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{{Short description|Revolutionary and politician (28 January 1865{{spnd}}17 November 1928)}}
{{Redirect|The Lion of Punjab}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=June 2016}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Lala Lajpat Rai
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1865|01|28|df=yes}}
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1928|11|17|1865|01|28|df=yes}}
| birth_place = [[Dhudike]], [[Ludhiana district]], [[Punjab Province (British India)|Punjab]], [[British Raj|British India]] (present-day [[Punjab, India|Punjab]], [[India]])
| death_place = [[Lahore]], [[Punjab Province (British India)|Punjab]], [[British Raj|British India]] (present-day [[Punjab, Pakistan|Punjab]], [[Pakistan]])
| death_cause = [[Lathi charge]] by police
| image = File:Lala Lajpat Rai.jpg
| caption =
| movement = [[Indian Independence movement]]
| mother = Gulab Devi
| father = Munshi Radha Krishan
| party = [[Indian National Congress]] <br> [[Hindu Mahasabha]]
| occupation = Author, politician, freedom struggler
}}

'''Lala Lajpat Rai''' (28 January 1865 — 17 November 1928) was an Indian independence activist. He played a pivotal role in the [[Indian Independence movement]]. He was popularly known as ''Punjab Kesari''. He was one of the three [[Lal Bal Pal]] triumvirates.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ashalatha |first1=A. |first2=Pradeep |last2=Koropath |first3=Saritha |last3=Nambarathil | title = Social Science: Standard VIII Part 1 | chapter = Chapter 6 – Indian National Movement | work = Government of Kerala • Department of Education | publisher = State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) | year = 2009 | pages = 7| chapter-url = https://www.itschool.gov.in/pdf/Std_VIII/Social%20Science/SS_VIII_Engpart1.pdf | access-date = 13 October 2011}}</ref> He was also associated with activities of [[Punjab National Bank]] and Lakshmi Insurance Company in their early [[stages of death]] in 1894. He died a few weeks after sustaining severe injuries during a [[baton charge]] by police when he led a peaceful protest march against the all-British [[Simon Commission]], a commission constituted by the [[United Kingdom]] for Indian constitutional reform.

== Early life ==
Rai was born on 28 January 1865 in an [[Agrawal Jain]]<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi|url=https://www.gandhiashramsevagram.org/gandhi-literature/mahatma-gandhi-collected-works-volume-15.pdf|journal=gandhiashramsevagram.org|volume=15|pages=516-17}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-01-27|title=Lala Lajpat Rai Birth Anniversary: The legacy of the famed nationalist|url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/more-lifestyle/lala-lajpat-rai-birth-anniversary-the-legacy-of-the-famed-nationalist/story-ituwNX2DVDKdWm4Qas2Z8J.html|access-date=2021-01-16|website=Hindustan Times|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Pioneer|first=The|title=A martyr’s day many Indians fail to recognise|url=https://www.dailypioneer.com/2021/state-editions/a-martyr---s-day-many-indians-fail-to-recognise.html|access-date=2021-07-11|website=The Pioneer|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Agarwal|first=Dr Meena|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V81EDwAAQBAJ&newbks=0&printsec=frontcover&pg=PT9&dq=lala+lajpat+rai++jain&hl=en|title=Lala lajpat rai: राष्ट्रीय जीवनी माला - लाला लाजपत राय|date=2017-12-29|publisher=Diamond Pocket Books Pvt Ltd|isbn=978-93-5278-756-2|language=hi}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O30oe9w6ZhYC&newbks=0&printsec=frontcover&pg=PA12&dq=Lala+Lajpat+Rai+Jain&hl=en|title=Punjab Kesri Lala Lajpat Rai|publisher=Atmaram & Sons|language=hi}}</ref> family, as a son of Urdu and Persian government school teacher Munshi Radha Krishan and his wife Gulab Devi at [[Dhudike]] in [[Ludhiana district]] of [[Punjab Province (British India)|Punjab Province]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Lala Lajpat Rai {{!}} Biography & Facts|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Lala-Lajpat-Rai|access-date=2021-06-27|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en}}</ref> He spent much of his youth in [[Jagraon]]. His house still stands tall in [[Jagraon]] and houses a library and museum.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Sub Division, Jagraon, Punjab|url=http://www.jagraonadministration.in/LalaLajpatRai.php|access-date=2021-06-05|website=www.jagraonadministration.in}}</ref>

