Freedom is my birthright (Nasik, May 1917) BAL GANGADHAR TILAK (1856–1920)

Freedom is my birthright (Nasik, May 1917)
BAL GANGADHAR TILAK (1856–1920)

When Tilak came out of prison in Mandalay in 1914, after serving a

sentence of six years, he found the nationalist movement at a low ebb. e

mass upsurge of the Swadeshi movement had died down and his old rivals,

the Moderates seem to be on the ascendant. Tilak wanted the Congress to

stop being merely a deliberative body and to lead the protest against British

rule. To revive the spirit of nationalism, Tilak and Annie Besant began the

Home Rule Leagues—Besant in 1915 and Tilak the next year. is speech

was made at a function to mark the first anniversary of Tilak’s Home Rule

League. Tilak was speaking as an old man to the young and his words were

so impassioned that they became the clarion call of the national movement.

Tilak’s demand for freedom was incorporated in the Purna Swaraj

resolution of the Congress in 1929.

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I am young in spirit though old in body. I do not wish to lose this privilege

of youth. To deny the growing capacity to my thinking power is to admit

that I have no right to speak on this resolution. Whatever I am going to

speak today is eternally young. e body might grow old, decrepit and it

might perish, but the soul is immortal. Similarly, if there might be an

apparent lull in our Home Rule activities, the freedom of the spirit behind

it is eternal and indestructible, and it will secure liberty for us. e soul

means Parameshwar and the mind will not get peace till it gets identified

with Him. If one body is worn out the soul will take another; so assures the

Gita. is philosophy is quite old. Freedom is my birthright. So long as it is

awake within me, I am not old. No weapon can cut this spirit, no fire can

burn it, no water can wet it, no wind can dry it. I say further that no CID

b I d l h l h S d f P l

can burn it. I declare the same principle to the Superintendent of Police

who is sitting before me, to the Collector who had been invited to attend

this meeting and to the government shorthand writer who is busy taking

down notes of our speeches. e principle will not disappear even if it seems

to be killed. We ask for Home Rule and we must get it. e science which

ends in Home Rule is the science of politics and not the one which ends in

slavery. e science of politics is the ‘Vedas’ of the country. You have a soul

and I only want to wake it up. I want to tear off the blind that has been let

down by ignorant, designing and selfish people. e science of politics

consists of two parts. e first is divine and the second is demonic. e

slavery of a nation comes into the latter part. ere cannot be a moral

justification for the demonic part of the science of politics. A nation which

might justify this is guilty of sin in the sight of God. Some people have the

courage to declare what is harmful to them and some have not that courage.

e political and religious teaching consists in giving the knowledge of this

principle. Religious and political teachings are not separate, though they

appear to be so on account of foreign rule. All philosophies are included in

the science of politics.

Who does not know the meaning of Home Rule? Who does not want it?

Would you like it, if I enter your house and take possession of your cooking

department? I must have the right to manage the affairs in my own house.

It is only lunatics and children who do not know how to manage their own

affairs. e cardinal creed of the conferences is that a member must be

above 21 years of age; do you not, therefore, think that you want your own

right? Not being lunatics or children you understand your own business,

your own rights and, therefore, you know Home Rule. We are told we are

not fit for Home Rule. A century has passed away and the British Rule has

not made us fit for Home Rule; now we will make our own efforts and fit

ourselves for it. To offer irrelevant excuses, to hold out any temptation and

to make other offers will be putting a stigma on the English policy. England

is trying to protect the small state of Belgium with the help of India; how

can it then say that we should not have Home Rule? ose who find fault

with us are avaricious people. But there are people who find fault even with

the all-merciful God. We must work hard to save the soul of our nation

without caring for anything. e good of our country consists in guarding

this—our birthright. e Congress has passed this Home Rule resolution.

e provincial conference is only a child of the Congress which submits to

d f f h W ll f ll Sh R h d b h

mandates of its father. We will follow Shri Ramachandra in obeying the

order of our father the Congress. We are determined to make efforts to get

this resolution enforced even if the effort leads us to the desert, compels us

to live incognito, makes us suffer any hardship and even if it finally brings

us to death. Shri Ramachandra did it. Do not pass this resolution by merely

clapping your hands but by taking a solemn vow that you will work for it.

We will work for it by every possible constitutional and law-abiding method

to get Home Rule. rough the grace of God, England has changed its

mind towards us. We feel our efforts will not be without success. England

proudly thought that a tiny nation might be able to protect the empire by

itself. is pride has gone down. England has now begun to feel that it

must make changes in the Constitution of the Empire. Lloyd George has

openly confessed that England cannot go on without the help of India. All

notions about a nation of a thousand years old have to be changed. e

English people have discovered that the wisdom of all their parties is not

sufficient. e Indian soldiers have saved the lives of the British soldiers on

the French battlefield and have showed their bravery. ose who once

considered us as slaves have begun now to call us brothers. God has brought

about all those changes. We must push our demands while the notion of

this brotherhood is existing in the minds of the English. We must inform

them that we, thirty crores of the Indian people, are ready to lay down our

lives for the empire; and that while we are with them none shall dare cast an

evil glance at the empire