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| Lala lajpat rai |
Education and career:
Lajpat Rai completed his early education from Government Higher Secondary School in Rewari and then went to Lahore to complete his graduation from Government College in 1880. In 1884 his father was transferred to Rohtak and Rai came along after the completion of his studies at Lahore. In 1886 he moved to Hisar where his father was transferred and started to practice law and became a founding member of the Bar council of Hisar along with Babu Churamani. In the same year he helped Mahatma Hansraj establish the nationalistic Dayananda Anglo-Vedic School Lahore and he also founded the Hisar district branches of the Indian National Congress and the reformist Arya Samaj movement with several other local leaders. These included Babu Churamani (lawyer), the three Tayal brothers (Chandu Lal Tayal, Hari Lal Tayal and Balmokand Tayal), Dr. Ramji Lal Hooda, Dr. Dhani Ram, Arya Samaj Pandit Murari Lal,Seth Chhaju Ram Jat (founder of Jat School Hisar) and Dev Raj Sandhir. In 1888 and again in 1889, he had the honor of being one of the four delegates from Hisar to attend the annual session of the Congress at Allahabad along with Babu Churamani, Lala Chhabil Das and Seth Gauri Shankar. In 1892 he moved to Lahore to practise before the Lahore High Court. To shape the political policy of India to gain independence, he also practised journalism and was a regular contributor to several newspapers including The Tribune. He was also associated with the management of Punjab National Bank and Lakshmi Insurance Company in their early stages in 1894.
Politics and struggle for freedom:
Lajpat Rai was a prominent member of the Lal-Bal-Pal triumvirate, along with Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Bipin Chandra Pal. The trio worked together to create national awareness and promote the idea of Swaraj or self-rule.
After joining the Indian National Congress and taking part in political agitation in Punjab, Lala Lajpat Rai Wadwal was deported to Mandalay, but there was insufficient evidence to hold him for subversion.
In 1905, the British government decided to partition Bengal for administrative convenience, which led to widespread protests in Bengal. Lajpat Rai supported the movement and urged people to boycott British goods. He played a significant role in the Swadeshi movement, which was launched to promote Indian goods and boycott British goods.
In 1907, Lajpat Rai was arrested for his involvement in a protest against the British government. He was sentenced to six months in prison, where he wrote his famous book 'The Story of My Life.' The book chronicles his early life, political career, and his vision for an independent India.
Graduates of the National College, which he founded inside the Bradlaugh Hall at Lahore as an alternative to British-style institutions, included Bhagat Singh.He was elected President of the Indian National Congress in the Calcutta Special Session of 1920. In 1921, he founded Servants of the People Society, a non-profit welfare organisation, in Lahore, which shifted its base to Delhi after partition, and has branches in many parts of India.According to him, Hindu society needs to fight its own battle with caste system, position of women and untouchability.Vedas were an important part of Hindu religion and approved everyone should be allowed to read them and recite the mantras. He believed that everyone should be allowed to read and learn from the Vedas.
Travel to the United States:
Lajpat Rai travelled to the United States in 1917, and then returned during World War I. He toured Sikh communities along the Western Seaboard, visited the Tuskegee University in Alabama, and met with workers in the Philippines. His travelogue, The United States of America (1916), details these travels and features extensive quotations from leading African American intellectuals, including W.E.B. Du Bois and Fredrick Douglass. While in the United States he had founded the Indian Home Rule League in New York City and a monthly journal, the Young India and Hindustan Information Services Association. Rai petitioned the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs, painting a vivid picture of maladministration by the British Raj in India, the aspirations of Indian public for independence amongst many other points which strongly sought the support of the international community for the attainment of Indian independence. The 32-page petition, which was prepared overnight, was discussed in the U.S. Senate in October 1917.The book also argues for the notion of "color-caste," suggesting sociological similarities between race in the US and caste in India. During World War I, Lajpat Rai lived in the United States, but he returned to India in 1919 and in the following year led the special session of the Congress Party that launched the non-co-operation movement. In 1919, the British government introduced the Rowlatt Act, which allowed the government to arrest and imprison anyone suspected of being a threat to British rule without a trial. Lajpat Rai, along with other leaders, organized a protest against the Act. He was imprisoned from 1921 to 1923 and elected to the legislative assembly on his release.
Protests Against The Simon Commission:
In 1928, the United Kingdom set up the Simon Commission, headed by Sir John Simon to report on the political situation in India. The commission was boycotted by Indian political parties because it did not include any Indian members, and it was met with country-wide protests. When the Commission visited Lahore on 30 October 1928, Lajpat Rai led a non-violent march in protest against it and gave the slogan "Simon Go Back!". The protesters chanted the slogan and carried black flags.
The police superintendent in Lahore, James A. Scott, ordered the police to lathi charge the protesters and personally assaulted Rai. Despite being severely injured, Rai subsequently addressed the crowd and said "I declare that the blows struck at me today will be the last nails in the coffin of British rule in India".
Death:
Rai did not fully recover from his injuries and died on 17 November 1928. Doctors thought that James Scott's blows had hastened his death. However, when the matter was raised in the British Parliament, the British government denied any role in Rai's death. Bhagat Singh , an HSRA revolutionary who was a witness to the event, swore to avenge the death of Rai, who was a significant leader of the Indian independence movement. He joined other revolutionaries, Shivram rajguru , Sukhdev Thapar and Chandrashekhar Azad , in a plot to kill Scott to send a message to the British government. However, in a case of mistaken identity, Singh was signalled to shoot on the appearance of John P. Saunders, an assistant superintendent of the Lahore Police. He was shot by Rajguru and Singh while leaving the District Police Headquarters in Lahore on 17 December 1928. Chanan Singh, a head constable who was chasing them, was fatally injured by Azad's covering fire.
This case did not stop Bhagat Singh and his fellow-members of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association from claiming that retribution had been exacted.
Legacy:
Lajpat Rai was a heavyweight veteran leader of the Indian Nationalist Movement, Indian independence movement led by the Indian National Congress, Hindu reform movements and Arya Samaj, who inspired young men of his generation and kindled latent spirit of patriotism in their hearts with journalistic writings and lead-by-example activism. Young men in the independence movement, such as Chandrasekhar Azad and Bhagat Singh, were inspired by Rai.
In late 19th and early 20th century Lala Lajpat Rai himself was founder of many organisations, including Hisar congress, Hisar Bar Council, national DAV managing Committee. Lala Lajpat Rai was also head of the "Lakshmi Insurance Company," and commissioned the Lakshmi Building in Karachi, which still bears a plaque in remembrance of him. Lakhsmi Insurance Company was merged with Life Insurance Corporation of India when en masse nationalisation of Life Insurance business happened during 1956.
