Lala Lajpat Rai was one of the pioneers of Indian freedom struggle in early 20th century.
Born on 28 January 1865 in Dudhike ( now in Moga district, Punjab), Lalajee was eldest son of Munshi Radha Kishan Azad and Gulab Devi.
Rai had his initial education in Government Higher Secondary School, Rewari (now in Haryana, previously in Punjab), in the late 1870s and early 1880s.
He joined the Government College at Lahore in 1880 to study Law where he came in contact with future freedom fighters Lala Hans Raj and Pandit Guru Dutt. Together they joined the Arya Samaj founded by Swami Dayanand Saraswati.
The session of the Indian National Congress at Allahabad in December 1888 marked the beginning of his political career.
Often described as the pillar of extremist Nationalism, Lalajee was arrested on May 3, 1907 for creating "turmoil" in Rawalpindi. He was deported to Mandalay, Burma (Myanmar), without trial and was released on November 11.
Lalajee was part of Lal-Bal-Pal trio who became famous for their assertive nationalism. The other two members of the trio were Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Bipin Chandra Pal.
They formed the extremist faction of the Indian National Congress, as opposed to the moderate one led first by Gopal Krishna Gokhale.Read.
The partition of Bengal in 1905 aroused their robust nationalism. They advocated the Swadeshi movement involving the boycott of all imported items and the use of Indian-made goods in 1907 as part of their anti-Partition agitation in Bengal.
Since Indian freedom struggle was taking a militant turn, Lalajee believed it was important to explain India's position to the world.
He left for Britain in April 1914 but At this time First World War broke out and he was unable to return to India.
Lalajee went to America to galvanise support for India and there he founded the Indian Home League Society of America.
He also authored "Young India", a book that was severely critical of British rule in India. The book was banned in both Indian and Britain even before it was published.
After his return, Lala Lajpat Rai,led the Punjab protests against the Jalianwala Bagh Massacre and the Non-Cooperation Movement.
In 1928, British Government decided to send Simon Commission to India to discuss constitutional reforms. But it had no Indian members, this greatly angered Indians.
Lalajee led a procession to demonstrate against the Simon Commission. The superintendent of police, James A. Scott, ordered the police to lathi (baton) charge the protesters and personally assaulted Rai.
Despite being injured, Rai subsequently addressed the crowd and said that "I declare that the blows struck at me today will be the last nails in the coffin of British rule in India"
Severely wounded in the incident, Lalajee succumbed to his injuries three weeks later on November 17.
His death prompted revolutionaries Bhagat Singh, Chandrashekhar Azad, Sukhdev and Rajguru to hatch a plot to kill Scott. However, in a case of mistaken identity, the plotters shot John P. Saunders, an Assistant Superintendent of Police, as he was leaving the District Police Headquarters in Lahore on 17 December 1928.
