Political Thought of B.G Tilak (1856-1920)

DR.PREETI SINGH

DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

VASANTA COLLEGE FOR WOMEN, RAJGHAT, VARANASI

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Tilak and Indian National Movement

• Tilak along with Lalalajpat Rai and Bipin Chandra Pal started a new phase of Indian national movement which is known as extremist phase of the national movement.
• He was critical of moderates’ policy of 3 Ps – Prayer, Petition & Protest and argued that we need not to beg for our right. His famous slogan ‘Swaraj is my birth right and I shall have it’ gave a new energy to the Indian national movement.
• Strongly opposing the partition of Bengal, Tilak with his group popularized the four fold programme: Swaraj (self rule), Swadeshi (resort to the use of Indian goods), Bahishkar (boycott of foreign goods) and Rashtriya Shikshan (national education).

Tilak and Indian National Movement

• Tilak and his group’s fourfold policy was opposed by the moderates. The conflict of opinion between Tilak’s group(extremists) and moderates ultimately resulted into split of Congress.
• In 1908 Tilak was charged with sedition and sentenced 6 years imprisonment in Mandalay.
• Tilak started Home Rule League in 1916 to further the cause of Indian Self rule.
• He played a very significant role in bringing about the Lucknow Pact between the Congress and Muslim League

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Tilak’s Approach towards Social Reform

• Tilak gave primacy to cause of political freedom over social reform.
• He strongly believed that the agenda of social reform and political freedom should be separated and hence stressed on the need of separating the meetings of the Social Conference and the Indian National Congress.
• He was against intervention of foreign rulers in the socio-religious sphere of Indians.
• He believed that whatever reform is required in the social sphere that would be decided by the natives only and any reform will be accepted only when it is gradual ..
• He believed that any insistence on social reform at present will weaken the national movement. All our energy should be utilized for the cause of national freedom

Tilak’s Approach towards Social Reform

• He said: “If there is no Swaraj there is no use labouring for the spread of female education, there is no use trying to secure industrial development and social reform ….Power is the primary necessity and where there is power, there alone resides wisdom; wisdom never resides apart from power.”
• Critics like Valentine Chirole sees Tilak’s this approach of giving primacy to political freedom over social reform as a mark of conservatism .

Tilak’s Nationalism

• Tilak’s concept of nationalism has an amalgam of diverse strands of thought:
• Emphasis on the philosophy of Advaita and Karmayoga.
• Pride in the legacy of India
• Appreciation of the role of British rule in bringing about the political and administrative unification of the country.
• Recognition of economic exploitation by foreign rulers
• Emphasis on the need to form a united national movement of the people beyond the barriers of race , caste, gender and so on.
• Stress on the factors that unite India and Indians.

Tilak’s Nationalism

• He strongly believed that a feeling of oneness among the people and pride in their country’s heritage were the vital forces of nationalism. The notion of a ‘Golden Past’ becomes very significant here.
• Tilak recognized the significance of creation of ‘national symbols’ to unite people and to give them a sense of national identity. Here lies the significance of revival of Ganapati Utsav and celebration of Shivaji festival.
• Tilak was of the opinion that such symbols will enable the masses to get connected to the national cause and will create national solidarity.

Tilak’s Nationalism

• Tilak considers that common language, history, territory etc can be the objective basis of nationalism which may lead to psychological feeling of oneness among people.
• He considers Hinduism as the strongest foundation for emergence of nationalism.
• Tilak’s notion of nationalism is not confined to only religious and cultural dimensions, it stresses on economic basis too. Economic exploitation of India by colonial rulers must be highlighted for raising national consciousness among the masses.

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Tilak’s Nationalism

• Through Maratha and Keshari, Tilak constantly attempted to raise national consciousness among people by uncovering the exploitative economic and administrative policy of the government.
• Tilak attempted to make it clear that British rule gets strength through enslavement of the ruled and so moderate’s dream that British will give self rule to India is foolish as there is no empire lost by a free grant of concessions by the rulers to ruled.

Tilak’s Nationalism

Explaining the unique nature of Tilak’s nationalism, N.R.Inamdar writes:

“Tilak’s conception of nationalism was a combination of the Vedanta ideal of the spiritual unity of mankind and the Western notions of nationalism as propounded by Mazzini, Burke, Mill and Wilson”.

Critique

Tilak’s insistence on glorious Hindu past and Hindu symbols for raising national consciousness among the native has been subjected to harsh criticism by the critics.

• Zacharias says that Tilak was the spokesman of anti-Muslim retaliation.
• P.Powell, a British historian alleges that Tilak was intolerant .
• Palm Dutta argues that Tilak’s identification of national awakening with the revival of Hinduism distanced the Muslim masses from the national movement.

