Jagat Narain

Lala Jagat Narain
Portrait of Lala Jagat Narain
Personal details
Born (1899-05-31)31 May 1899
Wazirabad, Gujranwala District, British India
Died 9 September 1981(1981-09-09) (aged 82)
Jullundur, Punjab
Spouse(s) Shanti Devi
Children 2 sons: Romesh Chander and Vijay Kumar Chopra
Alma mater DAV College, Lahore
Law College, Lahore

Lala Jagat Narain (31 May 1899 − 9 September 1981) was an Indian freedom fighter, editor, member of Punjab Legislative Assembly, Member of Parliament[1] and founder of the Hind Samachar media group.[2]

Early life

Lala Jagat Narain was born at Wazirabad, Gujranwala District (now in Pakistan) in 1899.[3] He graduated from D.A.V. College, Lahore in 1919, and joined the Law College, Lahore.

Freedom struggle

He left his studies in 1920 at the call of Mahatma Gandhi to join the Non-cooperation movement. He was sentenced to two and a half years imprisonment. In jail he acted as Lala Lajpat Rai's personal secretary.

In 1924 he became the editor of Bhai Parmanand's weekly Hindi language paper Akashvani. He participated in the Satyagraha movement and was in jail for about nine years on different occasions. His wife was in jail for six months and his eldest son, Ramesh Chandra, was arrested during the Quit India movement.

Political life

Punjab Kesari, header with the founders Lala Jagat Narain & Romesh Chander)

Narain was President of the Lahore City Congress Committee for seven years, leader of the Congress Party in the Lahore Corporation, a member of the Punjab Provincial Congress Committee for more than thirty years and member of the All-India Congress Committee for about 30 years.

Lala Jagat Narain was detained under MISA during the Indira Gandhi's Emergency which was later on revoked on 4 January 1977.[4] Following this incident, he parted ways with the party.[5]

Narain had come to Jalandhar as a refugee from Lahore and started an Urdu daily, Hind Samachar in 1948. Urdu then was the language of the salaried urban men of Punjab, the people who could afford the time and money for a newspaper. But Urdu in independent India lacked government support. In the schools of Punjab, Punjabi and Hindi became the languages and Gurmukhi and Devanagari the scripts of instruction. In 1965, Jagat Narain founded Punjab Kesari, a Hindi daily.

Death and legacy

Jagat was a critic of Khalistani militants and a survived an assassination attempt in January 1981. However on 9 September 1981, he was shot dead by a two-man team of assassins. Nachhatar Singh, a self described Naxalite,[6] was arrested from the scene of crime. Dalbir Singh and Swaran Singh, a relative of Bhindranwale, are the other accused in the case.[6]

Dilbir Singh, a companion of Bhindranwale, said that Bhindranwale ordered the killing of Jagat Narain.[7]

The White Paper issued by the government of India, mentioned that Narain was assassinated because of his criticism of Bhindrawale.[8] He was present during the clash that occurred between Nirankaris and Akhand Kirtani Jatha members, and stood witness at the Karnal trial against Bhindrawale.[9]

In 1981, Bhindranwale barricaded himself inside the fortified Gurudwara Gurdarshan Parkash at Mehta Chowk, but was persuaded to surrender on 20 September 1981. For 25 days, violence exploded all over Punjab, while Bhindranwale was jailed in Circuit House.[10]

The hijackers of an Indian Airlines plane on 29 September 1981[11] claiming to be members of the Khalistani group Dal Khalsa[12] demanded the release of Bhindranwale, who had been arrested in connection with the murder of Lala Jagat Narain.[13]

India's Union Home Minister, Giani Zail Singh, announced to Parliament that there was no evidence that Bhindranwale was involved in Lala Jagat Narain's assassination, and was released on 15 October 1981.[10]

H.K. Dua, a former Editor-in-Chief of The Tribune, praised Narain's Hind Samachar Group for standing up against terrorism pointing out that 62 of his staff were gunned down over a period of time.[14]

A chair in the name of Narain was established at Kurukshetra University in 1998.

