Lala Lajpat Rai
The 'Lion of Punjab' of the independence movement. Beaten by police at a protest against the Simon Commission in Lahore in 1928, he died weeks later.
Lajpat Rai was born in 1865 at Dhudike near Ferozepur, the son of a schoolteacher, and became a lawyer in Hisar and Lahore. He was a leader of the Arya Samaj and founded the Punjab National Bank and DAV schools.
He was one of the 'Lal, Bal, Pal' trio of radical nationalists. In 1907 he and Ajit Singh led the canal colonies agitation, Pagri Sambhal Jatta, and both were deported to Burma. He spent years in America during the First World War.
On 30 October 1928 he led a silent protest against the Simon Commission at Lahore and was beaten with lathis by the police. He died on 17 November. Bhagat Singh and his comrades avenged him. He is remembered as Punjab Kesari, the Lion of Punjab.
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Socialist revolutionary hanged in Lahore at twenty-three with Rajguru and Sukhdev. Among the most celebrated figures of India's independence movement.
Founder of the Arya Samaj in 1875. His movement found its strongest support in Punjab, where it founded the DAV colleges.
Uncle of Bhagat Singh who led the farmers' agitation of 1907, Pagri Sambhal Jatta, and spent thirty-eight years in exile.