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Dnyanesh Jathar
Dnyanesh Jathar

crime

Bal Gangadhar Tilak's great-grandson bring shame upon a great family

rohit-tilak Rohit Tilak | via Commons

‘Lokmanya’ Bal Gangadhar Tilak must be turning in his grave. Rohit Tilak, scion of the eminent Tilak family of Maharashtra and great-grandson of freedom fighter Bal Gangadhar Tilak, has been charged with rape after a 40-year-old women alleged that he raped her for a period of over two years.

Rohit's grandfather late Jaywantrao Tilak was a MP and former chairperson of Maharashtra state legislative council. Jaywantrao was the grandson of Lomanya Tilak who inherited many qualities of the freedom fighter, including his oratorical skills and logical reasoning. Rohit, unfortunately, has been more less of a sacrificial lamb for the Congress in a constituency where it has long forgotten how to win elections.

Tilak family is ‘chitpavans’—the elite among Marathi brahmins. Chitpavans, it is said, always see the world in extremes, in white or black. To them ‘grey’ is the colour that they introduce to the scheme of things. Veer Savarkar was a chitapavan, and so was Gopal Krishna Gokhale, the guru of Mahatma Gandhi. If Gokhale was a the leader of moderates within Indian National Congress, Tilak led the group of extremists. More than a century later, as Rohit remained with the Congress, losing two assembly elections in 2009 and 2014, his sister-in-law Mukta Tilak has been with the BJP right from the beginning of her political career. She is now Mayor of Pune.

The Congress expected Rohit to build a base in Kasba constituency in Pune city, a lost cause of sorts. Kasba is sold to RSS’ Weltanschauung despite the fact that two legendary Congress families, both chitpavan brahmins, have their presence in Kasba constituency. While Tilaks’ is the first family, second is that of Gadgils, whose family home in Shaniwar Peth is stone’s throw away RSS headquarters of Maharashtra at Moti Baug. Kakasaheb Gadil was a member of Pandit Nehru’s cabinet. He was the one who identified Nathuram Godse as Mahatma Gandhiji’s killer. His son late V.N. Gadgil was one of the finest spokespersons that the Congress ever had. V.N. Gadgil was also union minister of information and broadcasting. His son Anant Gadgil is now a MLC after having been Maharashtra spokesperson of the party for a long time. It is really credible that these two families have been fiercely loyal to Congress despite the fact that Maratha dominated Congress organisational structure in Maharashtra made sure that they were sidelined.

Rohit’s father, Deepak Tilak, is not active in politics, but remains a sympathiser of the Congress. He is an academician who is happy with administration of his Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeeth, a deemed university of repute.

Insiders in Pune’s political and cultural circles say restlessness was Rohit’s middle name. All the things that Tilak family shunned, including fame and power, he wanted so dearly. A happy go lucky child, he was happy to be at parties in Pune’s tiny circle of ‘celebs’. The photos of these parties would make it to page 3 of local English newspapers. At the same time he also wanted to stake a claim to the glorious Tilak legacy. Unfortunately, say Congress insiders, he never worked hard to prove his mettle within politics and remained a ‘loyalist’ who can not win elections.

Today, accused of rape, Rohit Tilak, 37, faces arrest. He has been charged under sections 376 (rape), 377 (unnatural sex), 323 (causing hurt), and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code. The woman who has accused him of rape is a divorcee. In her complaint, she has alleged that Rohit raped her over period of two years after they met in 2015.

“As a political party, we want the allegations to be probed thoroughly so that there is no injustice done to any sides involved. The investigation agencies must go to the bottom of entire issue,” said a senior Congress leader, requesting anonymity. “Someone with his kind of family background and the family name would have made most of the opportunity given to him. He was even state president of the Youth Congress. But I doubt whether he has even read all the editorials written by Lokmanya Tilak,” added the Congress leader.  

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Topics : #Maharashtra

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