Lala Lajpat Rai

Lala Lajpat Rai was born on January 28, 1865 in village Dhudike, in present day
Moga district of Punjab. He was the eldest son of Munshi Radha Kishan Azad and
Gulab Devi. His father was an Aggarwal Bania by caste. His mother inculcated
strong moral values in him. Lala Lajpat Rai was one of the foremost leaders who
fought against British rule in India. He was popularly known as Punjab Kesari (Lion of
the Punjab).
Lala Lajpat Rai joined the Government College at Lahore in 1880 to study Law. While
in college he came in contact with patriots and future freedom fighters like Lala
Hans Raj and Pandit Guru Dutt Vidhyarti. The three became fast friends and joined
the Arya Samaj founded by Maharishi Swami Dayanand Saraswati. He was not only
a good orator but also a prolific and versatile writer. His journal Arya Gazette
concentrated mainly on subjects related to the Arya Samaj.
He passed his Vakilship Examination in Second Division from Government College
in 1885 and started his legal practice in Hissar. Besides practicing, Lalaji collected
funds for the Dayanand College, attended Arya Samaj functions and participated in
Congress activities. He was elected to the Hissar municipality as a member and
later as secretary. He shifted to Lahore in 1892.
Lala Lajpat Rai was one of the three most prominent Hindu Nationalist members of
the Indian National Congress. He was part of the Lal-Bal-Pal trio. The other two
members of the trio were Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Bipin Chandra Pal. They formed
the extremist faction of the Indian National Congress, as opposed to the moderate
one led first by Gopal Krishna Gokhale. Lalaji actively participated in the struggle
against partition of Bengal. Along with Surendra Nath Banerjee, Bipin Chandra Pal
and Aurorbindo Ghosh, he galvanized Bengal and the nation in a vigorous campaign
of Swadeshi. Lalaji was arrested on May 3, 1907 for creating "turmoil" in Rawalpindi.
He was put in Mandalay jail for six months and was released on November 11, 1907.
Lalaji believed that it was important for the national cause to organize propaganda
in foreign countries to explain India's position because the freedom struggle had
taken a militant turn. He left for Britain in April 1914 for this purpose. At this time
First World War broke out and he was unable to return to India. He went to USA to
galvanize support for India. He founded the Indian Home League Society of America
and wrote a book called "Young India". The book constituted the most damaging
indictment of British rule in India and book was banned in Britain and India even
before it was published. He was able to return to India in 1920 after the end of
World War.
After his return, Lala Lajpat Rai, led the Punjab protests against the Jalianwala Bagh
Massacre and the Non-Cooperation Movement. He was arrested several times. He
disagreed with Gandhiji's suspension of Non-Cooperation movement due to the
Chauri-Chaura incident, and formed the Congress Independence Party.
Lalaji was opposed to the recommendations of the University Education
Commission. The commission recommended Government control of education and

set forth difficult standards for starting private schools. Punjab was adversely
affected by the commission because the Arya Samaj was extremely active in the
field of education. After the commission, it became impossible for the people to
have any say in their children's education.
In 1928, British Government decided to send Simon Commission to India to discuss
constitutional reforms. The Commission had no Indian member. This greatly angered
Indians. In 1929, when the Commission came to India there were protests all over
India. Lala Lajpat Rai himself led one such procession against Simon Commission
with Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya to demonstrate against the Simon Commission.
During this procession, which was peaceful, Lala ji became the target of a lathi
charge led by British police.
Though he recovered from the fever and pain within three days, his health had
received a permanent setback and on November 17, 1928, he died of his injuries.
His death led to great disturbances in the country and it inspired national struggle
for freedom.

Bhagat Singh
Bhagat Singh was an Indian revolutionary socialist who was influential in the Indian
independence movement. Born into a Jat Punjabi Sikh family which had earlier been
involved in revolutionary activities against the British Raj, he studied European
revolutionary movements as a teenager and was attracted to anarchist and Marxist
ideologies. He worked with several revolutionary organizations and became
prominent in the Hindustan Republican Association (HRA), which changed its name
to the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA) in 1928.
Unlike many Sikhs of his age, Singh did not attend the Khalsa High School in Lahore.
His grandfather did not approve of the school officials' loyalty to the British
government He was enrolled instead in the Dayanand Anglo-Vedic High School, an
Arya Samaj institution.

