Press Act strangled all freedom of writing. National literature was mostly proscribed, especially all that described Mr. Tilak's personality or preached his principles. Evidently this was an attempt to make the people to forget him. *" A hush had fallen over the country. No man seemed to know which way to move and from all sides came the question * What shall we do next ? What is there that we can do ?* "
On his return to Poona, Mr. Tilak could read this question on every face. The great Nationalist Party so laboriously organised by him was thoroughly routed. People asked themselves the question,
- Would Mr. Tilak take his rightful place as the leader of the Nationalists or would he, like so many others, bow to the inevitable and spend the evening
of his life in philosophy and meditation *'? The future of India de})ended on what answer Mr. Tilak- would give to this question. At a welcome meeting, held at Poona on Sunday 21st June 1914, he said :—
'When after six year? absence, I return home and begin to renew my acquaintance with the world, I find myself in the position of Rip Van Winkle. I was kept by the authorities in such a rigorous seclusion that it seemed that they desired that I should' forget the world and be forgotten by it. However I have not forgotten the people, and I am glad to notice that the people have not forgotten me. I can only assure the public that separation for six long years could not diminish my love for them and that I am willing and ready to serve in the satn^' manner and in the same relation and in the same capa-
- Uttarapara speech of Srj. Arabindc Ghose (1909).
