Chandrasekhar Azad and Lala Lajpat Rai were influential Indian revolutionaries in the Indian independence movement. Chandrasekhar Azad was born in 1906 and originally named Chandrasekhar Tiwari, adopting the name Azad after being imprisoned for participating in the non-cooperation movement at age 15. Lala Lajpat Rai was born in 1865 and studied law before advocating for Indian self-rule. Both revolutionaries played key roles in opposing British rule through acts of protest and violence. Azad helped form the Hindustan Republican Association and participated in attacks like the Kakori train robbery, while Rai founded the Indian Home Rule League and led peaceful protests before dying from

3. The two leaders are:
Chandrasekhar Azad
Lala Lajpat Rai

4. Chandra Shekhar Azad was born on 23 July 1906 in Bhawra village, in the present-day
Alirajpur district of Madhya Pradesh.
 He was then called Chandra Shekhar Tiwari.
 His forefathers were from the Badarka village near Kanpur (in present-day Unnao
District.
 His mother, Jagrani Devi, was the third wife of Sitaram Tiwari, whose previous
wives had died young.
 After the birth of their first son, Sukhdev, in Badarka, the family moved to Alirajpur
State.
His mother wanted her son to be a great Sanskrit scholar and persuaded his father
to send him to Kashi Vidyapeeth, Banaras to study.
 In December 1921, when Mohandas K. Gandhi launched the Non-Cooperation
Movement, Chandra Shekhar, then a 15-year old student, joined.. As a result, he was
arrested and sentenced to fifteen days' imprisonment with hard punishments.
 From that day onward, having announced his name to be Azad (The Liberated) in
court, Chandra Shekhar Tiwari assumed the name of Azad.

5. Life
•Chandrasekhar Azad was born to Pandit Sita Ram Tiwari and Jagrani Devi
on July 23, 1906 in Badarka (Unnao).
• His original name was Chandrasekhar Tiwari.
•
He received his early schooling in Bhavra District in Jhabua, Madhya
Pradesh.
• For higher studies he went to the Sanskrit Pathashala at Varanasi.
• Chandrasekhar was deeply troubled by the Jalianwalabagh massacre in
Amritsar in 1919.
• Azad, at an age of 15, got involved in the revolutionary activities.
• He was caught by the British police while participating in the non-cooperation
movement and sentenced to. whiplashes as punishment.
• When the magistrate asked him his name, he said "Azad" (independence).
• From that point onwards, Chandrasekhar assumed the title of Azad and
came to be known as Chandrasekhar Azad.

6. Following the Chauri-Chaura incident, in which police stations were
vandalized and burnt by the activists, Mahatma Gandhi called for the
suspension of the non-cooperation movement. Azad, along with Bhagat
Singh distanced themselves from the paths of Gandhi. They were more
attracted by the aggressive and violent revolutionary ideals and means.
Towards this end, they formed the Hindustan Socialist Republican
Association and trained the revolutionaries like Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev,
Batukeshwar Dutt, and Rajguru. Azad was instrumental in carrying out
numerous acts of violence. This includes the Kakori Train Robbery in 1926,
assassination of John Poyantz Saunders in 1928 at Lahore to avenge the
killing of Lala Lajpat Rai.
How important his role was in the freedom struggle of India can be
understood by the fact that the British police badly wanted to nab him dead
or alive. On February 27, 1931 Chandrasekhar Azad while meeting with
friends at Alfred Park, Allahabad, and the police surrounded the park and
asked Chandrasekhar Azad to surrender. Azad fought alone and valiantly and
killed three policemen but after nearly exhausting his ammunition and
foreseeing no means of escape, he shot himself in the head with his last
bullet. He was reportedly betrayed by an informer.

7. Revolutionary life
After suspension of the non-cooperation movement in 1922 by Gandhi, Azad became
more aggressive. He committed himself to achieve complete independence by any
means. Azad also believed that India's future lay in socialism. He met a young
revolutionary, Pranvesh Chatterji, who introduced him to Ram Prasad Bismil who had
formed the Hindustan Republican Association (HRA), a revolutionary organization.
Azad was impressed with the aim of HRA, i.e., an independent India with equal rights
and opportunity to everyone without discrimination of caste, creed, religion or social
status. On introduction, Bismil was impressed by Azad, when Azad reportedly put his
hand over a lamp and did not remove it till his skin burnt. He then became an active
member of the HRA and started to collect funds for HRA. Most of the fund collection
was through robberies of government property. He also wanted to build a new India
based on socialist principles. Azad and his compatriots also planned and executed
several acts of violence against the British. Most of his revolutionary activities were
planned and executed from Shahjahanpur which was also the hometown of Ram
Prasad. He was involved in the Kakori Train Robbery of 1925, in the attempt to blow up
the Viceroy's train in 1926, and at last the shooting of J.P. Saunders at Lahore in 1928 to
avenge the killing of Lala Lajpat Rai.
Despite being a member of Congress, Motilal Nehru regularly gave money in support of
Azad,

11. •Lala Lajpat Rai was born on January 28, 1865 to Munshi Radha
Krishna Azad and Gulab Devi at Dhudike village in Ferozpur
District.
• His father was a great scholar of Persian and Urdu while his
mother was a strict religious lady and inculcated in her children
strong morals values.
• His family values allowed Lajpat Rai, the freedom of having
different faiths and beliefs.
•Lajpat Rai received his elementary education in the school where
his father was posted as teacher.
• 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.
•He studied law from Government College in Lahore and thereafter
started his legal practice in Hissar, Haryana.
• Since childhood he had a desire to serve his country and therefore
took a pledge to free it from foreign rule.
• In 1884 his father was transferred to Rohtak and Lala Lajpat Rai
came along.

12. In 1886 the family shifted to Hissar, where he practiced law. There,
Lajpat Rai helped to establish the nationalistic Dayanand Anglo-
Vedic School and became a follower of Dayanand Saraswati. In 1888
and 1889 he was a delegate to the annual sessions of the National
Congress. He moved to Lahore to practice before the High Court in
1892.
In 1895 Rai helped found the Punjab National Bank, demonstrating his
concern for self-help and enterprise. In 1897 he founded the Hindu
Orphan Relief Movement to keep the Christian missions from
securing custody of these children. In the National Congress in 1900 he
stressed the importance of constructive, nation-building activity and
programs for self-reliance.
Gradually, Lajpat Rai had curtailed his legal practice and was
concentrating all his efforts to free the nation from British. In October
1917, he founded the Indian Home Rule League of America in New
York.

13. On October 30, 1928 to boycott the arrival of the members
of the Simon Commission in Lahore, a peaceful procession,
headed by Lajpat Rai was launched.
 Intercepting the march, Superintendent of Police, Scott
ordered his police force to ‘Lathi-charge' at the activists.
 The police targeted Lajpat Rai, in particular, and hit him
on the chest. The confrontation left Lala Lajpat Rai with
severe injuries and also led to his death.
 To take avenge to the death of Lala Lajpat Rai, Bhagat
Singh and his associates plotted the assassination of Scott.
 But, the revolutionaries, mistaking J.P. Saunders, an
Assistant Superintendent of Police, as Scott, killed him
instead.

14. Non-Cooperation Movement Chauri Chaura Incident
Dandi March Movement