Bal Gangadhar Tilak was a great leader of the Indian freedom struggle. He was born in 1856 in the small coastal town of Ratnagiri in Maharashtra.
He was convinced that the British educational system was not good enough for Indians. Tilak stressed upon Swadeshi and advocated the boycott of foreign goods.
He founded his newspaper ‘Kesari’ in 1881. The Government meted out inhuman punishments to the nationalist youths who protested the division of Bengal. Tilak criticised the Government in an article published in ‘Kesari’ for which he was sentenced to jail for two years. Tilak continued his campaign against the British policies and was again interned for six years. During these years he penned down his thoughts on the Bhagavad Gita to produce the Gitarahasya.
He started to celebrate Shivaji Utsav and Ganesh Utsav, which were instrumental in bringing people together culturally. He coined the slogan Sara is my Birth right and I shall have it’. Tilak died in 1920.