Page 64 - Swatantrata to Atmanirbharta : Lokmanya Tilak’s legacy

in Pune. The main aim was to provide national education at
an affordable cost. It was a Marathi medium high school (Std.
I to VII – till matric i.e., old Std. XI) with the facility to learn
‘English’ language as one of the subjects; hence its name was
‘English School.’

1.2. Newsletters for Social Awakening
All the teachers in New English School wanted to do
something for the social enlightenment besides their regular
teaching work. One day all of them had gathered at the
residence of Shri. Waman Shivram Apte (First Superintendent
of the school) for lunch. After lunch, they discussed their new
venture and unanimously decided to start one Marathi and one
English newspaper for public education. Thus, they entered the
field of journalism under the able guidance of Vishnushastri
Chiplunkar.
1.3. Kesari and Maratha

Chiplunkar had become famous as a well-known writer
due to his ‘Nibandh Mala’ (Series of Marathi Essays), before
the establishment of New English School. Namjoshi had the
experience of Editorship of his own two newsletters namely
‘Kiran’ (Marathi) and ‘The Deccan Star’ (English). Similarly,
the young men Tilak and Agarkar, fully inspired with the
patriotism, were eager to take a pen in their hands for the
purpose of national service. ‘Maratha’ the English newsletter
was started on Sunday 2nd January 1881 while ‘Kesari’ the
Marathi newsletter was started on Tuesday, 4th January 1881.
1.4. Mouthpiece of Tilak

In 1887, Tilak shouldered the whole responsibility and
became the sole owner of both the newspapers which became
his mouthpieces. He created awareness among the people on
the important national issues through these newspapers for a
long period between 1887 and 1908. His aggressive thoughts
with fiery words in ‘Kesari’ dominated the minds of the people.
Industrial development of our nation was one of the core
and intimate issues of Tilak who discussed it in his newspapers.
He always put the facts and problems of Indian economy before

Swatantrata to Atmanirbharata 62