HARDYAL, LALA

Lala Hardyal (1884 – 1939) was an active political worker of the early days of the twentieth century. He was also a brilliant student. He passed his M.A. from Lahore with a good score. In 1903-04, the British government sent him to England, for higher studies. In 1908, he returned to India. Here, he became a serious worker of Arya Samaj, a fundamentalist Hindu organization.

In 1913, on finding possibilities of World War, he went to the U.S.A. Then the Indians living in the North America were organizing themselves into a national party, which was, later, known as Ghadr Party. He tried to control this organization. In 1914, the U.S. Government arrested him. He was released on bail. He jumped bail and moved to Switzerland. Later, he went to Germany. During the First World War, he worked for the Germans.

Hardyal was a fundamentalist Hindu, but after the First World War, he became a fan of the western life and started detesting all that was “Indian”. Soon, Lala Hardyal apologized and became a collaborator of the British regime. After some time, he was appointed as a lecturer in the University of Berkeley (U.S.A.). He died in mysterious circumstances.

(Dr. Harjinder Singh Dilgeer)