== Education ==
In the late 1870s, his father was transferred to [[Rewari]], where he had his initial education in Government Higher Secondary School, Rewari, [[Punjab Province (British India)|Punjab province]], where his father was posted as an [[Urdu]] teacher. In 1880, Lajpat Rai joined [[Government College University (Lahore)|Government College at Lahore]] to study law, where he came in contact with patriots and future freedom fighters, such as [[Mahatma Hansraj|Lala Hans Raj]] and Pandit Guru Dutt. While studying at Lahore he was influenced by the Hindu reformist movement of [[Dayananda Saraswati|Swami Dayanand Saraswati]], became a member of existing Arya Samaj Lahore (founded 1877) and founder-editor of Lahore-based ''Arya Gazette''.<ref name="arya1">{{cite web | url = http://www.aryasamaj.com/enews/2010/feb/5.htm |author=Ahluwalia, Kewal | title = Lala Lajpat Rai | publisher=aryasamaj.com|date = February 2010}}</ref>{{Better source needed|date=March 2021}} When studying law, he became a firm believer in the idea that Hinduism, above nationality, was the pivotal point upon which an Indian lifestyle must be based.

== Career ==
=== Law ===
[[File:Lal Bal Pal.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Lala Lajpat Rai (left) of [[Punjab Province (British India)|Punjab]], [[Bal Gangadhar Tilak]] of [[Maharashtra]], and [[Bipin Chandra Pal]] of [[Bengal]], the triumvirate were 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 (city)|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 also founded the Hisar district branch of the [[Indian National Congress]] and reformist [[Arya Samaj]] with Babu Churamani (lawyer), three [[CAV High School|Tayal brothers]] (Chandu Lal Tayal, Hari Lal Tayal and Balmokand Tayal), Dr. Ramji Lal Hooda, Dr. Dhani Ram, Arya Samaj ''Pandit Murari Lal'',<ref name="Gupta1991">{{cite book|author=Jugal Kishore Gupta|title=History of Sirsa Town|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G0Z457ZOR44C&pg=PA182|year=1991|publisher=Atlantic Publishers & Distri|pages=182–|id=GGKEY:63QY4LRCK9L}}</ref> [[Seth Chhaju Ram|Seth Chhaju Ram Jat]] (founder of [[Chhaju Ram Jat Senior Secondary School, Hisar|Jat School, Hisar]]) and Dev Raj Sandhir. In 1888 and again in 1889, he had the honor 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 practice before the [[Lahore High Court]]. To shape the political policy of India to gain independence, he also practiced journalism and was a regular contributor to several newspapers including [[The Tribune (Chandigarh)|The Tribune]]. In 1886, he helped [[Mahatma Hansraj]] establish the nationalistic [[D.A.V. College Managing Committee|Dayananda Anglo-Vedic School, Lahore]]

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.<ref>{{Cite web|title=(PDF) Religion and Nationalism: The Views of Lala Lajpat Rai|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/279205755_Religion_and_Nationalism_The_Views_of_Lala_Lajpat_Rai|access-date=2021-03-21|website=ResearchGate|language=en}}</ref>

=== Politics ===
After joining the [[Indian National Congress]] and taking part in political agitation in Punjab, Lala Lajpat Rai was deported to Mandalay, 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]].<ref>{{cite news | title = Bradlaugh Hall's demise | date = 17 April 2011 | url = http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2011/04/bradlaugh-halls-demise/ | work = Pakistan Today | access-date = 15 October 2011}}</ref> He was elected President of the [[Indian National Congress]] in the Calcutta Special Session of 1920.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20040610204823/http://www.congresssandesh.com/AICC/history/presidents/lala_lajpat_rai.htm Lala Lajpat Rai]. congresssandesh.com</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web | title = Head Office | url = http://sops.in/index.php/2013-08-22-12-13-12/head-office |publisher=Servants of the People Society |access-date=27 May 2014}}</ref>
According to him, Hindu society needs to fight its own battle with caste system, position of women and untouchability.<ref>https://www.researchgate.net/publication/279205755_Religion_and_Nationalism_The_Views_of_Lala_Lajpat_Rai</ref>
Vedas were an important part of Hindu religion but the lower caste were not allowed to read them. Lala Lajpat Rai approved that the lower caste should be allowed to read them and recite the mantras. He believed that everyone should be allowed to read and learn from the Vedas.<ref>{{Cite journal|doi = 10.1177/2321023018762672|title = Lala Lajpat Rai's Ideas on Caste: Conservative or Radical?|year = 2018|last1 = Bhargav|first1 = Vanya|journal = Studies in Indian Politics|volume = 6|pages = 15–26|s2cid = 158597343}}</ref>

