Prime minister pays tributes to Lala Lajpat Rai on his birth anniversary

News:Prime Minister has paid tributes to freedom struggle Lala Lajpat Rai on his birth anniversary.

Facts:

About Lala Lajpat Rai:

  • Lala Lajpat Rai was born at Dhudike near Ludhiana in Punjab in 1865.He studied law at the Government College,Lahore.
  • He was a follower of Dayanand Saraswati, the founder of the Arya Samaj.
  • In 1881,he joined the Indian National Congress at the age of 16.

Contribution of Lala Lajpat Rai:

  • Dayanand Anglo-Vedic School:He founded the school in 1885 in Lahore and remained a committed educationist throughout his life.
  • Hindu Relief Movement:He founded Hindu Relief movement in 1897 to provide help to the famine -stricken people and thus preventing them falling into the clutches of the missionaries.
  • Swadeshi movement:Lala Lajpat Rai, Tilak and Bipin Chandra Pal (called Lal-Bal-Pal) advocated the use of Swadeshi goods and mass agitation in the aftermath of the controversial Partition of Bengal in 1905 by Lord Curzon.
  • Indian Home Rule League of America:He founded Indian Home Rule League of America in New York City in 1917.
  • Indian National Congress:In 1920,he was elected President of the Indian National Congress during its Special Session in Kolkata which saw the launch of Mahatma Gandhi’s Non-cooperation Movement.
  • Simon Commission:In 1928,he opposed the Simon Commission,a British-appointed group of lawmakers arrived in India to study the implementation of the Government of India Act, 1919 (the Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms).

Important works of Lala Lajpat Rai:He wrote extensively in English and Urdu.His important works include

  • ‘The Arya Samaj’ 
  • ‘Young India’ 
  • ‘England’s Debt to India’
  • ‘Evolution of Japan’
  • ‘India’s Will to Freedom’ 
  • ‘Message of the Bhagavad Gita’ 
  • ‘Political Future of India’ 
  • ‘Problem of National Education in India’ 
  • ‘The Depressed Glasses’ and 
  • The travelogue ‘United States of America’.