Lala Jagat Narain (31 May 1899 − 9 September 1981) was an Indian editor, member of the

Punjab Legislative Assembly The Punjab Legislative Assembly or the Punjab Vidhan Sabha is the unicameral legislature of the state of Punjab in India. The Sixteenth Punjab Legislative Assembly was constituted in March 2022. At present, it consists of 117 members, directl ...

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

and founder of the

Hind Samachar ''Hind Samachar'' () is a daily Urdu newspaper that is circulated in Mumbai. It was one of the three newspaper started by the Punjab Kesari Group back in 1948. Combined these three newspapers have combined circulation of 975,000 copies on weekda ...

media group.

Early life

Lala Jagat Narain was born at

Wazirabad Wazirabad (Urdu/ pa, ) is a city in Punjab, Pakistan. It is the capital of Wazirabad District. Famous for its cutlery products, it is known as the city of cutlery and is also quite famous for its foods. Wazirabad is situated on the banks of th ...

, Gujranwala District (now in

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

) in 1899. He graduated from D.A.V. College, Lahore in 1919, and joined the Law College, Lahore.

Establishment

He left his studies in 1920 at the call of

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

to join the

Non-cooperation movement The Non-cooperation movement was a political campaign launched on 4 September 1920, by Mahatma Gandhi to have Indians revoke their cooperation from the British government, with the aim of persuading them to grant self-governance.

. He was sentenced to two and a half years imprisonment. In jail, he acted as

Lala Lajpat Rai Lala Lajpat Rai (28 January 1865 - 17 November 1928) was an Indian author, freedom fighter, and politician. He played a vital role in the Indian Independence movement. He was popularly known as Punjab Kesari. He was one of the three members of ...

's personal secretary. In 1924 he became the editor of

Bhai Parmanand Bhai Parmanand (4 November 1876 – 8 December 1947) was an indian nationalism, Indian nationalist and a prominent leader of the Hindu Mahasabha. Early life Parmanand was born into a prominent family of the Punjab (India), Punjab, Mohyal Brahmi ...

's weekly Hindi language paper ''Akashvani''. He participated in the

Satyagraha Satyagraha ( sa, सत्याग्रह; ''satya'': "truth", ''āgraha'': "insistence" or "holding firmly to"), or "holding firmly to truth",' or "truth force", is a particular form of nonviolent resistance or civil resistance. Someone w ...

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 The Quit India Movement, also known as the August Kranti Movement, was a movement launched at the Bombay session of the All India Congress Committee by Mahatma Gandhi on 8th August 1942, during World War II, demanding an end to British rule in ...

Political life

Narain was President of the

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. ...

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. Following this incident, he parted ways with the party. Narain had come to

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 ...

as a refugee from Lahore and started an

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

daily Daily or The Daily may refer to: Journalism * Daily newspaper, newspaper issued on five to seven day of most weeks * ''The Daily'' (podcast), a podcast by ''The New York Times'' * ''The Daily'' (News Corporation), a defunct US-based iPad new ...

, Hind Samachar in 1948. Urdu then was the language of the salaried urban men of

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 ...

, the people who could afford the time and money for a newspaper. But Urdu in independent India lacked government support. In 1965, he founded

Punjab Kesari 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 ...

, a Hindi-language daily. During the

Punjabi Suba movement The Punjabi Suba movement was a long-drawn political agitation, launched by Punjabi speaking people (mostly Sikhs) demanding the creation of a Punjabi Suba, or Punjabi-speaking state, in the post-independence Indian state of East Punjab. Led by ...

, he had resigned as minister in protest when the Regional Formula, a proposition to give the

Punjabi Punjabi, or Panjabi, most often refers to: * Something of, from, or related to Punjab, a region in India and Pakistan * Punjabi language * Punjabi people * Punjabi dialects and languages Punjabi may also refer to: * Punjabi (horse), a British Th ...

and

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

languages equal status in Punjab that the Akali Dal had provisionally accepted, had been implemented in 1956. He would periodically opine when the Akalis and the government would appear to make progress on the issue of Punjab statehood, stating once that "the Hindus of Punjab would never accept the settlement." An

Arya Samaj Arya Samaj ( hi, आर्य समाज, lit=Noble Society, ) is a monotheistic Indian Hindu reform movement that promotes values and practices based on the belief in the infallible authority of the Vedas. The samaj was founded by the sanny ...

