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 Visit to England and The Lal of Lae, Bal And Pal
England Visit
The same year (1905) general elections were being held in England, the Indian National Congress decided to send two representatives to acquaint the public there with conditions in India. Lajpat Rai and Gopal Krishna Gokhale were the two representatives.
During their tour of England Lalaji Lalaji 1905 told the people there about the conditions in India during the British rule. More than this, his reading of the situation was important. It become clear to him that Indians alone could mould their future and for that purpose, the government should be in their hands. When they returned from their visit to England, thousands of people welcomed them at the Lahore railway station. Students unhitched the horses and pulled the carriage themselves.
He resolved that India should undertake the fight for freedom, use articles made in India, and boycott foreign goods. He put forth these views at the 1907 Congress session held in Surat City.
Lalaji believed that it was important for the national cause to organize propaganda in foreign countries to explain India’s position because the freedom struggle had taken a militant turn. He left for Britain in April 1914 for this purpose. At this time First World War broke out and he was unable to return to India. He then went to the USA to galvanize support for India.
He founded the Indian Home Rule League Society of America and wrote a book called “Young India”. The book constituted the most damaging indictment of British rule in India and was banned in Britain and India even before it was published. He was able to return to India only in 1920 after the end of the World War.
The Lal of Lae, Bal And Pal
1907 witnessed a high-water mark in the adventurous life of Lalaji. That was a time of revolution when the winds of change were blowing across the country; new ideas and a new zest moved the people. There were riots in Lahore and Rawalpindi. In Meerut preparations were being made to observe the fiftieth anniversary of the first fight for freedom (1857).
Sir Densil lbbotson was the Lieutenant Governor of Punjab. He wrote to Lord Morley, then the minister in the British cabinet who was in charge of Indian affairs: “It appears that some leaders like Lala Lajpat Rai The Im1> Bal and Pal Trw have sworn to drive the British out of India. An attempt is being made to kindle hatred against Englishmen and break the government administrative machinery.”
Those were days when there was a sense of fear in official circles. A poor Indian was murdered. A factual report appeared in newspapers. An attempt was made to foist the guilt on a Punjabi journalist. The people of Punjab protested against the mischief of the government. In addition to this, there were disturbances, because of unjust laws like the Colonial Settlement Act and Land Mortgage Amendment Act and because of an increase in the tax on land and water rates. Sir Densil was perturbed. Without any reason, he deported Lalaji and with him Ajit Singh (a relative of the great patriot Bhagat Singh) to Mandalay in Burma.
People all over the country opposed the unjust action of the British government. Bal Gangadhar Tilak wrote in the newspaper ‘Kesari’—“If the British rulers act as the Russian Czars, the people of India will have to react as the people of Russia did.” The government had to bow to the vigorous protests of the people and the legal profession; it had no choice. The government realized that the deportation order was improper and illegal; it brought Lalaji to Lahore on November 18 and set him free.
Lala Lajpat Rai was considered one of the famous trinity of the Congress radicals. The three great men were Lala Lajpat Rai of Punjab, Bal Gangadhar Tilak of Maharashtra, and Bipin Chandra Pal of Bengal. The country affectionately called them Lai, Bal, and Pal. There was a split between the radicals and the moderates in the Congress organization. Lalaji found that it was not possible to bring about an agreement between the two factions; he, therefore, kept out of Congress for a few years.
It was the Partition of Bengal in 1905 that aroused their robust nationalism and set them firmly on the path to fighting for freedom. The repressive measures of the British Government against the growing nationalist movement inspired them to infuse greater national pride and self-respect into the populace. The trio wanted a degree of self-government that was considered radical at the time. They were the first Indian leaders to demand complete political independence.
In 1911, Lala Lajpat Rai re-entered the Lahore Municipal Council. When he stood for election to the Municipal Council his popularity was immense.