Lucknow, August 01 (HS): Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi

Adityanath pays tribute to the renowned freedom warrior Lokmanya Bal

Gangadhar Tilak on his death anniversary, which falls on August 1st

each year. Tilak died on this date in 1920, and today marks his 106th death

anniversary. The CM celebrates Tilak as a proactive nationalist thinker who

sparked the revolutionary torch against British colonial control.

The Call to Swaraj The state leadership remembers his

signature statement, Swaraj is my birthright, and I shall have it,

which helped turn the independence campaign into a significant popular

movement.

Tributes highlight Tilak's innovative role in bringing

society together by popularizing public holidays such as Ganesh Utsav and

Shivaji Jayanti in response to foreign persecution.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has a strong

historical connection to Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak, and he frequently

celebrates Lucknow as a pivotal hub of India's freedom struggle because Tilak

famously declared his iconic slogan, Swaraj is my birthright, and I shall have

it, during the 1916 Indian National Congress session in Lucknow.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath repeatedly emphasizes that Lucknow was the

setting for Tilak's countrywide chant, which effectively raised colonial

India's cultural and political consciousness. Every year on the anniversary of

Tilak's death, Chief Minister Yogi pays official state homage. He frequently

refers to Tilak as a staunch nationalist thinker whose battle for

self-sufficiency mirrors today's Atmanirbhar Bharat. CM Yogi observes that

independence heroes like as Tilak saw an independent India free of casteism,

regionalism, and illiteracy.

The Chief Minister repeatedly praises Tilak's clever use of

the Ganpati Festival in Maharashtra as a tool for transforming small cultural

gatherings into an active national resistance campaign.

Preserving History: During commemoration speeches, Yogi Adityanath emphasizes

that communities that fail to preserve their history will also be unable

to defend their geography, drawing on Tilak's legacy to encourage civic

responsibility and patriotism.

In a post on X, he mentioned, “On the death anniversary of

'Lokmanya' Bal Gangadhar Tilak, the great hero of the Indian freedom struggle

and a fiery nationalist thinker who gave the immortal mantra 'Swaraj is my

birthright and I shall have it,' infusing a new direction into national consciousness,

we offer humble tribute. 'Lokmanya's' life is an ideal of patriotism, and his

'Swaraj mantra' is the immortal voice of India's soul.”

Hindusthan Samachar / Abhishek Awasthi