Lala Lajpat Rai, one of the
foremost leaders who fought against the mighty British rule in India. Popularly
known as Punjab Kesari (lion of Punjab), Lala was born on January 28, 1865 in
Dhudike village, Moga District of Punjab.
He was the eldest
son of Munshi Radha Kishan Azad and Gulab Devi. His father was an Aggarwal
Bania by caste. Lala Lajpat Rai joined the Government College at Lahore in 1880
to study Law where he came in contact with Lala Hans Raj and Pandit Guru Dutt.
After that he joined
the Arya Samaj founded by Swami Dayanand Saraswati. He passed his Law Degree
Examination in 1885 and started his legal practice in Hissar. He was elected to
the Hissar Municipality as a member and later as Secretary.
He shifted to
Lahore in 1892. Lala Lajpat Rai was one of the three most prominent Hindu
Nationalist members of the Indian National Congress. He was part of the
Lal-Bal-Pal trio. The other two members of the trio were Bal Gangadhar Tilak
and Bipin Chandra Pal.
Lalaji actively
participated in the struggle against partition of Bengal. Along with Surendra
Nath Banerjee, Bipin Chandra Pal and Aurorbindo Ghosh, he galvanized Bengal and
the nation in a vigorous campaign of Swadeshi. Lalaji was arrested on 3rdof
May, 1907 for his revolution against British Raj in Rawalpindi.
He was put in
Mandalay jail for six months and was released on November 11, 1907. Lalaji
believed that it was important to organize propaganda in foreign countries to
explain India's position because by that time the freedom struggle had taken a
revolutionary turn.
He left for Britain in
April 1914 for this purpose. At this time First World War broke out and he was
unable to return to India. He went to USA to galvanize support for India. He
laid foundation of the ‘Indian Home League Society of America’ and wrote a book
called "Young India".
The book severely
indicated British rule in India and was banned in Britain and India even before
it was published. He returned to India in 1920 and became Congress President in
the same year. Servants of the People Society (Lok Sevak Mandal) was founded by
Lala Lajpat Rai in 1921 at Lahore.
The object of the
society, as set forth by Lala Lajpat Rai himself is to enlist and train
national missionaries for the services of the mother-land He led the Punjab to
protests against the Jalianwala Bagh Massacre and took active participation in
Non-Cooperation Movement.
He was arrested
several times. He disagreed with Gandhiji's suspension of Non-Cooperation
Movement due to the Chauri-Chaura incident, and formed the Congress
Independence Party. It had a pro-Hindu angle.
In 1928, British
Government decided to send Simon Commission to India to discuss constitutional
reforms. In 1929, when the Commission came to India there were protests all
over India.
Lala Lajpat Rai
also led a protest against Simon Commission. At that time he was brutally lathi
charged by British Forces and received severe head injuries. He breathed his
last on November17, 1928 which is celebrated as Martyr’s Day in India.
