Page 101 - Swatantrata to Atmanirbharta : Lokmanya Tilak’s legacy

was not on the horizon the way it sprang up in next few decades
resulting into partition of India. Mohammed Ali Jinnah was
the advocate representing Lokmanya Tilak in courts as Hindu
Muslim unity was not a volcanic problem at that time. Hence
his soft tone of Hindutva was a welcome step towards religious
reforms, progress of Hindu community and conscious efforts of
awakening people.
Lokmanya Tilak’s approach towards religion was always
sanatani, anti- rebel and that of a reformist by evolution and
not by revolution. Hence his thoughts were never piercing
the general religious beliefs of the people. Further, his
philosophic and scholarly writings such as Arctic home of Vedas,
The Orion or Researches into the Antiquity of the Vedas, Shrimad
BhagvadGeetarahasya offered him the title and stature of ‘Tilak
Maharaj’, and people started believing in him as some seer
or prophet. His pioneering contribution to the concept and
application of Hindutva was pathbreaking as it provided a
launching pad to its visionary followers like Swatantryaveer
Savarkar his own disciple, who wrote a treatise “Hindutva” that
gave the definition of the word ‘Hindu’ in Sanskrit viz.-

“आसिंधु सिंधु पर्यंतरा र्स्य भरारतभूद्मकरा

पपतृभू पुण्यभूश्च्ऐर् ि र्ै हिंदुरीपत स्ृत: |”

The person, whose mother land and Punya Bhumi i.e.,
holy, and auspicious land is this Bharat nation, ranging from
Himalayas to southern sea, is a person who can be called as
Hindu.
This concept and definition of nation laid down by
Swatantryaveer Savarkar, none other than the great disciple
of Lokmanya Tilak is most pragmatic, authentic, and in
consonance with changing times.
The said definition and the essence of the same is upheld
by Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in the decisions given in
the cases of Suresh Prabhu, Manohar Joshi etc., wherein the
election propaganda based on Hindutva was under scanner
as to whether such propaganda is a bad election practice. In
the said decisions the Hon’ble Supreme Court held that the
99 Swatantrata to Atmanirbharata