Question

Name the nationalist who said ‘Swaraj is my birthright and I shall have it’. State any one of his contributions to the National Movement.

Answer 1

Hint: The Quote ‘Swaraj is my birthright and I shall have it' was quoted in Marathi first by the famous nationalist leader who was one of the first and strongest advocates of Swaraj. He was one-third of Lal, Bal and Pal.

Complete answer: Bal Gangadhar Tilak was an Indian nationalist teacher and an independence activist. He was the first leader of the Indian Independence Movement and British called him ‘The father of the Indian unrest’. He is known for his quote ‘Swaraj is my birthright and I shall have it’ to free itself from colonial rule. He joined Indian National Congress in 1980.
Bal Gangadhar Tilak took up the issue of Bubonic Plague which spread from Bombay to Pune by publishing inflammatory articles in his paper ‘Kesari’. He encouraged Swadeshi movement and Boycott movement.
He was the part of an extremist group of Indian National Congress and opposed the moderate views of Gopal Krishna Gokhale. He called for immediate Swaraj or self-rule. He encouraged Indian festivals and rituals and events like Ganpati festival and Shiv Jayanti were celebrated greatly to build a national spirit beyond the circle of the educated elite in opposition to colonial rule. He used the principles of Ramayana and Mahabharata to unite people against a common enemy called ‘British’.

Note: He is also known as ‘’Lokmanya’’ which means accepted by the people and Mahatma Gandhi called him ‘The marker of Modern India’. He wrote the famous book ‘The Arctic home in the Vedas’.