Kesari (Marathi newspaper)
Kesari is an Indian Marathi language newspaper which was founded on 4 January 1881 by Bal Gangadhar Tilak, a self-rule activist in the Indian independence movement. It is owned and managed by the Kesari Mahratta Trust, which also oversees Mahratta, an English-language newspaper.
History
Origins
Kesari was established on 4 January 1881 by Bal Gangadhar Tilak, a self-rule activist in the Indian independence movement. One of two weekly newspapers established by Tilak, Kesari was published in the Marathi language, while its counterpart, Mahratta, was published in English. Tilak wrote several articles in Kesari, on issues such as land tenure and revenue, war expenditure, high salaries paid to British officials, and the colonial exploitation of Indian resources. A Hindu nationalist who nevertheless supported Hindu-Muslim unity, Tilak sought to create a Hindu public sphere. Many Kesari editorials described how this sphere was formed and mobilised through religious events, in an attempt to create a shared and cohesive national culture.In 1897, Tilak was tried and imprisoned for sedition on the basis of views he had expressed in Kesari. The prosecution was triggered by his violent rhetoric in relation to the assassination of two plague officials, W. C. Rand and Charles Ayerst; the assassinations had occurred following the Bombay plague epidemic, after which Tilak had counselled the "murder of Europeans". In 1908, Tilak was again tried and imprisoned for sedition, when his articles in Kesari defended the Muzaffarpur bombings which had led to the Alipore bomb case. On both occasions of his imprisonment, Narasimha Chintaman Kelkar assumed the role of editor.
Support of Italian fascism
From 1924 to 1939, Kesari regularly published articles and editorials in support of Italian fascism, Benito Mussolini, and fascist Italy. Across a series of editorials, the newspaper depicted Italy's transition from a liberal government to a fascist dictatorship as a move from anarchy to order. Mussolini's political reforms, particularly the shift from elected members of parliament to nominated ones and the substitution of parliament itself with the Grand Council of Fascism, were also praised considerably.D. V. Tahmankar, the London correspondent of Kesari, was a known admirer of Mussolini. In 1927, he published a biography entitled Muslini ani Fashismo
A lengthy Kesari article, entitled Italy and the Young Generations