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{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2020}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Lala Jagat Narain
| image = Lala Jagat Narain.jpg
| caption = Portrait of Lala Jagat Narain
| birth_date = {{birth date|1899|05|31|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Wazirabad]], [[Gujranwala District]], [[British India]]
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1981|09|09|1899|5|31|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Jullundur]], [[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
| alma_mater = [[DAV College]], [[Lahore]] <br> [[Law College]], [[Lahore]]
| spouse = Shanti Devi
| children = 2 sons: Romesh Chander and [[Vijay Kumar Chopra]]
}}

'''Lala Jagat Narain''' (31 May 1899 − 9 September 1981) was an Indian editor, member of the [[Punjab Legislative Assembly]], [[Member of Parliament]]<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/india/pranab-i-know-of-the-consequences-indira-on-storming-golden-temple/story-FqXs5hEtNAFuhCQWH5fg6I.html |title='Pranab, I know of the consequences': Indira on storming Golden Temple | india |newspaper=Hindustan Times |accessdate=12 June 2018 |url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612105852/https://www.hindustantimes.com/india/pranab-i-know-of-the-consequences-indira-on-storming-golden-temple/story-FqXs5hEtNAFuhCQWH5fg6I.html |archive-date=12 June 2018 }}</ref> and founder of the [[Hind Samachar]] media group.<ref>{{cite web |author=site admin |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/indiascope/story/19810930-ex-minister-of-punjab-and-mp-lala-jagat-narain-shot-dead-by-assailants-773261-2013-11-07 |title=Lala Jagat Narain: An extremist killing | IndiaToday |publisher=Indiatoday.in |date=7 November 2013 |accessdate=12 June 2018 |url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612105853/https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/indiascope/story/19810930-ex-minister-of-punjab-and-mp-lala-jagat-narain-shot-dead-by-assailants-773261-2013-11-07 |archive-date=12 June 2018 }}</ref>

==Early life==
Lala Jagat Narain was born at [[Wazirabad]], [[Gujranwala District]] (now in [[Pakistan]]) in 1899.<ref>[http://www.punjabilok.com/misc/freedom/lala_jagat_narain.htm Lala Jagat Narain] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927020543/http://www.punjabilok.com/misc/freedom/lala_jagat_narain.htm |date=27 September 2007 }}</ref> 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]] 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==
[[File:PKD2.jpg|thumb|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 [[Maintenance of Internal Security Act|MISA]] during the [[The Emergency (India)|Indira Gandhi's Emergency]] which was later on revoked on 4 January 1977.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/editorials/om-mehta-emergencylala-jagat-narain-misa-mao-zedong-4457668/ |title=January 4, 1977, Forty Years Ago: No Poll Plans |newspaper=The Indian Express |accessdate=12 June 2018 |url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612105852/http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/editorials/om-mehta-emergencylala-jagat-narain-misa-mao-zedong-4457668/ |archive-date=12 June 2018 }}</ref> Following this incident, he parted ways with the party.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.yespunjab.com/punjab/item/42752-ashwini-chopra-minna-the-journalist-now-embarks-on-a-political-journey|title=Ashwani Chopra Minna – The journalist now embarks on a political journey|work=Yes Punjab}}</ref>

Narain had come to [[Jalandhar]] as a refugee from Lahore and started an [[Urdu]] [[daily newspaper|daily]], Hind Samachar in 1948. Urdu then was the language of the salaried urban men of [[Punjab, India|Punjab]], 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]], a Hindi-language daily.

During the [[Punjabi Suba movement]], he had resigned as minister in protest when the [[Punjabi Suba movement#The Regional Formula|Regional Formula]], a proposition to give the [[Punjabi language|Punjabi]] and [[Hindi]] languages equal status in Punjab that the Akali Dal had provisionally accepted, had been implemented in 1956.<ref name=grewal/> 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."<ref name=grewal>{{cite book |last1=Grewal |first1=J. S. |title=The Sikhs of the Punjab (The New Cambridge History of India II.3) |date=1998 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, United Kingdom |isbn=9781316025338 |page=199 |edition=Revised |url=https://archive.org/details/sikhsofpunjab0000grew |access-date=16 April 2020|author1-link=J. S. Grewal }}</ref>

