VandeMataram
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Bal Gangadhar Tilak is known as The Father of Nationalism in India. He was one of the great freedom fighters of India with revolutionary ideas to free India from the Colonial rule. He was born on July 22, 1856 in Ratnagiri in Maharashtra. He received modern education and graduated from Deccan College, Pune in 1877 and also formed a school that was aimed at promoting Nationalism in India. He was also a social reformer and laid emphasis on women education and women empowerment. He was the one to introduced the festivals like 'Ganesh Chaturthi' and Shivaji Jayanti', which are today considered as the major festival of the state, in order to unite the state of Maharashtra. He launched two newspapers in Maharashtra namely, 'Mahratta' (English) and 'Kesari' (Marathi) and both proliferated the freedom movement in India. He joined the Indian National Congress but his ideologies was more of revolutionary and was not in conformity with the idea of nonviolence. He believed in Swaraj by any means. He was disheartened with the withdrawal of non-cooperation movement and this affected his health badly and on 1st August, 1920, he finally succumbed death.