Amar Chitra Katha – Lokamanya Tilak : Firebrand Nationalist

Lokmanya Tilak dedicated himself to the cause of the nation with the avowed object of throwing off the British yoke. ‘Swaraj is my birth right and I shall have it’ – this was the inspiring message Tilak gave to his countrymen. He stirred the people to fight injustice and foreign rule. He directed them towards the four-fold programme of Swaraj, Swadeshi, boycott of foreign goods and national education. Long years of imprisonment did not dampen his enthusiasm and the fire of patriotism kindled by him began to burn more and more fiercely. His denigrators labelled him as the leader iof the lowly classes, wheras the British called him ‘the Father of Indian unrest’. In the end however, the brickbats became bouquets and he was hailed as the uncrowned king of India.