Lala Lajpat Rai birth anniversary: Famous quotes by the freedom fighter

Lala Lajpat Rai birth anniversary: His father was a government school teacher. Popularly known as Punjab Kesari, Lala Lajpat Rai was one-third of the triumvirate ‘Lal Bal Pal’, which included Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Bipin Chandra Pal.

A freedom fighter who played an important role in the Independence movement, Lala Lajpat Rai was born on January 28, 1865.

His father was a government school teacher. Popularly known as Punjab Kesari, Lala Lajpat Rai was one-third of the triumvirate ‘Lal Bal Pal’, which included Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Bipin Chandra Pal.

An integral part of the Indian National Congress, he took part in political agitations in Punjab and was subsequently deported to Mandalay without trial in May 1907.

However, the freedom fighter was allowed to return in November that year, after then viceroy Lord Minto decided there was insufficient evidence to hold him in prison.

Lala Lajpat Rai 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.

Lala Lajpat Rai was perhaps best known for leading the non-violent march in protest of the Simon Commission that was set up by the British government and headed by Sir John Simon.

The police lathi-charged the protestors and Lala Lajpat Rai Rai was brutally injured. He did not fully recover from his injuries and died on November 17, 1928 of a heart attack.

On the leader’s 155th birth anniversary, here’s looking at a few quotes by him.

• The Government which attacks its own innocent subjects has no claim to be called a civilised government. Bear in mind, such a government does not survive long. I declare that the blows struck at me will be the last nails in the coffin of the British rule in India.

• Every blow that they hurled at us drove one more nail into the coffin of the Empire.

• If I had the power to influence Indian journals, I would have the following headlines printed in bold letters on the first page: Milk for the infants, Food for the adults and Education for all.

• I always believed that my silence on several topics will be an advantage in the long run.

(This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text.)