Profile :
One of the leading and the prominent personalities of the freedom movement of Punjab , Lala Lajpat Rai was born on 28th January , 1865 at a small village Dhudike , in district Ferozepur . His father Munshi Radha Krishan , was a school teacher of Persian and Urdu in a government school .
Lajpat Rai was a brilliant student and won academic distinctions despite his ill health . After matriculation, he studied law and passed the First Certificate of Law examination from Punjab University . In 1883 he started his practice as a lawyer. Meanwhile , his close association with Lala Hansraj , Vidyarathi and Chetnanda provided him deep insight into religion , education and social reform . Here , he was greatly influenced by the Arya Samaj movement in Punjab .
He started his Law practice at Hissar where he organized a branch of the Arya Samaj . As Lahore could provide much better opportunities for his professional and other activities , he shifted his residence there .Being a champion of modern education , he played a leading role in the foundation of the DAV college, Lahore and collected a major portion of its endowment fund of 5 lacs of rupees . His interest in education even took him to America and Japan where he made a close study of their educational institutions . He was equally active in the field of social service . In 1897 and again in 1899- 1900 , he organized a Hindu orphanage relief movement which extended help to about 200 orphans . Similarly , in the famine of 1901 and the earthquake of 1905 he helped the distressed people .
Lajpat’s Rai main field of interest, however, was politics . He started his political career by joining the Indian National Congress and attending its annual session of 1883 at Allahabad. An active, sincere and selfless worker, Lajapt Rai soon acquired a place of importance in national politics. In 1905 he was selected along with Gokhale to go to England to explain to the British public the evils of unsympathetic bureaucratic government under which India was then laboring A staunch nationalist and revolutionary as he was, he joined the extremist wing of the congress led by Bipin Chandra Paul and BG Tialk and strenuously worked for the radical change in the congress policy.
In 1907 the Punjab was gripped by agrarian unrest. Lajpat Rai together with Ajit Singh whipped up a strong resistance against the Punjab Colonization Bill which seriously affected the interests of people of the Canal colonies .Consequently , he was deported to Mandlay on 9th may , 1907 . This created a wave of indignation in the whole country and he was released after six months.
A few years later, he proceeded to America where he came in close touch with the leaders of the Ghadar movement. His activities abroad were considered dangerous by the government of India and a ban was imposed on his return to the country. After the war was over, the ban was lifted and he came back to India on 20th February , 1920 . It was an occasion for national rejoicing and the Indian National Congress honored him by electing him its president . In his absence the Punjab was brutally mauled . The Rowlett Bills and the Jallainwalla Bagh tragedy embittered him all the more against the government . Therefore when the non- cooperation movement was launched , he plunged into it whole heartedly with the result that he was arrested and jailed .
After this movement when he was released, he joined the Swarajist Party . His end was in keeping with his career. While he was leading a procession at Lahore against the Simon Commission in 1928 , he subjected to a severe lathi – charge . The lion of the Punjab , or Punjab Kesri as he was called , succumbed to the lathi blows and died after a month on 17th November , 1928 .
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