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Top 10 Astonishing Facts about Lala Lajpat Rai

He was one of the pre-independence era leaders who continued to take an active interest in cultural, social, and educational work.

Punjab under the British especially after annexation in 1849 witnessed a period of rapid development giving rise to a new educated class fired with a desire for freedom from the yoke of slavery.

Amongst the cherished desires of this new class was also an overriding ambition to start a Swadeshi Bank with Indian Capital and management representing all sections of the Indian community. 

His idea was first mooted by Rai Mool Raj of Arya Samaj who, as reported by Rai, had long cherished the idea that Indians should have a national bank of their own.

He felt keenly “the fact that the Indian capital was being used to run English banks and companies, the profits accruing from which went entirely to the Britishers whilst Indians had to contend themselves with a small interest on their own capital”.

Therefore, he is remembered as the first person to open an account with  Punjab National Bank in 1895. 

After studying law at the Government College in Lahore. He practiced at Hissar and Lahore. Later, he assisted in the establishment of the nationalistic Dayananda Anglo-Vedic School. 

He was also a devotee of Dayananda Sarasvati. Furthermore, he formed the Arya Samaj, a hardline Hindu society (Society of Aryans).

He became a member of the Congress Party and participated in political activism in Punjab. He was later deported to Mandalay, Burma is now known as Myanmar, without trial, in May 1907.

However, in November, the viceroy, Lord Minto, determined that there was insufficient evidence to imprison him for subversion and permitted him to return.

The most incredible thing is that in December 1907, his supporters attempted to ensure his election to the presidency of the party assembly in Surat.

However, others who supported British cooperation refused to accept him, and the party was divided over the issue.

1. Supported the Conservative Hindu Society, Arya Samaj (Society of Aryans)

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Rai was among the people who supported the  Arya Samaj, Sanskrit: 鈥淪ociety of Nobles鈥� a vigorous reform movement of modern Hinduism. 

 

Founded in 1875 by Dayananda Sarasvati, whose aim was to reestablish the Vedas, the earliest Hindu scriptures, as revealed truth.

He was very instrumental in the establishment of Dayananda Anglo-Vedic School.

3. Founded National College

Graduates of the National College, which he founded inside the Bradlaugh Hall at Lahore as an alternative to British-style institutions, included Bhagat Singh.

4. Elected President of the Indian National Congress

He was elected President of the Indian National Congress in the Calcutta Special Session of 1920.

5. He also Founded Servants of the People Society.

 In 1921, he founded Servants of the People Society, a non-profit welfare organization, in Lahore, which shifted its base to Delhi after the partition, and has branches in many parts of India.

According to him, Hindu society needs to fight its own battle with the caste system, the position of women, and untouchability.  

Vedas were an important part of the Sikh religion but the lower caste was not allowed to read them.

He approved that the lower caste should be allowed to read them and recite the mantras. He believed that everyone should be allowed to read and learn from the Vedas

6. He led Protests Against Simon Commission

In 1928, the Unia2ated Kingdom set up the  Simon Commission. It was headed by Sir John Simon basically to report on the political situation in India.

However, the commission was boycotted by Indian political parties because it did not include any Indian members, and it was met with country-wide protests.

Rai led a non-violent march in protest against it and gave the slogan “Simon Go Back!”. The protesters chanted the slogan and carried black flags. This happened when the Commission visited Lahore on 30 October 1928.

7. He Declared the end of British Rule in India

The police superintendent in Lahore, James A. Scott, ordered the police to charge the protesters and personally assaulted Rai.

Despite being severely injured, Rai addressed the crowd and said “I declare that the blows struck at me today will be the last nails in the coffin of British rule in India”. That eventually happened!

8. Lead, Lakshmi Insurance Company

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He was the head of the Lakshmi Insurance Company and commissioned the Lakshmi Building in Karachi. The building still bears a plague in his remembrance. Lakhsmi Insurance Company was merged with Life Insurance Corporation of India when all nationalization of the Life Insurance business happened in 1956.

9. Gulab Devi Memorial Hospital In Memory of His Mother

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In recognition of his mother, Rai established a trust in his mother’s memory to build and run a tuberculosis hospital for women in 1927.  This was reportedly at the location where his mother, Gulab Devi, had died of tuberculosis in Lahore.

This became known as the Gulab Devi Chest Hospital and opened on 17 July 1934. Now the Gulab Devi Memorial hospital is one of the biggest hospitals in present Pakistan which services over 2000 patients at a time as its patients.

10. RK Trust In Memory of his Father

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In 1926, Lala Lajpat Rai established RK Trust in the memory of his father Sh. Radha Krishan. In 1956, RK Trust established Lala Lajpat Rai Memorial College in Jagraon.

Later the college was taken under DAV Management and renamed as Lajpat Rai DAV College. RK Trust also manages the R.K. High School in Jagraon. 

He died on  November 17, 1928, in Lahore now in Pakistan. The cause of his death was due to severe injuries sustained during a baton charge by police when he led a peaceful protest march against the all-British Simon Commission.

This was a Commission constituted by the United Kingdom for Indian constitutional reform.

Rai made a significant change in India which is remembered to date.