A journalist, teacher, social reformer and lawyer, Bal Gangadhar Tilak left the world today in 1856. He acted as an instrument to plunge the freedom movement and sacrificed his entire life in the struggle for liberation.
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On his 98th death anniversary, read the following facts to know our significant hero:
- In 1880, he started his own newspaper, Kesari which is still published to this day.
- He co-founded the New English School in 1880 and taught English and Mathematics there. The successful school blossomed forth first into the Deccan Educational Society (1884) and later into Fergusson College (1885).
- Along with Ratanji Jamshedji Tata, he founded the Bombay Swadeshi Co-operative Stores Co to promote swadeshi goods.
- He had a political regime with Bipin Chandra Pal and Lala Lajpat Rai, and they were referred as the ‘Lal-Bal-Pal triumvirate’.
- In 2007, the Government of India released a coin to commemorate Tilak on his 150th birth anniversary.
- He converted Ganesh Chaturti into a public celebration in 1893, in order to promote public unity. He also started the Shivaji festival to inspire people with patriotism.
- In 1903, he wrote a book entitled ‘The Arctic Home in the Vedas’, which proposed that the Vedas were composed in the Arctic.
- Though brought up in an orthodox family, he fought against social injustice like child marriage and gave a clarion call for widow remarriage.
- When he was asked what position he would hold in the Free Indian government, he said he would rather choose to go back to his old profession as a school teacher.
- Hearing of Tilak’s demise, Gandhiji remarked, “My greatest bulwark is gone”. During the public funeral, Gandhiji was among the pallbearers.