Lala Lajpat Rai

He was a true nationalist and gave his life for the nation. He was born in a vaishya family on November 28 1865. He new Urdu well and read Namaj regularly and observed Ramadan. After high school, he finished FA and Law simultaneously. At the age of 17, he became a member of Arya Samaj Lahore. Mahatma Hansraj was his classmate and coworker in Arya Samaj Lahore. When DAV system was established after the death of Swami ji, he was active in it and collected funds for it as well. He started practicing law in 1885 in Hisar and Rohtak before moving to Lahore again. He became active in national congress movement in 1888. His coworkers were Gopal Krishna Gokhale with whom he traveled to England. From there he came to USA. He actually belonged to the aggressive camp and did not agree with some of Gandhi ji’s ideas of peace. When he lectured in strong words to give strength to the freedom movement, he was deported to Burma but had to be released soon because of strong public uproar against his arrest. Him and Sardar Ajit singh received a warm welcome on their release from Burma. He actively participated in famine relief and earthquake relief and saved many hindus from conversion to Christianity. He was a prominent leader in Hindu Mahasabha. A group of British individuals called Saiman commission was sent to India to assess on the political situation. He was one of the main leaders demonstrating againt their presence in India. On Lahore railway station, while leading a group of protestors, he received heavy stick blows and succumbed to it a few days later on November 17 1928. He said that each blow on his body would act the nail on the british coffin in India. He wrote extensively. Some examples are: lives of Shri Krishna, Emperor Ashok, Shivaji, Dayanand, Gurudatt Vidyarthi. He also wrote on economics, arya samaj and his own biography.