Lok Manya Bal Gangadhar Tilak's dream for Swaraj (self rule) now stands shattered completely and is far away for citizens of the largest democracy, speakers lamented in a webinar organised to mark the 101 Tilak death anniversary here on Sunday. The Triveni Sangam of Lal-Bal-Pal trio inspired a number of revolutionaries to sacrifice their lives during the freedom struggle, they said.
It is unfortunate that about 75 to 80 per cent of population of many States including Odisha is dependent on Re 1-rice of five kg a month even after 74 years of independence. So also, the privacy of politicians, judges, media and officials are tracked by foreign intelligence agencies as raised within and outside the Parliament, posing a serious challenge to the democracy in the country, they said. Tilak initiated Shree Ganesh Utsav as a tool to unify people of all religions to fight against the British rule. But today for petty political gain there are killings in the name of religion, they said.
Tilak had supported killing of a British official by revolutionary Saheed Khudiram Bose openly. He was jailed in Mandela for years together. Barrister Mohemmed Alli Jinnah was the lawyer of Tilak.
His version 'Swaraj is my birth right, I shall have it' created fear among the British rulers. Mahatma Gandhi termed Tilak as maker of modern India, they opined. Chaired by Debiprasad Prusti, the meeting was attended by Prabin Bhai Patel, Jyotshna Parasher, Prahallad Singh and Madhusudan Das, Raghunath Mandal and Prachandvai among others.