Lajpat Rai, Lala (1865–1928)

Indian politician and writer. His published articles advocated technical education and industrial self-help and criticized the Congress as being a gathering of English-educated elites. Arguing that Congress should openly and boldly base itself on the Hindus alone, he led a wave of nationalism in Punjab 1904–07. The Congress split in the Surat session in 1907 and he formed the ‘extremist’ trio of Lal, Pal and Bal, with Bal Gangadhar Tilak (1856–1920) and Bipin Chandra Pal. Deported on charges of inciting the peasants, he led the noncooperation movement in Punjab in 1921.

Lajpat Rai was a follower of the militant Hindu sect the Arya Samaj (Society of Nobles) and when, in 1893, it split, he and Hans Raj led the moderate ‘college faction’, which concentrated on building up a chain of ‘Dayanand Anglo-Vedic colleges’. He also developed a sustained involvement in Swadeshi movement enterprises, a boycott of foreign-made goods, initiated in protest against the partition of Bengal.