Law ,
Bal Gangadhar Tilak of
Maharashtra, and
Bipin Chandra Pal of
Bengal. The triumvirate, popularly known as
Lal Bal Pal, changed the political discourse of the
Indian independence movement. In 1884, his father was transferred to
Rohtak, and Rai came along after the completion of his studies at
Lahore. In 1886, he moved to
Hisar where his father was transferred, and started to practice law and became a founding member of the
Bar Council of Hisar along with Babu Churamani. In the same year, he helped
Mahatma Hansraj establish the nationalistic
Dayananda Anglo-Vedic School, Lahore, and he also founded the Hisar district branches of the
Indian National Congress, and the reformist
Arya Samaj movement with several other local leaders. These included Babu Churamani (lawyer), the three
Tayal brothers (Chandu Lal Tayal, Hari Lal Tayal and Balmokand Tayal), Dr. Ramji Lal Hooda, Dr. Dhani Ram, Arya Samaj
Pandit Murari Lal,
Seth Chhaju Ram Jat (founder of
Jat School, Hisar) and Dev Raj Sandhir. In 1888 and again in 1889, he had the honour of being one of the four delegates from Hisar to attend the annual session of the Congress at Allahabad, along with Babu Churamani, Lala Chhabil Das and Seth Gauri Shankar. In 1892, he moved to Lahore to practise before the
Lahore High Court. To shape the political policy of India to gain independence, he also practised journalism, and was a regular contributor to several newspapers including
The Tribune. He was also associated with the management of the
Punjab National Bank and Lakshmi Insurance Company in their early stages in 1894. In 1914, he quit law practice to dedicate himself to the Indian independence movement and travelled to Britain, and then to the United States in 1917. In October 1917, he founded the Indian Home Rule League of America in New York. He stayed in the United States from 1917 to 1920. His early freedom struggle was impacted by Arya Samaj and communal representation.
Politics After joining the
Indian National Congress and taking part in
political agitation in Punjab, Lala Lajpat Rai Wadwal was deported to Mandalay by the British Raj, but there was insufficient evidence to hold him for subversion. Lajpat Rai's supporters attempted to secure his election to the presidency of the party session at Surat in December 1907, but he did not succeed. Graduates of the National College, which he founded inside the
Bradlaugh Hall at Lahore as an alternative to British-style institutions, included
Bhagat Singh. He was elected
President of the Indian National Congress in the Calcutta Special Session of 1920. In 1921, he founded
Servants of the People Society, a non-profit welfare organisation, in Lahore, which shifted its base to Delhi after partition, and has branches in many parts of India. He was a politician who had followed the policy of non - violence. According to him, Hindu society needs to fight its own battle with caste system, position of women and untouchability. Vedas were an important part of Hindu religion and approved everyone should be allowed to read them and recite the mantras. He believed that everyone should be allowed to read and learn from the Vedas.
After the return from the Exile to Mandalay After returning from the
exile, Lala Lajpat Rai went for a tour to the
Great Britain. His stay for there was actually planned for a few weeks. But when he tried to come back from the tour he was unable to return to India because of - • The World War I - Due to the war, the
British Government denied the return of any person except few dignitaries. • Blacklisted Passport - His passport was '
Blacklisted' by the British Government as the government feared that Lala Lajpat Rai would become a prominent leader and lead several revolts throughout the country. Lalaji was a hard working person. He didn't pass his time in idleness', instead he utilised his time and delivered lectures, wrote for many newspapers like
The Times and wrote some great books like the
Young India (which was banned by the British Government for several years but the ban was released when a case was filed against the ban and nothing special was found which would have caused the government to ban the book) and collected a large amount of money. He had to do learn all the skills
necessary to running a household including cooking food, cleaning and doing laundry. He faced hardship due to shortage of money set aside for himself though he had lot of money but he said that he won't use a single penny from the fund as the fund was meant for the investment for the country's needs. He also extended his trip to Japan and the US. After applying many times for the return to India, he went to the UK and spoke to the Secretary of India and managed to get his permit back to India.
Travel to the United States on 12 February 1916. Lajpat Rai travelled to the
United States in 1916, and then returned during
World War I. He toured
Sikh communities along the
Western Seaboard, visited the
Tuskegee University in Alabama, and met with workers in the
Philippines. His travelogue,
The United States of America (1916), details these travels and features extensive quotations from leading African American intellectuals, including
W.E.B. Du Bois and
Booker T. Washington. While in the United States he had founded the Indian Home Rule League in
New York City and a monthly journal, the
Young India and Hindustan Information Services Association. Rai petitioned the
United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs, painting a vivid picture of maladministration by the
British Raj in India, the aspirations of Indian public for independence amongst many other points which strongly sought the support of the international community for the attainment of Indian independence. The 32-page petition, which was prepared overnight, was discussed in the
U.S. Senate in October 1917. == Protests Against The Simon Commission ==