Lala Lajpat Rai was one of the greatest freedom fighters of India. He was a martyr who lay down his life for the freedom of India. He was born at Dhudike in the Ferozepur district in Punjab on 28th January, 1865. His father Lala Radha Krishan was a school teacher. He did his matriculation from Ambala in 1880 and joined the Government College, Lahore. He did law and started practice at Hissar.
He became quite a successful lawyer. Lajpat Rai had an inborn tendency to do social service and help others. He joined the Arya Samaj and started the work of social reforms. He was very much interested in educational matters. He founded a Sanskrit School at Hissar and took great pains to collect funds for starting the Dayanand Anglo Vedic (DAV) College at Lahore. He also did a lot of social work to help the famine victims in 1899.
He joined the Indian National Congress in 1888. In 1905, he and Gopal Krishna Gokhale were sent to England by the Congress to express the views of the party and the Indian people to the British rulers.
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He was not only a great orator but a good writer also. He started “Young India”, a monthly paper and wrote several books to arouse the Indian people to the necessity for demanding freedom from the British rule.
He was also a great unionist and became the first President of the Indian Trade Union Congress. He was even jailed for his unionist views. He later joined the Swarajist party which was started by Moti Lai Nehru and Deshbandhu Das. He was even elected to the Central Legislative Assembly on the ticket of this party.
The Simon Commission arrived in Lahore on 31st October, 1928. Like all the patriotic people, Lalaji objected to the Commission being all whites. He led a forceful but non-violent demonstration against the Commission.
He was assaulted by Mr. Scott, a cruel British police officer and was given severe lathi blows. He died on 17th November, 1928 as a result of these lathi blows.