Q1. [3] deep thorough-understanding
[short_answer] Balgangadhar Tilak was sentenced to six years' imprisonment in 1908 after his newspaper Kesari published articles that the colonial government deemed seditious. Analyse what the public reaction to his arrest revealed about the relationship between press censorship and the growth of nationalist consciousness in India.
Generated by claude-sonnet-4-6 · 2026-06-26 15:05 · grounding rag
Model Answer
Tilak's imprisonment in 1908 for writing sympathetically about Punjab revolutionaries in Kesari sparked widespread protests all over India. This revealed that press censorship had the opposite effect of what the colonial government intended — instead of suppressing nationalist consciousness, it intensified it. Attempts to throttle nationalist criticism through the Vernacular Press Act (1878) and arrests like Tilak's provoked militant protest, which in turn led to a renewed cycle of persecution and protests. The public reaction showed that print had become a powerful vehicle for nationalist sentiment, and colonial repression only deepened popular identification with nationalist causes.
Source: Print and Censorship, Chapter 5
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Explanation
- The examiner wants three points roughly: (1) what happened (Tilak arrested → protests), (2) the colonial government's intent with censorship vs. actual outcome, and (3) what this reveals about the press–nationalism link.
- Quote or reference the "renewed cycle of persecution and protests" phrase from the passage — examiners reward textbook language.
- Mention the Vernacular Press Act 1878 to show historical context of censorship.
- Do not bring in Rowlatt Act or Gandhi — that's from a different chapter and the question is specifically about press censorship and Tilak.