On 9 September 2013, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh released a postage stamp in memory of Jagat Narain.[15][16][17][18]

References

  1. ↑ "'Pranab, I know of the consequences': Indira on storming Golden Temple | india". Hindustan Times. Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  2. ↑ site admin (7 November 2013). "Lala Jagat Narain: An extremist killing | IndiaToday". Indiatoday.in. Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  3. ↑ Lala Jagat Narain Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine.
  4. ↑ "January 4, 1977, Forty Years Ago: No Poll Plans". The Indian Express. Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  5. ↑ "Ashwani Chopra Minna - The journalist now embarks on a political journey". Yes Punjab.
  6. 1 2 site admin (2013-11-07). "Lala Jagat Narain: An extremist killing | IndiaToday". Indiatoday.in. Retrieved 2018-06-12.
  7. ↑ Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale: Five Myths Archived 24 June 2007 at the Wayback Machine. Dilbir Singh related the following account of how masterfully Bhindranwale ordered the killing of Lala Jagat Narain, proprietor-editor of the Hind Samachar group of newspapers: And in one edition Lala had written in an editorial comment that Taura [Tohra, then president of the S.G.P.C.] and Ajnoha [then jathedar of the Akal Takht] are traitors. On that day in a great fury he [Bhindranwale] called upon someone to read aloud what Lala had said. There was quiet. 'Our turban has been torn from our heads,' he proclaimed. Then one of his followers asked, 'What are your orders?' Again in anger, he said 'Orders, you need orders! What orders? Are you blind?' Now you see he did not say anything. And they said it. 'O.K.' meaning thereby, we'll finish this man. So, then, 3-4 days later, Lala was coming from Ludhiana and they fired upon him.
  8. ↑ "White Paper on Punjab Agitation". New Delhi: Government of India. 10 July 1984: 40.
  9. ↑ Jalandhri, Surjeet (1984). Bhindranwale Sant. Jalandhar: Punjab Pocket Books. p. 25.
  10. 1 2 Albrecht, Schnabel; Rohan, Gunaratna (2014). Wars From Within: Understanding And Managing Insurgent Movements. World Scientific. ISBN 9781783265596. Archived from the original on 12 June 2018.
  11. ↑ https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19810929-2
  12. ↑ Kaufman, Michael T. (30 September 1981). "Sikh Separatists Hijack Indian Jetliner To Pakistan - The New York Times". Nytimes.com. Archived from the original on 29 November 2014. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  13. ↑ Puneet Singh Lamba. "Biographies - Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale: Five Myths". The Sikh Times. Archived from the original on 24 June 2007. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  14. ↑ Plea to wipe out terror, The Tribune Archived 26 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine. ...“We should be thankful to the Hind Samachar Group of Newspapers for two reasons. Firstly, it has initiated a fund for helping victims of terrorists and that of natural calamities and , secondly, for standing up against terrorism at a time when no other paper dared to do so. The family had not only lost two of its members — Lala Jagat Narain and Ramesh Chander Ji — but the newspaper lost 62 of its agents, hawkers, sub-editors and senior-sub editors. It is a remarkable contribution toward the country and in the interest of freedom of expression,” said Mr Dua
  15. ↑ "PM releases stamp on veteran journalist Lala Jagat Narain | Delhi News". Zeenews.india.com. 9 September 2013. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  16. ↑ "Prime Minister releases stamp on Lala Jagat Narain | India News - Times of India". Articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com. 2013-09-09. Retrieved 2018-06-12.
  17. ↑ "News18.com: CNN-News18 Breaking News India, Latest News Headlines, Live News Updates". Ibnlive.in.com. Archived from the original on 12 September 2013. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  18. ↑ 09 Sep 2013, 02:40 PM IST (9 September 2013). "September 9, 2013 - PM releasing postage stamp on Lala Jagat Narain | The Economic Times". Economictimes.indiatimes.com. Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 12 June 2018.

Further reading

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