Page 126 - Swatantrata to Atmanirbharta : Lokmanya Tilak’s legacy

the desire for liberty and to be counted as a civilized nation. He
also pointed out that just because one is self-sufficient and is not
wanting, one still has a duty to the nation which is bigger and
more than just yourself. One must take responsibility and have
the ability to work hard. Let things not be done for you. One
must develop the mental ability to self-govern which is difficult
after years of bondage. Importantly, he pointed out that heredity
and belonging to family did not automatically mean that the
qualities of leadership were manifest in them. The citizens must
be careful of the devious nature of the colonial rulers to retain
power by dividing along religious lines. So, we should be firm
in our resolution. The change in the world order occurring at
the time also gave credence to the concept of swaraj. But it was
important to also seize opportunities. The demand for swaraj
should be made with confidence and fearlessly otherwise future
generations will judge you harshly. He extolled all sections of
the society to work for India. Even God helps those working
hard. These points were raised by him in a speech in 1917 more
than 100 years ago. These essentially are few relevant extracts
from his speech delivered at Ahmednagar on June 1, 1917.
These points have been stated in the sequence they appear in
his speech There is a wealth of knowledge and guide points to
the true concept of Swaraj.
It is interesting that these were conceptualized more than 100
years ago at the nascent stages of our freedom struggle. While we
have achieved political freedom and are a vibrant and working
democracy, in many areas it remains a work in progress. His
concepts and ideas enunciated above are a pathway for making
our nation achieve Swaraj in true spirit.

Swaraj or self-rule is a universal right of everyone. Self-rule was
based on the theory good governance stemming from the right of
citizens for self-determination and to make the administration
answerable to the Indian public. He believed that over time we
would develop expertise to manage our affairs in the form of
form of better administrators and political representatives. The
public representatives have a fiduciary responsibility to provide
a just system since the clarion call was made to do away with
political injustice and exploitation. Swaraj was conceptualised

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