Pandit Kishori Lal (1912 – 11 July 1990) was a

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

Indian revolutionary from

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

who worked with

Sukhdev Thapar Sukhdev Thapar (15 May 1907 – 23 March 1931) was an Indian revolutionary who worked to make India independent from the British Raj along with his best friends and partners Bhagat Singh and Shivaram Rajguru. A senior member of the Hindustan S ...

and the

Hindustan Socialist Republican Association Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA), previously known as the Hindustan Republican Army and Hindustan Republican Association (HRA), was an Indian revolutionary organisation founded by Ram Prasad Bismil, Ashfaqulla Khan, Sachindra ...

(HSRA).

Early life

He was born in village Dharampur, tehsil Dasuya,

Hoshiarpur district Hoshiarpur district is a district of Punjab, India, Punjab state in northern India. Hoshiarpur, one of the oldest districts of Punjab, is located in the North-east part of the Punjab state and shares common boundaries with Gurdaspur district in ...

. This village coordinates – is situated on the south-western slopes of the Sola Singhi range. He attended primary school in Dharampur and then moved to Quetta (present-day Pakistan) where his father was posted as a Sanskrit teacher. After finishing his matriculation in Quetta, he joined DAV College Lahore to pursue higher studies.

Political life

His father and three elder brothers were all imbued with the spirit of

Indian nationalism Indian nationalism is an instance of territorial nationalism, which is inclusive of all of the people of India, despite their diverse ethnic, linguistic and religious backgrounds. Indian nationalism can trace roots to pre-colonial India, b ...

. In early 1928, Lal joined the

Naujawan Bharat Sabha Naujawan Bharat Sabha (NBS, sometimes spelled Nau Jawan Bharat Sabha, with the acronym NJBS) ( Youth Society of India) was a left-wing Indian association that sought to foment revolution against the British Raj by gathering together worker and pe ...

, thereby coming into direct and close contact with the founder of the group,

Bhagat Singh Bhagat Singh (27 September 1907 – 23 March 1931) was a charismatic Indian revolutionary* * who participated in the mistaken murder of a junior British police officer * * in what was to be retaliation for the death of an Indian nationa ...

. The group instilled

revolutionary A revolutionary is a person who either participates in, or advocates a revolution. The term ''revolutionary'' can also be used as an adjective, to refer to something that has a major, sudden impact on society or on some aspect of human endeavor. ...

ideas among the youth and prepared them for the struggle for

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

's freedom. He was involved with the HSRA bomb-making unit at 69 Kashmiri Building,

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...

, from where he was arrested on 15 April 1929 along with

and Jai Gopal. While he was being held in jail as an undertrial prisoner, Lal participated in a historic

hunger strike A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke a feeling of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most ...

by the HSRA members. At the conclusion of the trial in the Lahore Conspiracy Case 1929, the judge sentenced Singh,

Shivaram Rajguru Shivaram Hari Rajguru (24 August 1907 – 23 March 1931) was an Indian revolutionary from Maharashtra (then Bombay State), known mainly for his involvement in the assassination of a British police officer named John Saunders. He was an active m ...

and Sukhdev to

death by hanging Hanging is the suspension of a person by a noose or ligature around the neck.Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. Hanging as method of execution is unknown, as method of suicide from 1325. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' states that hanging in ...

. Lal was sentenced to transportation for life. He served his 18-year sentence in the jails of

Multan Multan (; ) is a city in Punjab, Pakistan, on the bank of the Chenab River. Multan is Pakistan's seventh largest city as per the 2017 census, and the major cultural, religious and economic centre of southern Punjab. Multan is one of the List ...

and Montgomery. He spent nearly five years in solitary confinement due to his rebellious nature. While in jail, he came in contact with a number of communist prisoners and started reading Marxist literature. Under this influence, his world outlook underwent a change, and in 1936 he applied for party membership from jail. He was registered as a

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...

member in 1942. After his release from jail in 1946, he asked the party to allot him work on the trade union front, where he worked with his customary zeal. He was elected as president of the Punjab unit of

All India Trade Union Congress The All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) is the oldest trade union federation in India. It is associated with the Communist Party of India. According to provisional statistics from the Ministry of Labour, AITUC had a membership of 14.2 milli ...

(AITUC) in 1948. In January 1948, nearly 1500 members, including Lal of the

unit of the Communist Party of

, broke away and founded the

Lal Communist Party Hind Union The Lal Communist Party Hind Union ('Red Communist Party, Indian Union') was a political party in Punjab, India. The party was led by Teja Singh Swatantra. It led militant agrarian struggles in the PEPSU regions. The Lal Communist Party merged b ...

. This party carried out militant agrarian struggles in the PEPSU region of Punjab. After nearly four years, the Lal Communist Party was reunified with its parent party in July 1952. In early 1952, Lal took part in the movement for the

liberation of Goa The Annexation of Goa was the process in which the Republic of India annexed ', the then Portuguese Indian territories of Goa, Daman and Diu, starting with the armed action carried out by the Indian Armed Forces in December 1961. In India, ...

which was under

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

control. He was a committee member of the

Communist Party of India (Marxist) The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (abbreviated as CPI(M)/CPIM/CPM) is a Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist communist List of political parties in India, political party in India. It is the largest communist party of India in term ...

at Punjab state level for a number of years. In his later years, he served as in-charge of the Punjab Book Centre at

Jalandhar Jalandhar is the third most-populous city in the Indian state of Punjab and the largest city in Doaba region. Jalandhar lies alongside the Grand Trunk Road and is a well-connected rail and road junction. Jalandhar is northwest of the state ...

. He was also active on the Desh Bhagat Yadgar Committee at Jalandhar.

Death

Lal died on 11 July 1990 in a hospital of

, following a road accident. He was 78 years old.

References

{{Authority control 1912 births 1990 deaths Indian revolutionaries Road incident deaths in India Hindustan Socialist Republican Association Accidental deaths in India Communist Party of India (Marxist) politicians