The missions Lala Lajpat Rai was involved in entailed heavy funding and spending. As Lalaji was dead serious in his missions he had to create financial resources to push reforms, build up schools and colleges. Much of his earnings from legal practice also went into his social endeavours. He also had founded Punjab National Bank. When Non-cooperation movement slackened due to lack of finances Lalaji started Laxmi Insurance Company to make No-cooperation a financially viable movement. Thus even his financial ventures were part of his social reforms and freedom politics agenda.
Last Years
In the month of May, 1927 Lala Lajpat Rai went to Europe for recovery of health. But wherever he went his political activities continued and he ceaselessly worked towards garnering support for the freedom of India.
Those were very bad years for India. Civil Disobedience movement has been crushed. The leaders were coming out of jails after long years of imprisonments. Gandhiji had come out of his jail term and had immersed himself in Harijan upliftment work.
The country had been rocked by bloody Hindu-Muslim riots to the pleasure of British. They had been always trying to drive a wedge between the two communities. The biggest problem of Indian politics was poisoned Hindu-Muslim relations. The two communities could not come together to put up a united front against the British. The basic policy of English had been ‘Divide and Rule’.
In the beginning British favoured Hindus over the Muslims and later they favoured Muslims over Hindus to keep them divided. When British descended on India Muslims were the ruling class of India. British feared the return of Muslims to power. To put them in disadvantage they tried to suppress Muslims especially. They were discrimininated against in the fields of economy, administration and at social levels. The result was that Muslims were condemned to poverty and backwardness.
Lord Allen Berg had said, “Muslims are basically against us because we took away power from them. So we must appease Hindus.”
At one time Muslims were rulers and rightfully considered as warriors. British pushed them down economically and culturally. In courts Urdu was replaced by English. It was further setback for Muslims. These factors made Muslims a frustrated lot. Sheer despair sometimes drove them to violence which manifested in communal riots.
Later, when it suited British they instigated Muslims against Hindus by holding the carrot of separate Muslim state for them.
Lala Lajpat Rai always advocated Hindu-Mulsim unity.
In 1927, an all party meeting was held in Madras to prepare a constitution to work out communal equations in India. In 1928 session held in Delhi, a committee was set up under the leadership of Moti Lal Nehru to prepare a report on the draft of principles of the constitution. The committee prepared a report in three months. It had worked out centre-state relations.
It was hoped that after departure of the British the communal problem would solve itself. The report had provisions for representation on the basis of the population of a community and four Muslim majority states were earmarked.
Lala Lajpat Rai approved of the report and decided to work for its acceptance.
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