LALA LAJPAT RAI: THE PILLAR OF STENGTH, SUPPORT

AND LEADERSHIP
“Milk for the infants, food for the adults and education for all”. These
were words of profound impact and depth from the man hailed as the
‘Punjab Kesari’, or the Lion of Punjab. He is even more popularly
known as one among the Lal Bal Pal trio of freedom fighters who laid
down their lives for their country. This is the story of Lala Lajpat Rai, a
versatile political activist, writer and leader who is remembered and
honoured today as a warrior for his fight for an India free from the
clutches of the British power.

EARLY LIFE:

Lala Lajpat Rai was born on 28 January, 1865 to the Agrawal Jain family
in Dhudike in Punjab. He was the eldest of six children born to Munshi
Radha Krishna Azad and Gulab Devi Aggarwal. His father worked as an
Urdu and Persian teacher in a government school. His mother was a
pious woman who inculcated religious and moral sentiments in her
children from a young age itself. Lajpat Rai grew to be a firm believer
of Hinduism and its values, and this belief played a major role in
shaping his perspectives and ideologies later in his political life.

Lala Lajpat Rai got married to Radha Devi in 1877 and had three
children with her – a daughter named Parvati and two sons named
Amrit Rai and Pyarelal.

EDUCATION AND CAREER:

Lajpat Rai did his schooling in the Government Higher Secondary

School in Rewari where his father worked as the teacher. He later
joined the Government College in Lahore in 1880 to pursue his higher
education in law.
After completing his studies, he soon started his legal practice in the
Hisar city in Haryana in 1886. There, along with Babu Churamani, he
became one of the founding members of the Bar council of Hisar.
Lajpat Rai was engaged in a number of political activities while
carrying out his legal practice. He shifted to Lahore in 1892 and
continued to practice law in the Lahore High Court while being
politically active. He simultaneously engaged in journalism to
contribute towards the political segment of the country and had also
been involved with several newspapers, including ‘The Tribune’.

In order to be more productive in his fight to achieve independence

for his country, he gave up his practice in 1914 and fully turned
towards the freedom struggle and dedicated his whole focus on
removing the foreign presence from India.

POLITICAL ACTIVITIES:

ARYA SAMAJ AND THE ARYA GAZETTE:

During his time in college, Lajpat Rai met a lot of prominent political
figures, such as Pandit Guru Dutt and Lala Hans Raj. He was also deeply
influenced by the Hindu reformist movement led by Swami
Dayananda Saraswati and, as a result, joined the Arya Samaj in Lahore
founded by him and became a follower. He was also involved with the
Hindu Mahasabha.

Lala Lajpat Rai is credited with founding the magazine, Arya Gazette
based in Lahore itself. He also worked as the magazine’s editor.

INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS (INC):

In the year 1886 when he shifted to Hisar to practice law, Lajpat Rai
established the Hisar branch of the Indian National Congress. His
relationship with the INC was solidified and strengthened more with
his attendance in the annual sessions of the INC in 1888 and 1889 in
which he was involved as a delegate, an honour conferred to only four
individuals, including himself.

While he was a member of the INC, Lajpat Rai was involved in several
political agitations in Punjab that led to his deportation to the
Mandalay city in Burma (present-day Myanmar) in 1907 without trial.
However, there was a lack of evidence to hold him there and he
eventually returned to India after some months. Upon his return, he
stood for presidency of the INC Surat session in December 1907 but
failed to secure the position.

HOME RULE LEAGUE OF AMERICA:

Lala Lajpat Rai’s fight for freedom expanded beyond the geographical
boundaries of his country. Such was his dedication towards complete
independence or ‘Purna Swaraj’ that he travelled to Britain in 1914
and then proceeded to the United States of America in 1917 to bring
to light the plight of his country under the British rule and to gain
support to make India a sovereign nation.

With this purpose, Lajpat Rai founded the Indian Home Rule League of
America in October 1917 in New York City. As part of his fight, he made
a petition to the US Senate, giving them evidence of misery that
troubled the Indians who had to serve the British rulers without any
form of freedom. Additionally, he started the distribution of a monthly
journal in New York titled ‘Young India and Hindustan Information
Services Association’. Lajpat Rai lived in USA from 1917 till 1920 and
returned to India during World War I to continue the activities of INC.
The details of his life in America are documented in his travelogue,
‘The United States of America: A Hindu's impressions’.

RETURN TO INDIA:
After returning from USA, Lajpat Rai was elected as the President of
the INC in the 1920 Special Session held in Calcutta. Under the INC, he
founded the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) on 31 October,
1920 in Bombay to promote the welfare of workers in all aspects.
Lajpat Rai was elected as its President.

Afterwards, he led a protest in Punjab against the British atrocities in

India as evidenced by the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh tragedy. When the
Non-Cooperation Movement was launched by Mahatma Gandhi in
1920, Lajpat Rai was in charge of leading the movement in Punjab. He
was imprisoned as a result of it from 1921 to 1923. Following his
release, he was elected to the legislative assembly.