An [[Arya Samaj]]i widely known for anti-Sikh communalism,<ref name=kirpal/> 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,"<ref>{{cite book | last = Mark Tully | first = Satish Jacob | title = Amritsar; Mrs. Gandhi's Last Battle | publisher = J. Cape | url = https://archive.org/details/amritsarmrsgandh00tull | url-access = registration | year = 1985 | location = London | edition = e-book | page = 66 | access-date = 8 July 2018 | df = dmy-all}}</ref> and the Hindi press based in [[Jalandhar]] consistently vilified Sikhs,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Pettigrew |first1=Joyce |title=In Search of a New Kingdom of Lahore |journal=Pacific Affairs |date=1987 |volume=60 |issue=1 |page=24 |doi=10.2307/2758827 |jstor=2758827}}</ref> without making any distinction between Sikh groups.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Grewal |first1=J. S. |title=The Sikhs of the Punjab (The New Cambridge History of India II.3) |date=1998 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, United Kingdom |isbn=9781316025338 |page=219 |edition=Revised |url=https://archive.org/details/sikhsofpunjab0000grew |access-date=16 April 2020|author1-link=J. S. Grewal }}</ref>

After the Punjabi Suba was nevertheless established, he would later denounce the [[Anandpur Sahib Resolution]] 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,<ref name=kirpal/> which would be further pursued during the [[Dharam Yudh Morcha]]. 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.<ref name=kirpal>{{cite book |last1=Dhillon |first1=Kirpal S. |title=Identity and Survival: Sikh Militancy in India, 1978-1993 |date=2006 |publisher=Penguin Books |location=London, United Kingdom |isbn=9780143100362 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/_/_PU6CwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PT69| page=69}}</ref>

==Death and legacy==
[[File:Jagat Narain 2013 stamp of India.jpg|thumb|Jagat Narain on a 2013 stamp of India]]
Jagat was a critic of the [[Khalistan movement]] and he had earlier survived an assassination attempt in January of 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.<ref name=i>{{cite web|author=site admin |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/indiascope/story/19810930-ex-minister-of-punjab-and-mp-lala-jagat-narain-shot-dead-by-assailants-773261-2013-11-07 |title=Lala Jagat Narain: An extremist killing | IndiaToday |publisher=Indiatoday.in |date=7 November 2013 |accessdate=12 June 2018}}</ref>

[[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,<ref name="gt1982">{{cite news |last1=Thukral |first1=Gobind |title=What kind of man is Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale? |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/indiascope/story/19820430-what-kind-of-man-is-sant-jarnail-singh-bhindranwale-771737-2013-10-15 |access-date=20 April 2020 |work=India Today |publisher=Living Media India Limited |date=30 April 1982}}</ref> was implicated in the assassination, though it was the [[Dal Khalsa (International)|Dal Khalsa]] which had likely committed it.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Dressler|first1=Markus|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lYDkrIJ5uqEC&dq=Lala+jagat+narayan&pg=PA85|title=Secularism and Religion-Making|last2=Mandair|first2=Arvind|date=2011-10-03|publisher=Oxford University Press, USA|isbn=978-0-19-978294-9|language=en}}</ref> An Indian Airlines plane would be hijacked by them on 29 September 1981 to demand his release,<ref>{{cite news |last=Kaufman |first=Michael T. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/09/30/world/sikh-separatists-hijack-indian-jetliner-to-pakistan.html |title=Sikh Separatists Hijack Indian Jetliner To Pakistan|work=The New York Times |date=30 September 1981 |accessdate=12 June 2018 |url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129183738/http://www.nytimes.com/1981/09/30/world/sikh-separatists-hijack-indian-jetliner-to-pakistan.html |archive-date=29 November 2014 }}</ref> with no casualties.<ref>[https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19810929-2 ASN Aircraft accident Boeing 737-200 registration unknown Lahore Airport (LHE)]. Aviation-safety.net (29 September 1981). Retrieved 8 November 2018.</ref>

