Farewell To His Own Institution
As the New English School was progress- ing well, Fergusson College and Deccan Education Society were established. Tilak made a rule that no one should expect more than seventy-five rupees a month as his salary. But other members of the management opposed this. When differences of opinion on this issue became endless, Tilak made over to others the institution he himself had founded.
Tilak was filled with immense grief, when he had to resign from the institution which he had started and for which he had toiled day and night for ten years.
The weeklies 'Kesari' and `Mahratta' also brought no profit. Tilak had to find part time work to maintain his family. Never would he work under the British. He started classes to coach students for the Pleader's Examination.
The Significant Years
The period seven years between 1890, when Tilak left the educational field, and 1897, when he was imprisoned, was very significant in the life of Tilak. During this period, Tilak the Teacher became Tilak the Politician. The director of an institution became a national leader.
The exceptional - energy, so far hidden in him, now raced forth in many directions. In seven brief years, he acquired the experience of seventy years. In addition to the. Two weeklies, he was running classes for students of Law. He actually waged a war against the Government for the sake 'of social reforms. He issued a call for the banning of child marriage and welcomed widow marriage. Through the celebrations of Ganapathi Festival and the birthday of the Shivaji he organized people. He was a member of the Municipal Council of Pune, a member of the Bombay Legislature, and an elected 'Fellow' of the Bombay University, He was also taking a leading part in the Congress sessions. Added to these, he wrote and published his maiden work 'Orion'.
Such were Tilak's achievements in this brief span of seven years.
That Tilak managed to transform the local festivities of Ganesha and Shivaji into national festivals, 'is proof of his organizing ability and shrewdness. If people are to feel in their very blood and bones that they are all one, they should meet often; they should have common ideals and there should be occasions, when they can 'forget all other differences and mingle together joyously. Tilak's plan made these festivities spread to every nook and corner of Maharashtra in a few years.
Government's Celebrations Amidst Corpses
In 1896, famine broke out in India. Tilak pressed the government to relieve the distress of the people at once. He helped the farmers affected by the famine. He collected information about the conditions in every district and published it in the 'Mahratta' and the 'Kesari'. Plague broke out while the people were still in the grip of famine. Tilak opened some hospitals and, with the help of volunteers, looked after the patients.
Though the people were in the grip of famine and plague, the government was indifferent. The Viceroy himself said that there was no cause for anxiety. He also said that there was no need to start a 'Famine Relief Fund'! Revenue collection went on as usual. The government's indifference was severely criticized in the articles published in Tilak's papers. They published fearlessly reports about the havoc caused by famine and plague and government's utter irresponsibility and indifference. In the editorials, Tilak made appeals to the people and gave them advice. He explained to them the 'Famine Relief Act'. He exhorted them to demand relief from the Government as their right. "Are you cowards even while you are dying? Can't you gather courage?" So he questioned the people. He gave constructive suggestions to the government to arrest the plague.
The government made preparations to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria's reign. On one side, people were busy cremating the victims of the plague; on the other side, the government was busy making arrangements for the Diamond Jubilee Celebrations!
At last, the government appointed a Special Plague Officer to arrest the havoc of the plague. His name was Rand and he was more terrible than the plague itself. He sent armed soldiers to make the people vacate the houses which plague had entered. The soldiers forcibly entered the houses and terrified the people with their guns. They admitted to the hospitals some one they could catch no matter whether he was suffering from plague or not. They took the remaining members of the family to distant camps; they burnt all their belongings on the assumption that they carded the infection. Rand Sahib became a worse plague than the plague itself. But, in his own hospitals, Tilak was toiling day and night to save the lives of plague- affected people.
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