The Collected Works of Lala Lajpat Rai

This third volume of the series covers the period from January 1907 to March 1909. During this period, Lajpat Rai found himself in the centre of a political storm. In May 1907 he was arrested and deported to Mandalay in Burma by the Government of India on the recommendation of Sir Denzil Ibbeston, the Lieutenant-Governor of the Punjab, who suspected that Lajapt Rai was planning a mass uprising on the 50th anniversary of the Mutiny of 1857. AS this book would show, Lajpat Rai was released after six months when the Viceroy, Lord Minto, realised his mistake. Soon after his return to India, Lajpat Rai's name was proposed by the Extremist group for the presidentship of the Surat session of the Indian National Congress. But as an act of self-abnegation he declined the honour and instead made efforts to prevent a clash between the two Congress groups. Lajpat Rai undertook a seven-month tour of England in 1908-9 to put across the case for Indian self-government to the British press, parliament and people while the Reforms Bill was one the parliamentary anvil.