The suspension of the movement owing to the 1922 Chauri Chaura

massacre was met with criticism from Lajpat Rai. He subsequently
went ahead to form the Congress Independence Party.

PROTEST AGAINST SIMON COMMISSION:

The Simon Commission, also known as the Indian Statutory

Commission, was a body chaired by Sir John Simon and consisted of
seven Parliament Members. The commission was formed with the
goal of studying the constitutional reforms in India. The major feature
of the group was that it was an all-British body without a single Indian
member as part of it. This was considered unacceptable by the Indian
leaders and several protests erupted in various parts of the country
over such a decision by the British government.

On 30 October, 1928, Lala Lajpat Rai led a peaceful march against the
Simon Commission that was visiting Lahore to protest against the lack
of an Indian member in their body. The protesters were waving black
flags and chanting the slogan, “Simon Go Back”. However, this was
met with violence from the British officials. James Scott, the
Superintendent of Police, subjected the protesters to a lathi charge
that was extremely violent and brutal in nature. Lajpat Rai sustained
severe injuries as a result of the assault at the hands of the British
police officers.

DEATH:

Lala Lajpat Rai’s death is attributed to the beatings he suffered at the

hands of the British forces when he led the protest against the all-
British Simon Commission. It was widely believed that he never
completely recovered from the brutal lathi charge delivered by the
British police. As a result, Lajpat Rai passed away on 17 November,
1928 due to a heart attack at the age of 63.

NOTABLE CONTRIBUTIONS:

Lala Lajpat Rai’s presence is felt all over the country through the
various contribution he had made in the field of education, healthcare
and commerce. He is credited with laying the foundation of the Punjab
National Bank and the Lakshmi Insurance Company in the year 1894.
He also constructed a Lakshmi Building in Karachi.

Lajpat Rai’s presence can be heavily felt in the education sector as

well. As he was a follower of Dayananda Saraswati, in 1886, he
established the nationalistic Dayanand Anglo-Vedic School in Lahore
with the help of Mahatma Hansraj. Lajpat Rai also founded the
National College in Lahore for Indian students as an alternative to the
British educational institutions. The college produced several freedom
fighters, such as Bhagat Singh.

Through the 1926 R K Trust established in remembrance of his father,

Lajpat Rai founded the first educational institution in Jagraon, the R.K.
High school.
In the year 1897, Lala Lajpat Rai started the Hindu Orphan Relief
Movement with the goal of safeguarding the interests of people struck
by famine and to prevent the Christian missionaries from gaining
custody of them. Later, in 1921, Lala Lajpat Rai founded the Servants
of the People Society in Lahore. It was a non-profit organisation
established with the intention of protecting people’s welfare. The
organisation’s headquarter was shifted to Delhi after the partition of
the country and it presently has several branches all over India.

Lajpat Rai had established a similar trust find in his mother’s name in
1927 for the initiation of a tuberculosis hospital in Lahore. The hospital
is named the Gulab Devi Chest Hospital and is currently one of the
largest hospitals in Pakistan.

LEGACY:

To honour his death and the contributions made towards India’s

freedom, the government has declared 17 November as Martyr’s Day.
In addition to this, Lala Lajpat Rai’s statue located in Lahore was
shifted to the Shimla Central Square in Himachal Pradesh.

Several educational institutions have also been established to honour

the legendary freedom fighter, such as the Lala Lajpat Rai College of
Commerce and Economics in Mumbai run by the 1959 Lala Lajpat Rai
Trust and the Lala Lajpat Rai Memorial Medical College in Meerut.
Similarly, Lala Lajpat Rai Institute of Engineering and Technology in
Moga was named after him in the year 1998. The Haryana
Government has honoured his memory by setting up the Lala Lajpat
Rai University of Veterinary & Animal Sciences in Hisar in 2010.

The contributions of the illustrious political figure is so extensive that

several roads, public infrastructure, institutions, libraries, etc. have
been dedicated to him by the government.
The silent film, ‘Punjab Kesari’, directed by Homi Master in 1929,
portrays Lala Lajpat Rai’s life to the public. Bhalji Pendharkar had also
created a movie, ‘Vande Mataram Ashram’, depicting the actions of
both Lajpar Rai and Madan Mohan and their opposition of the western
education in India. Similarly, the Films Division of Government of India
had produced a documentary about him, which was directed by K.
Viswanath.

CONCLUSION:

Lala Lajpat Rai is an unforgettable freedom fighter in the history of

India. His ideologies of nationalism and liberalism was a driving force
behind his words and actions that made him a powerful political
leader and a fierce orator. Lajpat Rai gave momentum to the Indian
freedom struggle through his words, actions and spirit that still
motivates the youth to achieve their dreams and goals even in the
present era.