Page 135 - Swatantrata to Atmanirbharta : Lokmanya Tilak’s legacy

buiLding thoughtS

and ecoSyStem for

india’S nationaL

Security/intereSt

Lt. Col B N Godbole (Retd)

BACKGROUND
Over a century back, Lokmanya Tilak proclaimed, “Swarajya
(Self-rule) is our birthright. He had ideas about developing
Swarajya into Surajya (Good governance) by attaining
Atmanirbharta (Self-sufficiency). To attain Self-sufficiency, he
started the Swadeshi (production and consumption of Indian
goods) movement; where foreign goods were boycotted, and
people were appealed to buy Indian goods.
Lokmanya had prescribed a chatuhsutra (four-point chain),
which besides Self-rule, Good governance, production and
consumption of Indian goods and boycott of foreign goods,
added a fourth dimension of Rashtriya shikshan (Nationalist
education). This was towards imbibing a thought process that
would take India from self-rule to an economically self-sufficient
independent state.

Tilak spearheaded the Congress movement to sign the
Lucknow Pact in 1916 with the Muslim League led by Jinnah

133 Swatantrata to Atmanirbharata