The Biography of Famous Personalities of India will tell you about the controversies, the dark sides of a person that you may have never heard of.
Lalaji : A Prolific Writer and Mother India – Unhappy India
A Prolific Writer
Lala Lajpat Rai was not merely an outstanding politician but also a prolific writer. The biographies he wrote in Urdu are memorable. He wrote the biographies of the patriots Mazzini and Garibaldi who unified Italy.
He also wrote outstanding books about Indian great men Sri Krishna, Shivaji and Dayananda Saraswati. The books on Mazzini and Shivaji contained passages, which encouraged people to fight for freedom. So, the government even thought of arresting Lalaji for inflicting anti-government feelings among Indian people.
He brought out in his writings and speeches lurid comparisons between the economic conditions in India and those in the Western Countries, and attacked the economic exploitation by the British as unjust and oppressive. His speeches, always forceful and based on authentic data, sparkled with appealing phrases and epigrams and pertinent references to the heroism of Mazzini and Garibaldi, Shri Krishna, Shivaji and Swami Dayanand Saraswati whose short biographies he produced.
Lala Lajpat Rai was a great writer. He was deeply interested in journalism and founded an Urdu daily, the Vande Mataram and an English weekly, the People. Earlier he had published the Young India in the U.S.A. He also wrote several short biographies. His other important works were— ‘The Arya Samaj’, ‘Young India’, ‘England’s Debt to India ’, ‘Evolution of Japan ’, ‘Great Thoughts ‘Ideals of Non-Cooperation’, ‘India’s Will to Freedom’, ‘Message of the Bhagwad Gita’, ‘Political Future of India ’, ‘Problem of National Education in India ’, ‘The Depressed Classes’, ‘Story of My Deportation’, ‘United States of America’, ‘Call to Young India’ and ‘Unhappy India’.
Mother India — Unhappy India
Lalaji went to Europe in 1927 to improve his health. Katherine Mayo, a foreign journalist, visited India. She wrote a book called ‘Mother India’.
It was about Indian civilization, culture and life. She wrote about only sheer ignorance and filth in India and nothing good or decent. It gave a totally misleading picture of India. In an article Gandhiji protested and called it a ‘gutter inspector’s report’.
The book Mayo wrote was published when Lalaji was in London. The book created uproar in India and Britain. People who were opposed to the freedom of India had promoted the publication of the book. Reading it, Lalaji could not keep quiet. Soon after his return to India the first thing he did was to write a book ‘Unhappy India.’ He gave a befitting reply to the false propaganda of Miss Mayo and the British government.