Lala Lajpat Rai 155th Birth Anniversary: Know about his role in Indian freedom struggle

The year
2020 marks the 155th birth anniversary of Lala Lajpat Rai, one of the greatest
freedom fighter of India. Lala Lajpat Rai was born on January 28, 1865, in Jain
Punjabi family in Dhudikae village of Punjab’s Moga district to Munshi Radha
Krishan Agrawal and Gulab Devi Agrawal. Rai was also known as Punjab Kesari. He
played a pivotal role in the India freedom struggle.

He had his
initial education in Government Higher Secondary School, Rewari, Punjab
province. In 1880, Lajpat Rai joined Government College at Lahore to study Law.
While studying LLB, he met patriots and future freedom fighters, such as Lala
Hans Raj and Pandit Guru Dutt. He was influenced by the Hindu reformist
movement of Swami Dayanand Saraswati, became a member of existing Arya Samaj
Lahore.

In 1886, he
moved to Hisar where his father was transferred. There he started to practice
law and became a founding member of Bar council of Hisar along with Babu
Churamani.

In 1892, Rai
moved to Lahore to practice before the Lahore High Court. With an aim to give
direction to the Indian freedom struggle, he started practising journalism and
was a regular contributor to several newspapers including The Tribune

For taking
part in political agitation in Punjab, Lala Lajpat Rai was deported to
Mandalay, Burma (now Myanmar), without trial in May 1907. In November, however,
he was allowed to return when the viceroy, Lord Minto, decided that there was
insufficient evidence to keep him under custody. In 1914, he quit law practice
to dedicate himself to the freedom of India. Rai went to Britain in 1914 and
then to the United States in 1917.

In October
1917, he founded the Indian Home Rule League of America in New York and stayed
there till 1920. Lala Lajpat Rai had a political coalition with Bipin Chandra
Pal and Bal Gangadhar Tilak and used to be often referred to as
“Lal-Bal-Pal”.

Rai was a
heavyweight veteran leader of the Indian freedom movement. Young revolutions
like such as Chandrasekhar Azad and Bhagat Singh were inspired by him. He
founded many organisations including Arya Gazette are Lahore, Hisar congress,
Hisar Arya Samaj, Hisar Bar Council, national DAV managing Committee.

To report
the political situation of India, in 1928, the British government set up the
Commission, headed by Sir John Simon. The Indian political parties boycotted
the Commission, because it did not include a single Indian in its membership,
This led to countrywide protests against the commission. When the Commission
visited Lahore on October 30, 1928, Lajpat Rai led non-violent march in protest
against it.

The police
resorted to lathicharge, in Lala Lajpat Rai was injured badly. He could not
recover from the injuries and died on November 17, 1928. Later, to avenge the
death of Rai, Chandrashekhar Azad, Bhagat Singh and other revolutionaries
planned to kill James Scott, a British police officer, ordered to lathicharge
the protesters and personally assaulted Rai. However, in a case of mistaken
identity, the Indian revolutionaries killed John P Saunders.