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Joseph Baptista

(1864 – 1930) – (Maharashtra)

Joseph “Kaka” Baptista (Aged 66) was born on 17 March 1864 to John Baptista, who hailed from Uttan near Bassein (now Vasai). The Baptistas were part of the East Indian ethnic community, who had been converted to Roman Catholicism during the Portuguese rule between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries. He received his early education from St. Mary’s School in Mumbai, and later joined the College of Engineering in Pune. He pursued a BA degree in political science from the Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, during which time he first met Bal Gangadhar Tilak.

Baptista was an Indian politician and activist from Bombay (now Mumbai), closely associated with Lokmanya Tilak and the Home Rule Movement. He was the first president of the Indian Home Rule League, established in 1916, and was elected as the mayor of Bombay in 1925. He was given the title “Kaka,” which means “uncle.”

Influenced by the Irish Home Rule movement, Baptista’s ideas on an Indian version took root. His ideas deeply influenced Tilak, and the two became close associates. He assisted Tilak by launching the Sarvajanik Ganpati (public Ganpati celebrations) to raise nationalistic feelings. In addition, Baptista coined the phrase “Swaraj is my Birthright,” which was later made popular by Tilak.

Baptista was also a practicing barrister at the Bombay High Court. One of his most high-profile clients was Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, for whom he demanded an open trial to assure the dignity of fundamental rights. In 1920, he founded the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC). As a labor leader, he took up the cause of mill workers, postmen, and other blue-collar workers.

Although religious, he refused to mix politics and religion, refusing to have separate religion-based electorates. In 1999, a book on Baptista titled Joseph Baptista: The father of Home Rule in India was released. Through the book, the author hoped that Baptista would be a role model for modern-day youths. He passed away on 18 September 1930.