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Abstract

The fact is that Lala Lajpat Rai joined the Indian National Congress (INC) and participated in many political agitations in Punjab. For his political agitation, he was deported to Burma without trial in 1907 but returned after a few months because of lack of evidence. Moreover, He was opposed to the partition of Bengal and founded the Home Rule League of America in 1917 in New York. He was also elected President of the All India Trade Union Congress and he supported the non-cooperation movement of Gandhi at the Nagpur session of the Congress in 1920. He also protested against the Rowlatt Act and the Jallianwala Bagh massacre that followed. He founded the Servants of People Society in 1921 and he was elected deputy leader of the Central Legislative Assembly in 1926. In 1928, he moved a resolution in the assembly refusing cooperation with the Simon Commission since the Commission had no Indian members. He was leading a silent protest against the Simon Commission in Lahore when he was brutally lathi-charged by Superintendent of Police, James Scott. Rai died of injuries sustained a few weeks later. In this regard most of the scholars agreed that Lala Lajpat Rai’s contribution to Indian National Movement fall in the unique category. The present research paper highlights Lala Lajpat Rai’s political life.

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