Today is the 150th birth anniversary of Lala Lajpat Rai, popularly known as Punjab Kesari.Prime Minister Narendra Modi has saluted Punjab Kesari Lala Lajpat Rai, on his birth anniversary.
In his message, the Prime Minister said that Punjab Kesari Lala Lajpat Rai was a unique personality who was ahead of his time.
Union Ministers and other dignitaries paid tribute to the Punjab Kesari at the central hall of the Parliament.
BJP Senior leader L K Advani and Union Ministers including Arun Jately, Venkaiyah Naidu, MoS PMO Dr. Jitendra Singh and other BJP leaders offered flowers before his statue.
Popularly known as Punjab Kesari, Lala Lajpat Rai was born on 28 January 1865 in Jagraon town of Ludhiana district.
The session of the Indian National Congress at Allahabad in December 1888 marked the beginning of his political career.
At the next session of Congress at Bombay in 1889 he spoke in support of Tilak’s amendment.
The year 1905 was important for the emergence of a new leadership in the Indian National Congress of Lal-Bal-Pal, as they were popularly known.
The partition of Bengal in 1905 aroused their stout nationalism.
The repressive measures of the British colonial Government against the growing nationalist movement inspired them to infuse national pride and self-respect among people.
Lalaji emerged as the undisputed leader of this new spirit.
Lalaji presided over the first session of the All India Trade Union Congress in 1920.
Lalaji also went to Geneva to attend the eighth International Labour Conference in 1926 as a representative of Indian labour community.
Lalaji had an opportunity to watch the labour movement in the USA and England where he was required to prolong his stay for political reasons.
Lalaji was not only a good orator but also a prolific and versatile writer.
His journal Arya Gazette concentrated mainly on the subjects related to the Arya Samaj.
Lalaji founded the Servants of the People Society, which worked for the freedom movement as well as for social reform movement in the country.
Following the footsteps of revolutionaries who were always ready to make their supreme sacrifice for the sake of India’s independence movement, Lalaji led a procession to demonstrate against the Simon Commission.
Lalaji was made the target of a brutal lathi charge in which he was injured badly.
A meeting was held the same evening at which Lalaji, wounded and aching, spoke with such vigour that his words, ‘Every blow aimed at me is a nail in the coffin of British imperialism’, became historic.
Though he recovered from the fever and pain within three days, his health continued to deteriorate and on 17 November 1928, Lalaji passed away.