years of trying to reunite the moderate and radical factions, he gave up and focused on the Home Rule League, which sought self rule. Tilak travelled from village to village trying to conjure up support from farmers and locals to join the movement towards self rule. Tilak was impressed by the Russian Revolution, and expressed his admiration for Lenin.

Tilak, who started his political life as a Maratha protagonist, during his later part of life progressed into a prominent nationalist after his close association with Indian nationalists following the partition of Bengal. When asked in Calcutta whether he envisioned a Maratha type of government for Free India, Tilak replied that the Maratha dominated Governments of 17th and 18th centuries were outmoded in 20th century and he wanted a genuine federal system for Free India where every religion and race were equal partners. He added that only such a form of Government would be able to safe-guard India's freedom.

Social contribution
In 1894, Tilak transformed worshipping Ganesha into Ganesh Chaturthi, a replacement counterpart to Muharram observance. It is touted to be an effective demonstration of festival procession. The following was the devotional song sung during the festivities.

“ Oh! Why have you abandoned today the Hindu religion?
How have you forgotten Ganapathi, Shiva and Maruthi?
What have you gained by worshipping the tabuts?
What boon has Allah conferred upon you
That you have become Mussalmans today?
Do not be friendly to a religion which is alien
Do not give up your religion and be fallen
Do not at all venerate the tabuts,
The cow is our mother, do not forget her. ”

Upon the inception of Ganesha Chaturthi, Hindus abandaoned participating Muharram festival and instances of riots were reported when the musicals passed mosques in Poona in 1894 and Dhulia in 1895.

Later years and legacy
Gandhi was a true follower of Tilak's legacy.There is almost a continuation of the thought process from Tilak to Gandhi that shaped the future of the independence movement that followed. He favored political dialogue and discussions as a more effective way to obtain political freedom for India.

After Tilak’s death on August 1st, 1920, on the first day of Gandhi’s first non-cooperation campaign, Gandhi paid his respects at his cremation in Mumbai, along with 20,000,000 people[citation needed]. Gandhi called Tilak "The Maker of Modern India". The court which convicted Tilak bears a plaque that says, " The actions of Tilak has been justified as the right of every individual to fight for his country. Those two convictions have gone into oblivion -- oblivion reserved by history for all unworthy deeds".

Books
In 1903, he wrote the book Arctic Home in the Vedas. In it he argued that the Vedas could only have been composed in the Arctics, and the Aryan bards brought them south after the onset of the last Ice age.

Tilak also authored 'Shrimadbhagwadgeetarahasya' - the analysis of 'Karmayoga' in the Bhagavadgita, which is known to be gist of the Vedas and the Upanishads.

Other collections of his writings include:
The Hindu philosophy of life, ethics and religion (published in 1887).
Vedic chronology and vedanga jyotisha.
Letters of Lokamanya Tilak, edited by M. D. Vidwans.
Selected documents of Lokamanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak, 1880-1920, edited by Ravindra Kumar.

References
1. ^ Bal Gangadhar Tilak Biography - Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak Indian Freedom Fighter - Bal Gangadhar Tilak History - Information on Bal Gangadhar Tilak
2. ^ D. Mackenzie Brown. “The Philosophy of Bal Gangadhar Tilak: Karma vs. Jnana in the Gita Rahasya.” Journal of Asian Studies, vol. 17, no. 3. (Ann Arbor: Association for Asian Studies, 1958), 204.
3. ^ D. D. Karve, “The Deccan Education Society” The Journal of Asian Studies, vol. 20, no. 2 (Ann Arbor: Association for Asian Studies, 1961), 206-207.
4. ^ Michael Edwardes, A History of India (New York: Farrar, Straus and Cudahy, 1961), 322.
5. ^ Ranbir Vohra, The Making of India: A Historical Survey (Armonk: M.E. Sharpe, Inc, 1997), 120
6. ^ Encyclopedia of Asian History. “Tilak, Bal Gangadhar,” (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons And Macmillian Publishing Company 1988), 98.
7. ^ Encyclopedia of Asian History. “Tilak, Bal Gangadhar,” (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons And Macmillian Publishing Company 1988), 98.
8. ^ M.V.S. Koteswara Rao. Communist Parties and United Front - Experience in Kerala and West Bengal. Hyderabad: Prajasakti Book House, 2003. p. 82
9. ^ Hindu-Muslim Relations in British India, G. R. Thursby, p89,Google book
10 ^ A Concise History of Modern India Barbara Daly Metcalf, Thomas R. Metcalf, p 150-151, Google book ^ Encyclopedia of Asian History. “Tilak, Bal Gangadhar,” (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons And Macmillian Publishing Company 1988), 98.