Bal Gangadhar Tilak Jayanti 2025, Birth Date, Significance, Contribution

Bal Gangadhar Tilak Jayanti 2025 will be celebrated all across the country on July 23, 2025. Tilak is regarded as one of the most influential personalities of India’s freedom struggle movement. He, along with Bipin Chandra Pal and Lala Lajpat Rai, embraced the path of extremism against the British regime.  

Bal Gangadhar Tilak Jayanti is celebrated every year to honour and acknowledge the significant contribution made by Lokmanya Tilak to India’s freedom movement. He played a crucial role in the pre-Gandhian era in awakening India’s political consciousness during colonial rule.

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Bal Gangadhar Tilak Jayanti 2025 Date

Bal Gangadhar Tilak was born on July 23, 1856, in Ratnagiri, Maharashtra. India in 2025 will be celebrating Tilak’s 169th birth anniversary. He was one of the first persons to advocate Swaraj (self-rule) and also a firm believer of Indian tradition, culture, and nationalism. He was given the title ‘Lokmanya’, meaning “accepted by the people”. It signified the respect Bal Gangadhar Tilak commanded from the masses.

‘Lokmanya’ Bal Gangadhar Tilak Biography

Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak was a nationalist, social reformer, teacher, and philosopher. He became associated with the Indian National Congress (INC) in 1890 and subsequently adopted an extremist approach towards the British regime in India. He had famously proclaimed, “Swaraj is my birthright and I shall have it”. Bal Gangadhar Tilak Biography is as follows:

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Bal Gangadhar Tilak Political Journey

Lokmanya Tilak entered into the Indian politics in the late 1880s and quickly became one of the radical voices in the Indian National Congress. He condemned the form of passive resistance offered by Moderates and took a more aggressive stance against the Britishers. 

• He joined the Indian National Congress in 1890 and gained popularity among the masses with his assertive views on nationalism.

• He opposed the mode of passive resistance offered by Moderates against the Britiishers which favored petitions and gradual reforms. Moderates did not believed in the ability of masses.

• Tilak advocated for Self-Rule or ‘Swaraj’ and demanded it as a fundamental right for the Indians,

• He led the trio of Lal-Bal-Pal with Bipin Chandra Pal and Lala Lajpat Rai, which represented the ‘Extremist’ wing of the INC.

• Bal Gangadhar Tilak always promoted the participation of the masses in India’s freedom struggle and actively promoted the boycott of British goods and the use of indigenous products during the Swadeshi movement.

• He was one of the main protagonists during the Surat Split of 1907 owing to the ideological differences between the moderates and the extremists within the Congress.

Bal Gangadhar Tilak’s Role in India’s Freedom Movement

Tilak played a very significant role in India’s early freedom movement and was influential in taking the movement to the masses. He was an important nationalist in the pre-Gandhian era, and his legacy influenced all the mass-based movements until India attained independence in 1947. Lokmanya Tilak’s role in the Freedom Movement can be summarized as follows:

• He was imprisoned for the first time due to the assassination of British officials by the Chapekar brothers. After his release, he became a major force against British rule.

• Tilak co-founded the Home Rule League in 1916 to attain Self-Rule for India. He also built effective relations with British politicians during his visit to London in 1918.

• He laid more emphasis on the participation of masses and cultural revival as tools for political awakening. Tilak was instrumental in reogranization of the cultural celebrations of Ganesh Utsav and Shivaji Jayanti into forums for political agitation.

• Lokmanya Tilak left a legacy of extremist ideology behind him, which influenced the later revolutionary and mass-based movements against the British in India’s independence movement.

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Bal Gangadhar Tilak Literary Works and Publications

Bal Gangadhar Tilak was also an excellent philosopher and writer apart from being a political leader. He wrote several books and articles that influenced the masses to raise their voices against the atrocities conducted by the foreign rulers. Some of his important works are listed below:

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