Seeking revenge for the death of Lala Lajpat Rai, Singh assassinated John Saunders,
a British police officer. He eluded efforts by the police to capture him. Soon after, he
and Batukeshwar Dutt threw two bombs and leaflets inside the Central Legislative
Assembly, and offered themselves for arrest. Held in jail on a charge of murder, he
gained widespread national support when he undertook a 116-day hunger strike

demanding equal rights for European prisoners, and those Indians imprisoned for
what he believed were political reasons. During this period, sufficient evidence was
brought against him for a conviction in the Saunders case after trial by Special
Tribunal, and an appeal to the Privy Council in England. He was convicted and
hanged for his participation in the assassination, at the age of 23.

His legacy prompted youth in India to continue fighting for independence and he
remains an influence on some young people in modern India, as well as the
inspiration for several films. He is commemorated with a range of memorials
including a large bronze statue in the Parliament of India.

Vinayak Damodar Savarkar

Vinayak Damodar Savarkar (28 May 1883 26 February 1966), commonly
known as Swatantryaveer Savarkar, was an Indian pro-independence activist,
politician as well as a poet, writer and playwright. He advocated dismantling
the system of caste in Hindu culture, and reconversion of the converted
Hindus back to Hindu religion. Savarkar coined the term Hindutva
(Hinduness) to create a collective "Hindu" identity as an "imagined nation".
His political philosophy had the elements of utilitarianism, rationalism and
positivism, humanism and universalism, pragmatism and realism. Some later
commentators state that Savarkar's philosophy, despite its stated position of
furthering unity, was divisive in nature as it tried to shape Indian nationalism
as uniquely Hindu, to the exclusion of other religions. Savarkar was also an
atheist and a staunch rationalist who disapproved of orthodox Hindu belief,
dismissing cow worship as superstitious.
Veer Savarkar was and continues to be one of the tallest exponents of
Hindutva and Hindu nationalism. His definition of the term 'Hindu' caused the
Arya Samaj leader Swami Shraddhanand to exclaim, It must have been one
of those Vedic dawns indeed which inspired our seers with new truths that
revealed to the author of Hindutva this mantra, this definition of Hindutva.
Savarkar's definition of the term 'Hindu' has been de facto accepted by the
Constitution of free India. His treatise on Hindutva and his six presidential
addresses to the Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha continue to be the
ideological backbone of the Hindu nationalist movement to this day. His
views on Hinduization of politics, militarization of Hindus, Hindu-Muslim
relations, national security and related issues continue to influence countless
Hindus. It is no exaggeration to say that Savarkar counts amongst the most
influential political and social philosophers of the twentieth century. However,
Savarkar was no armchair philosopher. He breathed life into the Hindu
Mahasabha and remained true to the Hindu cause till the end of his life.

Savarkars nationalism did not conflict with, and in fact merged with his
humanism. The period from 1922 to 1966 may be broadly termed as his
phase as Hindu philosopher and political activist par excellence.
Hindu Mahasabha under the leadership of Savarkar started a civil resistance
movement in March 1939. The objective of the Satyagraha was to secure
religious and cultural liberty for the Hindus who at that time constituted 86%
of total population of Hyderabad State. The Arya Samaj also sent around
10000 civil resisters. At last, on July 19, 1939, the Nizam government
announced some political reforms. In the new dispensation, 50% seats were
left for non-Muslims. [59] Although Hindus were the majority in the state and
Muslims were in minority, Hindu Mahasabha accepted this proposal. They
withdrew the movement despite the fact that these reforms for partial
reforms. Indian National Congress did not support this movement and called
it 'communal' and 'anti-national'.

The Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha

The Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha is a Hindu nationalist non-secular political
party in India. The organization was formed to protect the rights of the Hindu
community in British India, after the formation of the All India Muslim League in
1906 and the British India government's creation of separate Muslim electorate
under the Morley-Minto reforms of 1909.
In 1910, the leading Hindus of the Allahabad decided to organize an All India Hindu
Conference. It was first established in Amritsar in the Punjab before 1914, and
became active during the 1920s under the leadership of Pandit Mohan Malaviya
(1861-1946) and Lala Lajpat Rai (1865-1928). The Hindu Mahasabha established in
Punjab campaigned for social reform and for the reconversion of Hindus from Islam.
The Hindu Mahasabha established its headquarter at Haridwar and used to
organize the Akhil Bharatiya Hindu conference at Haridwar on the occasion of
important Hindu fairs. Eminent Hindu leaders extended this Organization in 1915 on
ALL India basis.
Several socio-political problems led to the emergence of the Hindu Mahasabha as a
communal organization. The communal riots particularly in the Malabar Coast and
Multan followed by the suspension of the first Non co-operation Movement in 1922.
This incurred heavy losses to the Hindus both in human lives and property.
Consequently a section of Hindus decided to organize the Hindus with solemn aim
of self-defense. Explaining the basis of the Hindu Mahasabha, Madan Mohan
Malaviya explained that the Muslims and the Christians had been carrying on
proselytizing activities for long. He also added that most of the Muslims in India
were the converts from Hinduism. To put end to the conversion process, it was
necessary to organize a Hindu mission. Malaviya further explained that as a
counterattack to the Muslim League, it was necessary to organize the Hindus in

order to gain a fair deal for their community. Thus Shuddhi and Sangathan became
the motto of the Hindu Mahasabha in the early years of its establishment. Malaviya
also emphasized the socio-cultural missions of the Hindu Mahasabha.
The Indian National congress being a political organization, it could not deal with the
socio-cultural and the non-political sphere. Therefore Hindu Mahasabha was
organized with the aim to s remove the social abuses in the Hindu society. The
removal of child marriage, caste system, untouchability etcetera was the principal
concerns of the Hindu Mahasabha.
Under the leadership of V.D Savarkar, the Hindu Mahasabha developed a political
programme. V.D Savarkar became President of the Hindu Mahasabha in the year
1938 and was re-elected again and again. Savarkar being angry of the Muslim
demand for a separate Muslim state, also laid a campaign to popularize the concept
of the Hindu Rashtra. Savarkar hold that India was as a land of the Hindus and
maintained that India was a one nation i.e. the Hindu nation. Savarkar also added
that the Muslims must accept their position as a minority community in the in a
single Indian state. Of course the Muslims were promised just treatment and equal
political rights on the basis of "one man one vote". Savarkar upheld that, on the
question of the national languages, the language of the majority would prevail on
the basis of the democratic practices.
However the Hindu Mahasabha never gained that popularity with the Hindu masses
as the Muslims League did with the Muslims in India. As a whole, the Hindu
Mahasabha organized their slogan against Muslim League's demands for the
separate Muslim state of Pakistan. Hence the sole emphasis of the Hindu
Mahasabha was to constitute an "Akhand Hindustan".
With the partition of India and the creation of Pakistan in 1947, Savarkar and the
Mahasabha laid blame on the Congress leaders, especially Mahatma Gandhi, for
appeasing the Muslims and making too many concessions it considered detrimental
to Hindu interests.
On January 30, 1948, Gandhi was assassinated by Nathuram Godse. Subsequent
police investigations revealed that Godse and his confederates were members of
the Hindu Mahasabha, and close confidants of Savarkar. Although Savarkar himself
was acquitted of involvement by the courts, the conviction of the rest led to a major
popular backlash against the Hindu Mahasabha.
A good number of Hindu Mahasabha people joined the Bharatiya Jana Sangh,
founded in 1951 under the leadership of Syama Prasad Mookerjee, who had joined
with the RSS. Mookerjee had left Mahasabha after his proposal to allow Muslims to
gain membership was turned down by Savarkar. In 1980, the BJS transformed into
the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is today India's largest party aside from the
Congress.