==== Travel to the United States ====
{{See also|Ghadar Party}}
[[File:Banquet in honor of Lala Lajpat Rai in California in 1916.jpg|thumb|A banquet given in honour of Lala Lajpat Rai by the California Chapter of the Hindustan Association of America at Hotel Shattuck in [[Berkeley, California|Berkeley]] on 12 February 1916.]]
Lajpat Rai travelled to the United States in 1917, and then returned during World War I. He toured [[Sikh]] communities along the [[West Coast of the United States|Western Seaboard]], visited the [[Tuskegee University]] in Alabama, and met with workers in the [[History of the Philippines (1898–1946)|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 [[Fredrick Douglass]]. 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 [[United States Senate|U.S. Senate]] in October 1917.<ref name="HRR187"/> The book also argues for the notion of "color-caste," suggesting sociological similarities between race in the US and caste in India. During World War I, Lajpat Rai lived in the United States, but he returned to India in 1919 and in the following year led the special session of the Congress Party that launched the non-co-operation movement. He was imprisoned from 1921 to 1923 and elected to the legislative assembly on his release.<ref name="HRR187">{{cite book
|author= Raghunath Rai
|title= History
|publisher= VK Publications
|isbn= 978-81-87139-69-0
|page= 187
}}</ref>

== Protests against the Simon Commission ==
[[File:Lala Lajpat Rai photo in Young India.jpg|thumb|left|Photo of Rai printed in the February 1920 issue of ''[[Young India]]''.]]
In 1928, the United Kingdom set up the [[Simon Commission]], headed by [[John Simon, 1st Viscount Simon|Sir John Simon]] (later, [[John Simon, 1st Viscount Simon|Lord Simon, 1st Viscount Simon]]) to report on the political situation in India. The Commission was boycotted by Indian political parties because it did not include any Indian members, and it was met with country-wide protests<ref>https://www.india.com/news/india/lala-lajpat-rai-birth-anniversary-all-you-need-to-know-about-the-man-from-punjab-who-gave-simon-go-back-slogan-1790189/</ref>. When the Commission visited Lahore on 30 October 1928, Lajpat Rai led a non-violent march in protest against it and gave a slogan "Simon Go Back". The protesters chanted the slogan and carried black flags.

The police superintendent in Lahore, James A. Scott, ordered the police to [[Lathi charge|''lathi'' charge]] the protesters and personally [[assault]]ed Rai.<ref name="rai" /> Despite being severely injured, Rai subsequently addressed the crowd and said "I declare that the blows struck at me today will be the last nails in the coffin of [[British Raj|British rule in India]]".<ref>{{cite journal |title=Yashpal: Fighter for Freedom – Writer for Justice |first=Corinne |last=Friend |journal=Journal of South Asian Literature |volume=13 |issue=1 |date=Fall 1977 |pages=65–90 |jstor=40873491}} {{subscription required}}</ref>

