Lal-Bal-Pal

Subject: History

Context:

To mark the death centenary of Tilak, Pune-based NGO is planning to launch a series of literary and cultural programmes to strengthen connections between Maharashtra and West Bengal to revive the Independence-era spirit of the ‘Lal-Bal-Pal’

Concept:

• Punjab, Bengal and Maharashtra have played significant roles during the struggle for Indian Independence.
• The historical association and cultural bonds among the three States was solidified in the modern era by the trinity of ‘Lal-Bal-Pal’.
• The triumvirate had played a stellar role in the second phase of the Swadeshimovement

Swadeshi Movement:

• In 1900, Bengal was the major province in British India. The Indian national movement began in Bengal and thus, Britishers decided to part Bengal.
• When Lord Curzon, then Viceroy of India, announced the partition of Bengal in July 1905, Indian National Congress, initiated Swadeshi movement in Bengal.
• The Swadeshi Movement was officially proclaimed on August 7, 1905 at the Calcutta Town Hall, in Bengal.

Forms of struggle:

• Boycott movement was also launched along with the Swadeshi movement. It included using goods produced in India and burning British-made goods.
• Public meetings and processions emerged as major methods of mass mobilization
• Samitis such as the Swadesh BandhabSamiti of Ashwini Kumar Dutta (in Barisal) and in Tamil Nadu, Swadeshi Sangam was formed. These samitis generated political consciousness among the masses through magic lantern lectures, swadeshi songs, providing physical and moral training to their members, social work during famines and epidemics, organisation of schools, training in swadeshi crafts and arbitration courts
• Bengal National College, inspired by Tagore’s Shantiniketan, was set up with Aurobindo Ghosh as its principal. Soon national schools and colleges sprang up in various parts of the country.
• The nationalists of all hues took inspiration from songs written by Rabindranath Tagore, Rajnikant Sen, Dwijendralal Ray, Mukunda Das, Syed Abu Mohammad and others.
• In painting, Abanindranath Tagore broke the domination of Victorian naturalism over the Indian art scene and took inspiration from Ajanta, Mughal and Rajput paintings. Nandalal Bose, who left a major imprint on Indian art.
• In science, Jagdish Chandra Bose, Prafullachandra Roy and others pioneered original research which was praised the world over.
• Key people in the Swadeshi movement:
  Bal GangadharTilak
  Bipin Chandra Pal
  LalaLajpat Rai
  Aurobindo Ghosh
  VO Chidambaram Pillai
  Babu Genu