Hidden Stories | The man who called Tilak ‘nation’s enemy’: Few in Pune remember activist-critic Dinkarrao Javalkar today

From a social movement to a political force

Devkumar Ahire, Assistant Professor at Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU), said Javalkar was a second-generation Satyashodhak. “Mahatma Phule and his contemporaries were the first generation of Satyashodhaks, but after his and Savitribai Phule’s death, there was a little bit of decline in the Satyashodhak movement. But in the 1920s, because of the changing political and social scenario of Maharashtra, there was an emergence of some kind of consciousness, especially among youths from the Kunbi caste. Javalkar himself was from the Kunbi community,” he said.

Javalkar and Jedhe turned the Satyashodhak Samaj from a social movement into a political force for the first time, said Prof Ahire. They had initially set up their own party, but later joined the Indian National Congress.

Prof Ahire added that on a pan-India level, there was an emergence of Mahatma Gandhi with provincial Congresses being captured by the Gandhians. But in Maharashtra, there was a big fight between the Gandhians and the Tilakites, which led to Gandhi strategically planning a yatra to have a dialogue with non-Brahmin leaders. He said, “Around 1925-26, Javalkar wrote an article critical of Gandhi. But within three years, in 1929, he wrote an article ‘Satyashodhak Mahatma’ where he wrote about Gandhi’s contributions.”

A desk of Swapnil Javalkar, a descendent of Dinkarrao Javalkar. (Express Photo)

Javalkar’s book Deshache Dushman (Nation’s Enemies) accused figures like Tilak and Vishnushastri Chiplunkar of being enemies of the nation. Prof Ahire said, “According to Dinkarrao Javalkar, these were not leaders of the country. They were basically enemies of the country. He was articulating an idea of the nation which is different from what was presented by upper-caste Brahmin nationalists. And in the Shetkarancha Hindustan, he basically argued that India is a country of peasants…Tilak’s movement was not inclusive. It was an urban upper caste English educated movement.”

Nalawade writes that in Deshache Dushman, Javalkar “called Chiplunkar a dog and suggested that he should be shot for having abused Mahatma Phule through the columns.” A descendant of Chiplunkar filed a defamation case against the book and Javalkar was sentenced to a year’s imprisonment. Dr B R Ambedkar represented Javalkar in an appeal against this judgment.

A familiar street, a forgotten name

For many residents and vendors who spend their days here, Javalkar’s name is unfamiliar. Among them is Kamal Madan Pardeshi, a street hawker who has worked on the road for the past three years. Pardeshi does not recognise the name Dinkarrao Javalkar at all. Instead, she refers to the area as “Mamledar Kacheri Road,” a name that, she says, is more commonly used by customers and fellow vendors. Others along the street echo this tendency, using informal or functional names rather than the official name printed on signboards.

This gap is also evident among long-term residents. Vilas Manchalekar, 71, runs a sewing shop that has stood on the road for nearly five decades. Yet, Manchalekar admits that the identity of Dinkarrao Javalkar remains unknown to him. “I don’t know who he was,” he says, pointing instead to the municipal signboard bearing the road’s name. “The board is all I know of him,” he said, slightly confused. Currently, the signboard is covered by a religious hoarding.

In contrast, fragments of personal history survive through lineage. Swapnil Javalkar, 38, a junior clerk at a local college, traces his roots to the activist. “Dinkarrao Javalkar”, he said, “hailed from Alandi, and the family is now into its fourth generation.” His surname often invites curiosity. “People always ask me if the road was named after me,” he remarks with a laugh, before explaining the ancestral connection.

When names outlast stories, roads risk becoming labels detached from meaning, known to the city, but not necessarily understood by those who walk them every day.

Shreenija Dandavate is an intern with The Indian Express.