Page 77 - Swatantrata to Atmanirbharta : Lokmanya Tilak’s legacy

imposed restrictions on newspapers and National Universities.
To re-establish the freedom movement, he took up the Home
Rule movement.
Through his articles, Tilak woke up the society that had
long been sleeping, particularly with basic ideas of freedom,
equality, and justice. He ignited a fire for freedom in the hearts
of people by educating them. His thoughts reflected the realistic
assessment of the times and a willingness to accept changes in
modern technology.

Tilak intelligently and creatively changed the newspaper to a
newspaper with a mission.

Sedition Charges
In his career of 39 years as a journalist, he was imprisoned
thrice for a total duration of eight years. The two important
prosecutions against Lokmanya Tilak and ‘Kesari’ were the
sedition cases of 1897 and 1908. Kesari strongly criticised the
atrocities during the plague epidemic in Pune and the rest of
Bombay presidency under the pretext of investigations in 1897.
The agitation for deferment of land revenue during the famine
initiated by ‘Kesari’ would adversely hit the revenue collection.
To add to this Rand was assassinated at Ganeshkhind, Pune.
In this regard two editorials in the ‘Kesari’ titled “Has the
Government Lost its Head?” and “Vengeful Regime” were
considered provocative. This led to the first case of sedition and
Tilak was sentenced to 18 months of rigorous imprisonment.

The second case was filed in 1908, against the backdrop of
partition of Bengal by Lord Curzon. Shelling of bombs by
revolutionaries in Muzaffarpur were followed by arrests and
allegations of conspiracies and murders across Bengal province.
Some articles published in the ‘Keasri’ during this time like
“Double Warning”, “The Real Meaning of Bomb Blast” and
“These are not lasting Methods” led to the second case of
sedition against Tilak.

Despite the adversities there was no stopping by Tilak or
“Kesari”. He said “Even if the sky falls on me, I will stand up
and put my foot on it!” These words became an inspiration for
all editors who followed him. When the jury gave guilty verdict
75 Swatantrata to Atmanirbharata