Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Dec 11: “Swarajaya Mera Janam Sidh Adhikar Hai, Main Issay Lekar Rahoonga (Swaraj is my birthright and I shall have it)”, was the popular slogan given by the revered freedom fighter Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak, which motivated millions of India to join the freedom movement.
However, for Jammu and Kashmir Public Service Commission (PSC), Bal Gangadhar Tilak was a militant.
A question asked in a written examination conducted by the PSC at Jammu and Srinagar for the posts of Assistant Controller in Legal Metrology Department read as: “who among the following didn’t represent the militant school of thought”? The options included RN Bose, Ashwani Kumar Dutt, MN Roy and Bal Gangadhar Tilak.
The right answer could be RN Bose as he was a soft-liner while three others were hard-liners. However, according to academicians, the question clearly meant that excepting Bose, three others including Bal Gangadhar Tilak represented the militant school of thought.
The examination was conducted on December 9. A large number of students, who appeared for the examination, were stunned to see the name of Bal Gangadhar Tilak figuring among those, who represented the militant thought.
Such was the popularity of Tilak among the people of India for his role in the freedom movement that he had been conferred with honorary title of `Lokmanya’, which literally means that he had been accepted by the people as their leader.
However, the leader of millions of Indians, had been described as militant in the PSC exam, the academicians regretted and demanded stern action against the PSC and the question paper setter for hurting sentiments of a large number of people.
As per the history, Bal Gangadhar Tilak was a true nationalist, journalist, teacher, social reformer, lawyers and independent activist, who was the first popular leader of the Indian Independence Movement.
Surprisingly, the PSC’s question was also against the Delhi High Court directions.
In a judgment delivered on January 30, 2008, the then Delhi High Court Judge Justice Tirath Singh Thakur had directed the NCERT to remove about 75 objectionable passages from its books including the ones which described freedom fights Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Lala Lajpat Rai as militants.
The High Court had directed the NCERT to ensure that such errors were not repeated. The NCERT counsel had then told the court that none of the books being taught in the schools would contain the objectionable passages.
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