Lala Lajpat Rai

Lala Lajpat Rai

Lala Lajpat Rai was an Indian Panjabi author and politician who was chiefly remembered as a leader in the Indian Independence movement. He was popularly known as Panjab Kesari. Kesari means lion. Lala Lajpat Rai was born in a hind agarwal family on 28 January 1865. His father was Munshi Ratha Krishnan Agarwal and his mother Gulab Devi Agarwal. In 1867 Lajpat Rai married Radha Devi Agarwal. He had two sons and one daughter in his family. In 1880 Lajpat Rai joined Government college of Lahore to study law where he came in contact with patriots and future freedom fighters. While  studied at Lahore he was influenced by the Hindu reformist movement of Swamy Dhayanand Saraswathi became a member of existing Aryasamaj. He mostly like Arya samaj in his life.

In 1886 he founded the Hisar district branch of the Indian National Congress. After joining the Indian National Congress taking part in political agitation in Punjab. In 1928 the British government set up the commission headed by sir John Simon to report the political situation in India. The political parties boycotted the commission because it did not include a single Indian in its membership and it met with country wide protests. When the commission visited Lahore on 30 October 1928 Lajpat Rai led setent march in protest against it. The Superindent of police James Scott ordered the police to lathi charge the protesters and personally assaulted Rai. He was injured but he did not afraid of British government. He did not fully recovered from his injuries but he died on 17 November 1928 of a heart attack. He was the great inspiration of the famous freedom fighters such as Rajguru, Sukdev Baghat Singh and more.We all give a salute of Panjab Kesari for his confidence and courage.