Lala Lajpat Rai

Lala Lajpat Rai was one of the prominent freedom fighters from Punjab and one of the members of the radical trio ‘Lal, Bal, Pal’. A profuse writer, politician, and lawyer, he actively took part in the Nationalist movement led by the Indian National Congress.

Also known as “Punjab Kesari” and “Lion of Punjab”, he was at the forefront of Hindu Reform Movements and Arya Samaj. He was one of the first leaders to turn away from the moderates and adopt radical approaches in the freedom movement. An excellent orator and a member of the Swaraj Party, he also started the newspaper “Young India” to deviate from the Western writings filled with Imperialism and racial bias. He was instrumental in the foundation of the Punjab National Bank. An active participant in the Swadeshi movement, he advocated religious harmony and opposed economic exploitation.

Biographies of prominent personalities are important for UPSC Civil Services Exam preparation. These notes will also be useful for competitive exams like Bank PO, SSC, state civil services exams, and so on.

In this article, you can read about the life and contributions of the rabble-rouser of the Indian Nationalist movement, Lala Lajpat Rai.

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Early Life

• Lala Lajpat Rai was born on 28 January 1865 to Munshi Radhakrishna, a government school teacher, and Ghulab Devi Aggarwal in the Moga district of Punjab. His father was an Urdu teacher, and his mother was a religious person with robust moral values.
• Lala Lajpat Rai completed his elementary education at Government Higher Secondary School, Rewari, where his father served as an Urdu teacher. He joined the Government Law College in Lahore in 1880. During this period, he got attracted to the reformist ideas and progressive beliefs of Arya Samaj, founded by Swami Dayananda Saraswati. Close contact with patriots like Lal Hans Raj and Pandit Guru Dutt nurtured his nationalist sentiments and kindled patriotism. He joined Arya Samaj in 1882 with a sturdy hope to serve the country and free his countrymen from the shackles of slavery.
• After passing the pleaders exam, Rai shifted to Hisar in South Punjab, where he started practising as a lawyer. He was also inspired by the autobiography of Giuseppe Mazzini, a revolutionary in Italy. In 1886, he founded the district branch of the Indian National Congress in Hisar and a branch of Arya Samaj.
• He worked for the goals of Arya Samaj, including the reformation of society, advancement of education, and Hindu Dharma. His close associates during this period were Babu Churamani, Lala Chhabil Das, and Seth Gauri Shankar, who had attended the annual session of the Congress party in Allahabad.
• In 1892, he started practice before the Lahore High Court. In 1896, he assisted Mahatma Hansraj in establishing Dayanand Anglo Vedic School (DAV) in Lahore, which paved the way for cultural and educational rejuvenation in India.
• By 1914, he left the practice to dedicate himself fully to the grail of the Indian Independence Movement. He moved to Britain and then to the United States in 1917. In the United States, he founded the Indian Home Rule League of America.

Writings

• Lala Lajpat Rai developed the habit of writing with the intention to shape the political policy of India and share his ideas on radical nationalism among Indians. His words and writings were equally dynamic. He contributed articles and journals to prominent newspapers, including The Tribune. He wrote biographies of Italian patriots, including Garibaldi, Mazzini, and Indian iconic figures like Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Swami Dayananda Saraswathi, and Sri Krishna.
• The books contained passages, ingenious enough to ignite the trail of freedom. He also penned books to reveal the pathetic conditions under British rule. A fierce speaker and journalist of high regard, he founded an Urdu daily, known as ‘Vande Mataram’, and an English weekly, called ‘People’.

