Lala Lajpat Rai

Lala Lajpat Rai was born on January 28, 1865, in the Moga district of Punjab. His father's name was Munshi Radha Kishan Azad and his mother's name was Gulab Devi. His father was an Aggarwal Bania by caste. His mother was a strong lady and imbibed within him strong ethical principles. He founded the 'Indian Home League Society of America and became the Congress President in 1920. He was one of the leading leaders who fought against British rule in India. He was popularly known as 'Punjab Kesari' (Lion of Punjab).

Lala Lajpat Rai joined the Government College at Lahore in 1880 to study Law. While in college, he came in contact with patriots and future freedom fighters like Lala Hans Raj and Pandit Guru Dutt. All the three became very good friends and joined the 'Arya Samaj' founded by Swami Daya Nand Saraswati.

He passed his law vakilship examination in second division from Government College in 1885 and started his legal practice in Hissar. In addition to practicing, Lalaji collected finances for Daya Nand College, attended Arya Samaj functions, and took part in Congress activities. He was elected to the Hissar municipality as a member and later became the secretary. In 1892, he shifted to Lahore. Lala Lajpat Rai was one of the three most well-known Hindu nationalist members of the Indian National Congress. He was part of the famous 'LalBal-Pal' trio. The other two members of the trio were Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Bipin Chandra Pal. They shaped the extremist group of the Indian National Congress and opposed the moderates led by Gopal Krishna Gokhale. Lalaji aggressively took part in the struggle against the partition of Bengal. He was under arrest on May 3, 1907, for creating chaos in Rawalpindi. He was kept in the Mandalay jail for six months and was released on 11 November 1907.

Lalaji thought that it was significant for the national cause to systematize party lines in foreign countries to explain India's position because the freedom struggle had taken a militant turn. He left for Britain in April 1914 when the 'First World War broke out and was thus unable to return to India. He went further to the USA to get support for India's freedom struggle. He founded the Indian Home League Society of America and wrote a book called 'Young India'. The book strictly criticized British rule in India and was banned in Britain and India even before being published. In 1920, he returned to India after the end of the World War.

After coming back, Lala Lajpat Rai, lead the Punjab protests against the Jallianwala Bagh massacre and the non-cooperation movement. He was imprisoned numerous times. His differences with Gandhiji regarding postponing the non-cooperation movement due to the Chauri-Chaura incident led to the formation of the Congress Independence Party'. In 1928, the British Government decided to send the 'Simon Commission' to India to discuss the constitutional reforms. The Indians were against the commission as it did not consist of any Indian members. In 1929, when the Commission came to India, there were protests all over India. Lala Lajpat Rai himself lead one such demonstration against Simon Commission.

Though the procession was peaceful but the British Government started a lathi-charge during which Lala Lajpat Rai received severe head injuries and died on November 17, 1928. He was a great man and will be remembered throughout history.