32 SOCIAL SCIENTIST
The same evening a public meeting was called denouncing the order and urging the people to defy it. The police order was obeyed only in its breach and a veritable sea of humanity surged round the streets of Lahore with anti-Simon slogans on October 30. The functionaries of the "pride-hurt" government resorted to deliberate and unprovoked lathi charge which resulted in the death of Lajpat Rai after a fortnight.
It was, undoubtedly, an affront to the whole nation. The young elements were keen on vindicating the honour of Lajpat Rai. The Sabha held several public meetings and accused the British government of the murder of Lajpat Rai. On December 16, meetings were held to observe the "Kakori Day" in Lahore and Amrit-sar, where speakers glorified the patriotic spirit of the revolutionaries.6 On December 17, Saunders and his reader were killed and "the circumstances of the murder suggested the knowledge, if nos complicity, of several members of the Sabha, and seven membert were arrested."7 In fact, it was Bhagat Singh, the founder of th e Sabha, who killed Saunders on December 17. "Bhagat Singh did not become popular because of his act of terrorism, but because he seemed to vindicate, for the moment, the honour ofLala Lajpat Rai and through him of the nation. He became a symbol; the act was forgotten, the symbol remained and within a few months every town and village of Punjab and to a lesser extent the rest of India resounded with his name and innumerable legends grew up about him. The popularity that the man achieved was something amazing."8
The Press Organ
The Sabha started a newspaper the Naujawan in October 19289 with the declared policy of developing a spirit of patriotism in the hearts of the youth, helping the cause of* the downtrodden labourers and peasants, reviving the memory of the martyrs and providing young men with literature which will induce them to make sacrifice for the liberty of the motherland.10 In the very first issue the paper published the life-sketch of Madan Lal Dhingra11 and a message from Sohan Singh Josh. The paper, in its issue of November 13, 1928, published an article entitled "The Time Ha^ Come"13 which made a revolutionary appeal to young men to cast off cowardice, timidity and shamelessness. It reminded them that "the sword of the alien was to be seen hanging at our mother's helpless breast to suck her blood" and called upon them to "rise, quench the bloodthirsty sword of the tyrants and cause blood to run in streams."13 The paper continued to publish such articles