Shuddhi Movement

The word Shuddhi is a Sanskrit word and it means cleansing, purifying and
freedom from defilement. Repression and discrimination against minorities is
as old as recorded history itself. Historically, most conversions in India took
place under the influence of Muslim and Christian conquerors. Most of the
conversions in India to Islam started during the Mughal Empire and the
history is full of vast conversion. Islam did this with point of the swords,
intimidation and force. Many of Gurus of the Sikh faith and their siblings also
suffered the same fate for refusing to convert to Islam.
There was a period of lapping during declining days of the Mughal Raj when
the British Raj began, but the conversions never stopped. Christianity
adopted some cunning tactics by taking advantage of poor, for converting
poor into Christianity. This was done by threat, force and intimidation of the
innocent and defenseless Hindus by luring them into false pretenses of
monetary benefits and discrediting Hinduism as pagan and an inferior
religion to Christianity.
The Arya Samaj as a whole opposed conversion of Hindus to Islam and Christianity.
Arya Samaj launched Shuddhi movement which advocated re-conversion of recent
converts back to Hinduism. This process was called Shuddhi. It was the most
profound reform movement in the late 19th century India. A few Arya Samaj leaders
recognized the unifying potential of Shuddhi. Swami Dayanand Saraswati said that
the destiny of India lays in the revival of the Vedic religion and gave the slogan
Back to the Vedas.

The first attempts by the Arya Samaj at mass conversions of Muslim groups
dates back to 1908, when Arya missionaries began touring certain area of
India calling upon newly converts to renounce Islam which had been forcibly
imposed on them. Arya Samaj missionaries found that some of them who
claimed to be Muslim still followed several Hindu customs and beliefs as their
'ancestral religion'. Arya Samaj did excellent work on taking the depressed
classes back into the Hindu fold during that period.
This Vedic mission of Swami Dayanand Saraswati was carried on by Swami
Shraddhanand, still known as Mahatma Munshiram, took sanyas and become
an active member of the Hindu reform movements. Success was achieved
with the help of new generations He left the social arena and plunged wholeheartedly into the Shuddhi movement, which he turned into an important
force within Hinduism.
The Shuddhi Movement was offensive to Muslim leaders and was seen as a
grave challenge. Shuddhi did not sit well with Muslims who responded to it
by advocating a grand community-wide effort of Islamic reform, reaching out
to the Muslim groups, seeking to draw them back into the fold of Muslim

community. Therefore, on 23 December 1926, Swami Shraddhanand paid the

ultimate sacrifice when he was assassinated by a Muslim fanatic.
But all this changed on 23rd December 2011, Shraddhanand Balidan Divas,
when a mega Shuddhi (re-conversion) event organized by Agniveer.
Thousands of people returned to Hindu Home through Mega Shuddhi Event.

Split in Arya Samaj

Dayanand Saraswati died in 1883. Arya Samaj grew after his death, mainly in
Punjab. Early leaders of the Samaj were Pandit Lekh Ram and Lala Munshi
Ram (better known as Swami Shraddhanand after his Sanyas).

In 1892 Arya Samaj was split into two factions after a controversy over
whether to make Vedic education the core curriculum at the DAV College
Lahore. Shraddhanand left the organization and formed the Punjab Arya
Samaj. The Arya Samaj was divided between the Gurukul Section and the
DAV Section. Shraddhanand headed for Gurukuls. In 1897, when Lala Lekh
Ram was assassinated, Shraddhanand succeeded him. He headed the
'Punjab Arya Pratinidhi Sabha', and started its monthly journal, 'Arya Musafir'.
In 1902 he established a Gurukul in Kangri, India near Haridwar. This school
is now recognized as Gurukul Kangri University.
Arya Samaj split into two in Punjab after 1893 on the question of eating
meat. The group that refrained from meat was called the Mahatma group
and the one favoring consumption of meat as the "Cultured Party".