Political Career

• Lala Lajpat Rai entered the world of politics with sheer determination to unshackle Indians from British Imperialism. Intending to convey the state of affairs in the Indian struggle for freedom to foreign countries, he traveled to Britain and the United States in 1915 and 1917. He founded a weekly journal named ‘Young India’, Hindustan Information Services Association, and established India Information Bureau in America.
• He sought the support of the international community to acknowledge the perilous effects of maladministration by the British in India. He authored two books namely ‘Arya Samaj’ and ‘England’s, Debt to India’ during his stay in America. Meanwhile, he also visited Japan and tried to win support from influential people. By 1919, he was eager to join his countrymen after hearing the news of the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre in India. After returning to India in 1920, he presided over the meeting of the Indian National Congress in Calcutta.
• With an objective to train national missionaries to serve their motherland, Lala Lajpat Rai founded the Servants of People Society, a non-profit organisation. The society worked for the social, cultural, economic, educational, and political development of the nation. Inaugurated by Mahatma Gandhi, it was initially headquartered in Lahore and later shifted to Delhi, post the partition of India.
• In 1921, the Non-Cooperation movement launched by Mahatma Gandhi gained momentum in India. Lala Lajpat Rai joined the agitation along with another revolutionary, Ajit Singh. The whole of the Punjab province joined him. Schools and colleges were boycotted, and government offices were closed. Lala Lajpat Rai started a political science institution and guided the enthusiastic youth of India, who became a part of the movement. Many young people who were part of the movement, including Chandrasekhar Azad and Bhagat Singh, were inspired by Lalaji. He also went on a tour in Punjab and collected money for the same.
• Lala Lajpat Rai’s organizational abilities and stirring speeches during the Nationalist struggle inspired many. He also initiated hartals and agitations in the midst of the Non-Cooperation movement. He was arrested in December 1921, along with Jawaharlal Nehru and Chittaranjan Das. He was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment but released on public protest. Immediately following his release, he was tried again and sentenced to 2 years. Unable to stand the vigorous public agitation that followed, the British were compelled to release him. By then, his health had deteriorated.
• Lala Lajpat Rai joined the Swaraj Party, established by Chittaranjan Das and Motilal Nehru, intending to secure self-government and political freedom for the people of India. He advocated the use of Swadeshi goods and joined the mass protests that followed the Partition of Bengal in 1905. He was also at the forefront of the protest against the Rowlatt Act and the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre.
• He was also elected to the Central Legislative Assembly. He vehemently opposed capitalism and economic exploitation by any means. Lalaji was the first president of the Indian Trade Union Congress. He was the first one to link capitalism and imperialism, stating that “imperialism and militarism are the twin children of capitalism”.He organised agitation against the Colonisation bill, for which he was deported to a faraway place for six months.

Religious views

• Lala Lajpat Rai was a religious person and believed that the Hindu society itself should fight against the practice of caste discrimination, untouchability, and the position of women in society. He considered Vedas an integral part of the Hindu religion and advocated for people to go through Vedas, read, and recite the mantras.
• Lala Lajpat Rai was highly aware of the necessity of communal harmony in the face of the freedom struggle. The unity displayed among Hindus and Muslims was deteriorating, and there were riots between Muslims and Hindus in the North-Western-Frontier Province. The riot in Kohat resulted in the deaths of around 100 Hindus and about 400 people were shifted to Rawalpindi.
• To foster unity and harmony among different religions, a National Council was established, post the conference. These deliberations did not create fruitful results, and Lala Lajpat Rai was disappointed with the riots and outcomes. He stood along with the Hindu community and organised movements for the ‘Purification of Hinduism’ and ‘Organisation of Hinduism’. According to shreds of evidence, Lala Lajpat Rai had written around 13 articles in The Tribune, in the midst of communal tensions.
• Most of his ideas were reflective of the diversity of Indian culture. He took efforts to convince the leaders of the Indian National movement regarding the efforts of the British to divide India into communal lines through the Morley-Minto Reforms and the Government of India Act of 1919.
• In 1925, he presided over the meeting of Hindu Mahasabha in Calcutta. He preached on the necessity of Hindu Dharma and the need to uphold it for an awakening of Hindus.

Simon Commission

• The Simon Commission, headed by George Simon, was appointed to study the political situation in India. The Commission met with strong resistance from the political parties in India owing to a biased stance. The Commission comprised only members of the British Parliament, and no Indians were part of it.
• Following the introduction of a resolution in the Central Legislative Assembly in February 1928, he stated “The present constitution of the commission and its terms of reference are unworthy of acceptance by this House; therefore, this House advises the Government that it should have nothing to do with the Commission.” Lalaji appealed to Indians to support the Nehru Report (by Motilal Nehru) against the British and exhibit their right to determine their future.
• Lala Lajpat Rai headed the non-violent protest march against the commission on October 30, 1928, in Lahore. They raised the slogan “Simon Go Back” and carried black flags in protest. Revolutionaries organised marches and observed hartals in protest. The crowd and intensity of the protest expanded, and police started brutal lathi charges on the crowd.
• Following the instructions of police officer James A Scott, police brutally attacked Lala Lajpat Rai, though he was surrounded by his friends, including Sukhdev, Yashpal, and Bhagavati Charan. He received blows all over the body and head. Realizing that the situation would lead to severe conflicts and a bloodbath, he asked the crowd to disperse.

Demise

• Lala Lajpat Rai’s health received a permanent setback, by the injuries inflicted on his ageing body during the protests. He was not able to recover and passed away on November 17, 1928. It was evident that the actions of James Scott hastened Lalaji’s death. The British Parliament denied any role in his death.
• Bhagat Singh, Shivaram Rajguru, Sukhdev Thapar, and Chandra Shekhar Azad decided to avenge the death of Lala Lajpat Rai. However, they accidentally shot John P Sanders, a Police Superintendent, instead of James Scott.

Candidates can go through NCERT Notes on Lala Lajpat Rai from the linked article.

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