==Death==
Rai did not fully recover from his injuries and died on 17 November 1928. Doctors thought that Scott's blows had hastened his death.<ref name="rai">{{cite book |last=Rai |first=Raghunath |year=2006 |title=History For Class 12: Cbse. India |publisher=VK Publications |isbn=978-81-87139-69-0 |page=187}}</ref> However, when the matter was raised in the [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|British Parliament]], the [[Government of the United Kingdom|British government]] denied any role in Rai's death.<ref name=Rana36>{{cite book |last=Rana |first=Bhawan Singh |year=2005 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PEwJQ6_eTEUC |title=Bhagat Singh |publisher=Diamond Pocket Books |isbn=978-81-288-0827-2 |page=36}}</ref> [[Bhagat Singh]], an HSRA revolutionary who was a witness to the event,<ref>{{cite book |last2=Hooja |first2=Bhupendra |last1=Singh |first1=Bhagat |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OAq4N60oopEC |title=The Jail Notebook and Other Writings |publisher=LeftWord Books |year=2007 |isbn=978-81-87496-72-4 |page=16}}</ref> swore to avenge the death of Rai, who was a significant leader of the Indian independence movement.<ref name=Rana36/> He joined other revolutionaries, [[Shivaram Rajguru]], [[Sukhdev Thapar]] and [[Chandrashekhar Azad]], in a plot to kill Scott to send a message to the British government.<ref name="Gupta" /> However, in a case of mistaken identity, Bhagat Singh was signalled to shoot on the appearance of John P. Saunders, an assistant superintendent of the Lahore police. He was shot by Rajguru and Bhagat Singh while leaving the District Police Headquarters in Lahore on 17 December 1928.<ref>{{cite book |last=Nayar |first=Kuldip |author-link1=Kuldip Nayar |year=2000 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bG9lA6CrgQgC |title=The martyr: Bhagat Singh experiments in revolution |publisher=Har-Anand Publications |isbn=978-81-241-0700-3 |page=39}}</ref> Chanan Singh, a [[Head Constable]] who was chasing them, was fatally injured by Azad's covering fire.<ref>{{cite book
|last=Rana |first=Bhawan Singh |year=2005 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sudu7qABntcC |title=Chandra Shekhar Azad (An Immortal Revolutionary of India)
|publisher=Diamond Pocket Books |isbn=978-81-288-0816-6 |page=65}}</ref>

This case did not stop Bhagat Singh and his fellow-members of the [[Hindustan Socialist Republican Association]] from claiming that retribution had been exacted.<ref name="Gupta">{{cite journal |title=Defying Death: Nationalist Revolutionism in India, 1897–1938 |first=Amit Kumar |last=Gupta |journal=Social Scientist |volume=25 |issue=9/10 |date=Sep–Oct 1997 |pages=3–27 |doi=10.2307/3517678 |jstor=3517678}}</ref>

==Legacy==
[[File:Lala Lajpat Rai - Scandal Point - Shimla 2014-05-07 1194.JPG|thumb|150px|The statue of Rai at [[Shimla]], [[Himachal Pradesh]].]]

===Movements and institutes founded by Lala Lajpat Rai===
{{Unreferenced section|date=August 2021}}
Lajpat Rai was a heavyweight veteran leader of the [[Nationalist Movements in India|Indian Nationalist Movement]], [[Indian independence movement]] led by the [[Indian National Congress]], [[Hindu reform movements]] and Arya Samaj, who inspired young men of his generation and kindled latent spirit of patriotism in their hearts with journalistic writings and lead-by-example activism. Young men in the independence movement, such as [[Chandrasekhar Azad]] and [[Bhagat Singh]], were inspired by Rai.

In late 19th and early 20th century Lala Lajpat Rai himself was founder of many organisations, including ''Arya Gazaette'' are Lahore, Hisar congress, Hisar Arya Samaj, Hisar Bar Council, national DAV managing Committee. Lala Lajpat Rai was also head of the "Lakshmi Insurance Company," and commissioned the [[Lakshmi Building]] in [[Karachi]], which still bears a plaque in remembrance of him. Lakhsmi Insurance Company was merged with Life Insurance Corporation of India when en masse nationalisation of Life Insurance business happened during 1956.

In 1927, Lajpat Rai established a trust in his mother's memory to build and run a tuberculosis hospital for women, reportedly at the location where his mother, Gulab Devi, had died of tuberculosis in Lahore.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.gulabdevi.org/brief_history.html | title = Gulab Devi Chest Hospital | access-date = 13 October 2011 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111015025317/http://www.gulabdevi.org/brief_history.html | archive-date = 15 October 2011 | df = dmy-all }}</ref> This became known as the [[Gulab Devi Chest Hospital]] and opened on 17 July 1934. Now the Gulab Devi Memorial hospital is one of the biggest hospital of present Pakistan which services over 2000 patients at a time as its patients.