The White Paper issued by the government of India, mentioned that Narain was assassinated because of his criticism of Bhindrawale.<ref name=gov>{{cite journal
| title = White Paper on Punjab Agitation
| page = 40
| publisher = Government of India
| location = New Delhi
| date = 10 July 1984
}}</ref> He was present during the [[1978 Sikh–Nirankari clashes|clash that occurred between Nirankaris and Akhand Kirtani Jatha]] members, and stood witness at the Karnal trial against Bhindrawale.<ref name=sur>{{cite book
| last = Jalandhri
| first = Surjeet
| title = Bhindranwale Sant
| publisher = Punjab Pocket Books
| year = 1984
| location = Jalandhar
| page = 25 }}</ref>

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 [[Punjab, India|Punjab]], while Bhindranwale was jailed in Circuit House.<ref name=rg>{{cite book |last1=Albrecht |first1=Schnabel |last2=Rohan |first2=Gunaratna |title=Wars From Within: Understanding And Managing Insurgent Movements |date=2014 |publisher=World Scientific|isbn=978-1-78326-559-6|page=193|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mdi3CgAAQBAJ&pg=PA193|language=en}}</ref>

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.<ref name=rg />

H.K. Dua, a former Editor-in-Chief of [[The Tribune (Chandigarh)|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.<ref>[http://www.tribuneindia.com/2005/20051128/punjab1.htm Plea to wipe out terror, The Tribune] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121026115903/http://www.tribuneindia.com/2005/20051128/punjab1.htm |date=26 October 2012 }} ...“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</ref>

A chair in the name of Narain was established at [[Kurukshetra University]] in 1998.{{Citation needed|date=June 2018}}

On 9 September 2013, Prime Minister [[Manmohan Singh]] released a postage stamp in memory of Jagat Narain.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://zeenews.india.com/news/delhi/pm-releases-stamp-on-veteran-journalist-lala-jagat-narain_875205.html |title=PM releases stamp on veteran journalist Lala Jagat Narain|publisher=Zeenews.india.com |date=9 September 2013 |accessdate=12 June 2018 |url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303231837/http://zeenews.india.com/news/delhi/pm-releases-stamp-on-veteran-journalist-lala-jagat-narain_875205.html |archive-date=3 March 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-09-09/india/41902458_1_virbhadra-singh-deputy-chief-minister-punjab-kesari |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130912070027/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-09-09/india/41902458_1_virbhadra-singh-deputy-chief-minister-punjab-kesari |url-status=dead |archive-date=12 September 2013 |title=Prime Minister releases stamp on Lala Jagat Narain | India News |date=9 September 2013 |work=[[The Times of India]] |accessdate=12 June 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://ibnlive.in.com/news/pm-releases-postage-stamp-on-freedom-fighter-lala-jagat-narain/420671-3.html |title=News18.com: CNN-News18 Breaking News India, Latest News Headlines, Live News Updates |publisher=Ibnlive.in.com |accessdate=12 June 2018 |url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130912051232/http://ibnlive.in.com/news/pm-releases-postage-stamp-on-freedom-fighter-lala-jagat-narain/420671-3.html |archive-date=12 September 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/slideshows/day-in-pics/september-9-2013/pm-releasing-postage-stamp-on-lala-jagat-narain/slideshow/22434760.cms?prtpage=1 |title=September 9, 2013 – PM releasing postage stamp on Lala Jagat Narain |work=The Economic Times |date=9 September 2013 |accessdate=12 June 2018 |url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612105857/https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/slideshows/day-in-pics/september-9-2013/pm-releasing-postage-stamp-on-lala-jagat-narain/slideshow/22434760.cms?prtpage=1 |archive-date=12 June 2018 }}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Narain, Jagat}}
[[Category:1889 births]]
[[Category:1981 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Wazirabad]]
[[Category:Punjabi people]]
[[Category:Indian newspaper chain founders]]
[[Category:Sikh politics]]
[[Category:Indian editors]]
[[Category:Assassinated newspaper publishers (people)]]
[[Category:Assassinated Indian journalists]]
[[Category:People murdered in Punjab, India]]
[[Category:Deaths by firearm in India]]
[[Category:Businesspeople from Punjab, India]]
[[Category:1980s murders in India]]
[[Category:1981 crimes in India]]
[[Category:1981 murders in Asia]]
[[Category:Indian National Congress politicians]]

Lala Jagat Narain - Revision history

->Citation bot at 23:21, 17 November 2021