i widely known for anti-Sikh communalism, Narain had urged Hindus in Punjab to reply to disown Punjabi as their mother tongue. His paper played a significant role in "fanning the flames of communal hatred between Hindus and Sikhs," and the Hindi press based in

consistently vilified Sikhs, without making any distinction between Sikh groups. After the Punjabi Suba was nevertheless established, he would later denounce the

Anandpur Sahib Resolution The Anandpur Sahib Resolution was a statement with a list of demands made by the Punjabi Sikh political party, the Shiromani Akali Dal, in 1973. Presentation in 1973 After the tenure of chief minister Gurnam Singh in the Punjab, newly demarcated ...

which sought to rectify perceived injustices in water allotment and state powers and development following its formation; he and other Arya Samaj leaders and editors like Virendra would continue to communalize demands for the welfare of the entire state of Punjab, which would be further pursued during the

Dharam Yudh Morcha The Dharam Yuddh Morcha ("righteous campaign") was a political movement launched on 4 August 1982, by the Akali Dal in partnership with Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, with its stated aim being the fulfillment of a set of devolutionary objectives b ...

. Again presuming to speak on behalf of the state's Hindus, he would assert in an article in the ''Indian Express'' that the primarily urban Hindu population in the state had nothing to do with the continuing state-center dispute over the proportionally unequal distribution of river waters, disregarding the influence on the state's economy of the water allotment amount, and in turn its social cohesion.

Death and legacy

Jagat was a critic of the Khalistan movement and he had earlier survived an assassination attempt in January 1981. However, on 9 September 1981, Narain was shot dead by a two-man team of assassins. Nachhatar Singh, a self-described Naxalite, was arrested at the scene of crime. Dalbir Singh and Swaran Singh are two others accused in the case. Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, who had accused Narain of portraying the Sikh gurus as "lovers of wine and women" in his newspapers in spite of protests, was implicated in the assassination, though it was the Dal Khalsa which had likely committed it. An Indian Airlines plane would be hijacked by them on 29 September 1981 to demand his release, with no casualties. The White Paper issued by the government of India, mentioned that Narain was assassinated because of his criticism of Bhindrawale. He was present during the clash that occurred between the Sant Nirankaris and

Akhand Kirtani Jatha The Akhand Keertanee Jathaa (AKJ) is a ''jatha'' (collective group) of Sikhism dedicated to the Sikh lifestyle. The Jatha follows a strict discipline in keeping the Rehat of Guru Gobind Singh Jee. They also enjoy an active style of Keertan rec ...

members, and stood witness at the Karnal trial against Bhindrawale. In 1981, Bhindranwale remained inside Gurudwara Gurdarshan Parkash at Mehta Chowk, but was persuaded to surrender on 20 September 1981. For 25 days, violence exploded all over

, while Bhindranwale was jailed in Circuit House. India's Union Home Minister,

Giani Zail Singh Giani Zail Singh (, born Jarnail Singh; 5 May 1916 – 25 December 1994) was an Indian politician from Punjab who served as the seventh president of India from 1982 to 1987. He was the first Sikh and the first person from a backward caste to bec ...

, 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. H.K. Dua, a former Editor-in-Chief of

The Tribune ''The Tribune'' or ''Tribune'' is the name of various newspapers: United States Daily California *''Oakland Tribune'' * ''The Tribune'' (San Luis Obispo) *'' San Gabriel Valley Tribune'' Indiana *''Kokomo Tribune'' *'' Peru Tribune'' * ''The Trib ...

, 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. A chair in the name of Narain was established at

Kurukshetra University Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra (KUK) is a university established on 11January 1956 in Kurukshetra, in the Indian state of Haryana, from the capital, Delhi. It is a member of Association of Commonwealth Universities. History The univer ...

in 1998. On 9 September 2013, Prime Minister

Manmohan Singh Manmohan Singh (; born 26 September 1932) is an Indian politician, economist and statesman who served as the 13th prime minister of India from 2004 to 2014. He is also the third longest-serving prime minister after Jawaharlal Nehru and Indir ...

released a postage stamp in memory of Jagat Narain.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Narain, Jagat 1890s births 1981 deaths People from Wazirabad Punjabi people Indian newspaper chain founders Sikh politics Indian editors Assassinated newspaper publishers (people) Assassinated Indian journalists People murdered in Punjab, India Deaths by firearm in India Businesspeople from Punjab, India 1981 murders in India Indian National Congress politicians