===Monuments and institutes founded in memory of Lala Lajpat Rai===
Erected in the early 20th century, a statue of Lajpat Rai at [[Lahore]], was later moved central square in [[Shimla]] after the partition of India. In 1959, the Lala Lajpat Rai trust was formed on the eve of his Centenary Birth Celebration by a group of [[Punjabi people|Punjabi]] philanthropists (including R.P Gupta and B.M Grover) who have settled and prospered in the Indian State of [[Maharashtra]], which runs the [http://www.lalacollege.edu.in Lala Lajpatrai College of Commerce and Economics] in Mumbai. ''Lala Lajpat Rai Memorial Medical College, Meerut'' is named after him.<ref name=mer1>[http://www.hindustantimes.com/lucknow/lala-lajpat-rai-memorial-medical-college-s-maladies-meagre-budget-vacant-posts/story-sGlg3A1WV0jF8V4g0jBp8N.html "Lala Lajpat Rai Memorial Medical College’s maladies: Meagre budget, vacant posts "], [[Hindustan Times]], 8 September 2017.</ref> In 1998, [[Lala Lajpat Rai Institute of Engineering and Technology|Lala Lajpat Rai Institute of Engineering and Technology, Moga]] was named after him. In 2010, the [[Government of Haryana]] set up the [[Lala Lajpat Rai University of Veterinary & Animal Sciences]] in Hisar in his memory.

Lajpat Nagar and Lala Lajpat Rai square with his statue in Hisar;<ref name=dnain1>[http://www.dnaindia.com/locality/kn/hisar/hisar-remembers-lala-lajpat-rai-his-149th-birth-anniversary-51337 Tributes paid at Lala Lajpat Rai Square and Statute at Hisar], DNA News.</ref> [[Lajpat Nagar]] and Lajpat Nagar Central Market in New Delhi, Lala Lajpat Rai memorial park in Lajpat Nagar, Lajpat Rai Market in Chandani Chowk, Delhi; Lala Lajpat Rai Hall of Residence at [[Indian Institutes of Technology]] (IIT) in [[Kharagpur]]; [[Lala Lajpat Rai Hospital]] in Kanpur; the bus terminus, several institutes, schools and libraries in his hometown of [[Jagraon]] are named in his honor including a bus terminal with statue of him at the entry gate. Further, there are several roads named after him in numerous metropolis and other towns of India.

== In popular culture ==
[[Homi Master]] directed a 1929 Indian silent film, titled ''Punjab Kesari'' (or ''The Lion of Punjab''), about Lala Lajpat Rai.<ref>{{cite book|author=R. K. Verma|title=Filmography: Silent Cinema, 1913-1934|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=suFkAAAAMAAJ|year=2000|publisher=M. Verma|isbn=978-81-7525-224-0}}</ref> ''[[Vande Mataram Ashram]]'' a 1927 silent film by the Indian filmmaker [[Bhalji Pendharkar]], was inspired by Rai's and [[Madan Mohan Malaviya]]'s opposition to the Western-style educational system introduced by the British Raj; it was [[censorship|censored]] by the colonial government's regional film censorship board.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Ashish Rajadhyaksha|author2=Paul Willemen|title=Encyclopaedia of Indian Cinema|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jOtkAAAAMAAJ|year=1994|publisher=British Film Institute|isbn=978-0-85170-455-5|page=231}}</ref>

A documentary film about Lajpat Rai, directed by [[K. Viswanath]], was produced by the [[Government of India]]'s [[Films Division]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Jag Mohan|title=Documentary films and Indian Awakening|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DfgADgAAQBAJ&pg=PT128|year=1990|publisher=[[Publications Division (India)|Publications Division]]|isbn=978-81-230-2363-2|page=128}}</ref>

