LALA LAJPAT RAI

Lala Lajpat Rai - Lala Lajpat Rai is popularly known as Sher-I-Punjab
Lala Lajpat Rai (1865-1928, Hindi: लाला लाजपत राय) was an Indian author and politician who is chiefly remembered as a leader in the Indian fight for freedom from the British Raj. The freedom fighter was popularly known as Punjab Kesari (The Lion of Punjab). He was also the founder of Punjab National Bank and Lakshmi Insurance Company.

Early life
Born in Jagraon, on January,28, India in 1865, Rai created a career of reforming Indian policy through politics and writing. When studying law in Lahore, Rai continued to practice Hinduism. He became a large believer in the idea that Hinduism, above nationality, was the pivotal point upon which an Indian lifestyle must be based. Hinduism, as Rai believed, led to practices of peace to humanity; when nationalist ideas were added to this peaceful belief system, a non-secular nation could be formed. His involvement with Hindu Mhasabhaite leaders gathered criticism from the Bharat Sabha as Mhasabhas were anti-secularism, which did not conform with the system laid out by Congress. This focus on Hindu practices in the subcontinent would ultimately lead him to the continuation of peaceful movements to create successful demonstrations for Indian independence.

Political Life
As the need for partition and independence took an important turn for the possible, Rai’s involvement became imperative to the Indian Independence Movement. His actions in anti-imperialist movements led to numerous arrests which were eventually acquitted. Rai became an important member of the Arya Samaj. This political group was full of English-educated Indians who believed that Hinduism had a specific and direct impact on what it meant to be Indian. The group also took the ideas of a merged western and eastern world and promoted that the subcontinent had benefitted from its coagulation. The involvement of the Arya Samaj in constitutional reform supported the freedom movement which took hold of the Indian population. Rai led political rallies which taught how the history of the subcontinent had always been heading to the philosophical idea that it would become an independent nation.

Rai presided over the first session of the All India Trade Union Congress in 1920. In 1923, he became a member of the Imperial Legislative Assembly. He also went to Geneva to attend the eighth International Labour Conference in 1926 as a representative of Indian labour. He had an opportunity to watch the labour movement in the USA and England where he was required to prolong his stay for political reasons.

Rai led the Punjab protests against the Amritsar Massacre (1919) and the Non-Cooperation Movement (1919 - 1922). He was repeatedly arrested. Rai however disagreed with Mohandas Gandhi's suspension of the movement due to the Chauri Chaura incident, and formed the Congress Independence Party, which was particularly pro-Hindu in voice and policy.

He was not only a good orator but also a prolific and versatile writer. His journal Arya Gazette concentrated mainly on subjects related to the Arya Samaj. Bande Mataram and People, contained his inspiring speeches to end oppression by the foreign rulers. He founded the Servants of the People Society, which worked for the freedom movement as well as for social reform in the country. He also wrote an autobiography in English titled The Story of My Life.

Simon Commission protests
Rai led a procession with Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya to demonstrate against the Simon Commission. During this procession, Rai became the target of a lathi led by British police. He was injured in the precession. A meeting was held the same evening where he spoke with such vigour that his words, "Every blow aimed at me is a nail in the coffin of British imperialism", became historic. Though he recovered from the fever and pain within three days, his health had received a permanent setback and on November 17, 1928, he died of his injuries. His death led to great disturbances in the country and it inspired national struggle for freedom.

Author
Rai’s journey to the United States during WWI helped him to gather knowledge of how an independent nation formulates a nationalist identity. This is where he gathered information about how foreign nations, specifically Britain’s imperialist hold on India, have negative effects on the people, the lifestyles, and the ability to generate bonds with other nations. Rai wrote articles that perpetuated foreign nations to bond with the subcontinent’s struggle for independence. By accepting that westernized ideals are positive to the creation of nationalities, Rai gained support for breaking from Britain. In Europeanization and the Ancient Culture of India, Rai wrote that nationalization of India was imperative to spread western ideology to the rest of the world. Since the westernization of India had successfully been adapted while continuing traditions remained a large part of the culture, Rai believed that India no longer needed an overbearing imperialist government. He wrote that: “at first sight it seems absurd to give on name to all Indian civilization. But a close examination for facts and data amply proves the unity of Indian civilization, at least for the present geological period.” These ideas were passed to foreign countries in order to show that despite the cultural differences from the western world, India’s society had become a sustainable, functional nation which deserved its own nationality as opposed being overseen by an inferior western country.

Writings by Lala Lajpat include Josiah Wedgwood - The Man And His Work, The United States of America: A Hindu's impressions and a study, History of the Arya Samaj, Swaraj and social change, England’s Debt to India: A historical narrative of Britain's fiscal policy in India, The Problems Of National Education In India and Unhappy India: Being a reply to Katherine Mayo's "Mother India", published in 1928. (Mother India was a polemical account of India's self rule by American historian Katherine Mayo.)

Inspiration and memorial
The Lala Lajpat Rai Memorial Trust was formed in 1959 on the eve of his Centenary Birth Celebration, to promote education. The trust was founded by a group of Punjabi philanthropists (including R.P Gupta and B.M Grover) who have settled and prospered in the Indian State of Maharashtra.

A statue of Lajpat Rai stands at the central square in Shimla, India. Lajpat Nagar and Lajpat Nagar Central Market in New Delhi, Lala Lajpat Rai Hall of Residence at Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) in Kharagpur and Lala Lajpat Rai Institute of Engineering and Technology, Moga are named in his honor. Also many institutes, Schools and Library in his hometown of Jagraon, district Ludhiana are named after him.

References
1. ^ Lala Lajpat Rai. Encyclopedia Britannica. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/ topic/328063/Lala-Lajpat-Rai
2. ^ S. K. Mittal and Irfan Habib. “Towards Independence and Socialist Republic: Naujawan Bharat Sabha”. Social Scientist Vol. 8 2, 1979.
3. ^ Norman G. Barrier. “The Arya Samaj and Congress Politics in the Punjab, 1894-1908.” The Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 26, 1967.
4. ^ Norman G. Barrier. “The Arya Samaj and Congress Politics in the Punjab, 1894-1908.” The Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 26, 1967. ^ Lal Lajpat Rai. “Europeanization and the Ancient Culture of India.” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science Vol. 145, 1929.”