Critique

• However , some of the views expressed by Tilak’s contemporaries prove that above critics have either misunderstood or misinterpreted Tilak’s nationalism.
• Shaukat Ali and Hasarat Mohani, two very important Muslim leaders of Tilak’s time considered Tilak as their political Guru . Expressing his unconditional faith in Tilak’s leadership Hasrat Mohani said: “ Even at that early age, I chose the Lokmanya as the ideal Leader for me…During that period I had ample opportunities of appreciating the thought and ability of almost all Indian political leaders and basing my remarks on that close personal study. I can state that without the least fear of contradiction, that I found the Lokmanya greater and superior to every other leader in every respect…when I declare that all through Tilak’s life I was both intellectually and practically a blind follower of his, anyone can well judge thereby of that love that I cherished towards him.”
• Shaukat Ali said: “ I would like to mention again for the hundredth time that both Mohamma Ali and myself belonged to and still belong to Lokmanya Tilak’s political party.”

Critique

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• Hence it would not be incorrect to say that the critique that Tilak’s nationalism is anti-Muslim or pro- Hindu is based on narrow reading of Tilak. V.P.Verma says that Tilak insisted on religious and cultural symbols because he realized that ‘the roots of Indian nationalism must lie not in the mere intellectual appeals to the theories of the western liberal writers but in the sentiments and emotions of the Indian Masses’.
• Tilak’s intention was to connect the masses with the national movement and not at all to detach Muslims, as he himself wrote clearly:

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Critique

• “Shivaji festival is not celebrated to alienate or even to irritate the Mohammadans. Times are changed and as observed , the Mohammadans and the Hindus stand in the same boat or on the same platform so far as the political conditions of the people is concerned.” He further said, “ We are not against a festival being started in honour of Akbar or any other hero from old Indian history; but that of Shivaji has a peculiar value of its own for the whole country, and it is the duty of everyone to see that characteristic of the festival is not ignored or misrepresented….What makes Shivaji a national hero for the present is the spirit which actuated him throughout and not his deeds as such.”

Concept of Swaraj

• Tilak argued that Swaraj is and should be the main goal and all other goals are secondary:

“ Swaraj is my birth right and without swaraj there could be no social reform, no industrial progress, no useful education, no fulfillment of national life. That is what we seek and that is why God has sent us into the world to fulfill Him.”

• Here Tilak presents Swaraj not only as a right but as a divine duty given by the Almighty .

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Concept of Swaraj

• Tilak insisted on immediate Swaraj or self-rule. His concept of Swaraj was not of complete independence but a government constituted by the Indian themselves that ‘rules according to the wishes of the people and their representatives’.

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• He said: ‘The point is to have the entire control in our hands. I want to have the key of my house, and not merely one stranger turned out of it. Self-government is our goal ; we want a control over our administrative machinery. We do not want to be clerks…At present we are clerks and willing instruments of our oppression in the hands of an alien government.’

Concept of Swaraj

• Tilak believed in the method of passive resistance for attaining Swaraj. While Gokhale asked young men to serve Tilak asked them to protest because he was of the opinion that ‘ it is possible to make administration deplorably difficult and to create conditions impossible for the British bureaucracy by fighting for our rights with determination and tenacity and by boycott and strike.’

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• Stressing the need of immediate self-rule , Tilak says “We recognize no teacher in the art of self-government itself. It values freedom for its own sake and desires autonomy , immediate and unconditional regardless of any considerations of fitness or unfitness of the people for it”.

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Concept of Swaraj

• Philosophical foundations of Tilak’s Swaraj are Advaita Vedanta and Gita’s philosophy of Karmyoga.
• He rejected the utilitarian principle of ‘greatest happiness of the greatest number’ as the basis of Swaraj and argued that Swaraj should be based on Vedic philosophy of Good of all .
• Swaraj would be based on the right of the people to hold rulers accountable to themselves.

Concept of Swaraj

• Tilak’ s notion of Swaraj is broad having following meanings:
• First, ruler and ruled are of the same country, religion or race
• Second, it is a well governed system based on rule of law
• Third, it refers to a government promoting people’s well being
• Fourth, it must have a government elected and responsible for the people.

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Conclusion

Thus, it is clear from the above points that for Tilak self rule is the primary condition for Swaraj and hence Suraj (good rule) cannot be appreciated unless there is Swaraj. Swaraj , in Tilak’s thought, is not merely a political connotation but also a spiritual connotation:

“ It is a life centered in self and dependent upon self. There is Swaraj in this world as well as in the world hereafter. The Rishis who laid down the law of duty betook themselves to forests, because the people were already enjoying Swaraj or people’s domination which was administered and defended in the first instance by the Kshatriya kings. It is my conviction, it is my thesis, that Swaraj in the life to come cannot be the reward of people who have not enjoyed it in this world.”

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Thankyou