==Works==
Along with founding ''Arya Gazette'' as its editor, he regularly contributed to several major Hindi, Punjabi, English and Urdu newspapers and magazines. He also authored the following published books.
* ''The Story of My Deportation'', 1908.
* [https://archive.org/details/aryasamajaccount00lajprich ''Arya Samaj''], 1915.
* [https://archive.org/details/unitedstatesofam00lajp ''The United States of America: A Hindu’s Impression''], 1916.
*The problem of National Education in India, 1920
* [https://www.hindustanbooks.com/books/unhappy_india/Unhappy_India.pdf ''Unhappy India''], 1928.
* [https://www.hindustanbooks.com/books/englands_debt_to_india/EnglandsDebtToIndia.pdf ''England's Debt to India''], 1917.
* ''Autobiographical Writings''
*[[iarchive:16RaiYoungindia|''Young India: An Interpretation and a History of the Nationalist Movement from Within.'']] New York: B.W. Huebsch, 1916.{{efn|The book was written and published shortly after the [[World War I|First World War]] broke out in Europe. Rai was travelling in the United States at the time of [[Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria|Franz Ferdinand]]'s [[Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand|assassination]].<ref name="young India">{{cite book|last1=Rai|first1=Lala Lajpat|url=https://archive.org/details/youngindiaanint00raigoog|title=Young India|date=1916|website=GoogleBooks|publisher=Huebsch|quote=Lajpat Young India.|access-date=22 April 2015}}</ref> In the book, Rai claimed that the Indian people were ready to stand behind the [[Allies of World War I|Allied]] war effort against [[German Empire|Imperial Germany]].<ref name="young India" /> Some historians have claimed that since Rai was trying to cultivate support amongst the American public for Indian independence, he could not risk saying anything which would make India look bad in front of the United States, which included claiming that India was unwilling to fight against Germany (many Americans held mixed-opinions on the war, but significant numbers held [[anti-German sentiment]]s and so support American participation in the Allied war effort against Germany). Rai also emphasized in the book that India would not undertake violent actions in her campaign for independence from the [[British Empire]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Hope|first=Ashley Guy|title=America and Swaraj: The U.S. Role in Indian Independence|date=1968|publisher=Public Affairs Press|location=Washington, D.C.}}</ref> In ''Young India'', Rai drew parallels between the [[American Revolution]] and the Indian independence movement. Rai used the book to convey to a [[Western world|Western]] audience his vision of an independent India after colonial rule, expressing his desire for complete Indian sovereignty from all foreign entanglements. He was well aware the United States was the most suitable ally of the Indian independence movement, and sought to challenge American [[Stereotypes of South Asians|stereotypes]] of Indians via writing a concise [[history of India]] to dispel them. These stereotypes included the common perception in the West that India was not yet ready for self rule, which Rai sought to challenge via highlighting the efficiency of Indian civil servants.<ref name="young India" />}}
* The Collected Works of Lala Lajpat Rai, Volume 1 to Volume 15, edited by B.R. Nanda.
He also wrote biographies of Mazzini, Garibaldi, Shivaji, and Shrikrishna.

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{Wikiquote}}

== External links ==
* [https://www.hindustanbooks.com/books_by_authers/lala_lajpat_rai.html Lala Lajpat Rai's books at Hindustan Books]
* [http://www.saadigitalarchive.org/collection/india-home-rule-league Lala Lajpat Rai's "Young India" in the South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA)]
* Satish K. Kapoor, [http://www.tribuneindia.com/1998/98nov15/sunday/head8.htm He gave a fillip to freedom struggle], ''[[Tribune India|Tribune]]''
* {{Gutenberg author |id=Rai,+Lajpat | name=Lajpat Rai}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Lala Lajpat Rai}}
* {{PM20|FID=pe/010828}}

{{India House}}
{{Indian National Congress Presidents}}
{{Indian independence movement}}
{{Arya Samaj by country}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rai, Lala Lajpat}}
[[Category:1865 births]]
[[Category:1928 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Moga district]]
[[Category:Arya Samajis]]
[[Category:Indian National Congress politicians from Punjab, India]]
[[Category:Members of Central Legislative Assembly of India]]
[[Category:Prisoners and detainees of British India]]
[[Category:Swadeshi activists]]
[[Category:Indian independence activists from Punjab, India]]
[[Category:Indian nationalists]]
[[Category:Indian political writers]]
[[Category:Writers from Punjab, India]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian writers]]
[[Category:India House]]
[[Category:Deaths by beating]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian Jains]]
[[Category:Jain Indian independence activists]]

Lala Lajpat Rai - Revision history

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imported>KylieTastic: -thumb