Tribute to a social activist , A multi Dimensional Persoinaliy
A Noble Soul and good Samaritan of city of temples
On the occasion of his 25 th death anniversary which falls on 24 th July 2026
By Ravi Rohmetra
“ Tu nahi teri ulfat abhi tak dil me hai”
Bujh chuki hai shamma, Roshni abhi tak mehfil me hai”
Duggar land has produced politicians , Academicians, Social worker and leaders of
Caliber, prominent amongst them is Mohan lal Motial. This is the tale of towering
personality who work selflessly for the caused of the people.A personality who shared
wear woes of needy .He was a friend, a guide and a social worker
Ch. Mohan Lal Motial a man of strong will power ,conviction , honesty , dedication and
social justice, a crusader who at the tender age of 18 years was turned out of his family
kitchen because of his involvement in anti untouchability and anti conversion activities.
One of the pioneer of Arya samaj movement and insurance business in the state of
Jammu and Kashmir.
Born in the year 1897 at Rajouri he was married to Smt Rameshwari at the age
of 14 years only . He had been close associate of Sher-E-Duggar Lala Hans Raj
Mahajan a great social reformer , and had complete faith in his theory of social justice
and social reforms . He was true believer of women education , liberty and equality and
that is why he got all his six daughters highly educated and married in quite educated
and socially upright families. He was father of three sons also who are placed quite high
in the society.
Although he was born in an orthodox hindu family , he was a secular person in true
sense. he had very strong ties with many muslim and sikh families with whom he had
sisterly and brotherly relations which remained intact even after his death .
Himself being a student of urdu , He was a great protagonist of hindi languages which
he loved and adored very much . He got all his children educated in hindi in their earlier
years of education. He wrote good number of poems in hindi and also remained
President of All J&K Hindi Sahitya Mandal . For his service to Hindi Language he was
honoured and awarded by the Revenue Minister of J&K State.
A staunch Arya Samaji he fought against the menace of conversion and untouchability
for which he braved couple of threats to his life also He remained President of J&K Arya
Pratinidhi Sabha a governing body of all Arya Samaj Units of the state.
He had been chairman of Shri. Sunder Singh Gurudwara trust and aid a commendable
job in the improvement and maintenance of the property of that trust both at Jammu
and Haridwar.
Throughout his life he remained associated with RSS movement and had been their
karyavah and sanghchalak at different times. For 28 long years he single handedly with
the personal legal help of Lala Suraj Parkash advocate he fought the case of prime
property of Balmiki community upto supreme court , which is under the illegal
possession of Christian community and won the cases for that neglected community.
He was jailed during emergency because of his nationalistic and democratic
views . He had always been concerned about the upliftment of downtrodden people and
with the help and inspiration of his wife solemnized the marriages of many orphan and
handicapped girls.
After the partition of the country, the Pak army in the garb of invaders , invaded a
large part of our state resulting into capturing the areas of Mirpur and Kotli besides other
areas by them . They also succeeded in occupying Rajouri for some time. At Rajouri
many people killed themselves by performing “ Hara Kiri” . The refugees from these
areas who could survive during that carnage reached Jammu for refuge in very bad
condition both physically and financially . Mr, Motial offered all of them his house and
households for shelter by shifting his own family to some other place . later most of his
ancestral property at Rajouri he donated for the benefit of civil society and social
organization.
He was highly esteemed and respected personality of the state who believed in doing
his duty towards the organization he belonged to in particulars and society in general
without caring for the reward or position as it is evident that Bakshi Gulam Mohd, then
prime Minister of J&K offered him reward in shape of two big plots at Gandhi Nagar and
permit for two heavy vehicles which was considered to be a big favour at that time for
his social contributions , but Mr. Motial politely refused his this gesture saying that “
What ever he does that is his duty towards humanity and nation which does not deserve
any remuneration or reward”
He always believed that service to humanity is service to god .This the basic resons that
the poor masses remember him as their god father and his name is being taken with
great love , respect and honour. During his life time he was counted amongst great
personalities of jammu.He would always prefer Gandhi cap and Khaddar Pajama kurta
throughout his life and was a sewak of Mahtma Gandhi.He was like a saint and had
settled at purani mandi jammu.Every one who approached him was always ready to
help even during the night time. Every earning from the sources was denoted for the
cause of the poor.He was called “Mashiah” for poor persons and helped maximum for
poor person who came as refugee from Pakistan during 1947.He would approach door
to door of jammu people for voluntary help in kind clothes, food articles, and selfless
service was welknown to all and his family members. His moral value get good
impersion and he would always ready to help everyone.He was fully known for that he
would attend to the marriage of poor daughters of the family and would help kind cash
or other articles required to solmniza marriage of the girls.
No doubt Mohan Lal Motial ji not with us but to his selfless service for mankind his name
will remain always alive in our hearts. He is still remembered among his friends and by t
those who were associated with him in his social activities for his untiring and selfless
work for the cause of people . He will always remain alive in the hearts of those
associated with social activities as their “ Guiding Star” Sh. Motial the elevated soul who
fought for the betterment of the people of J&K all along his life and proved himself a
best guide his departure from this world is great loss for the state. From the very
beginning Jammu is known as the place of the saints. Jammuities are proud that this
land has produced many freedom fighters, warriors , patriots and social activists .
Mohan Lal Motial is one of them .
Motial ji through his life fought against the evils which were prevailing in the Hindu
society and strived for the economy and social uplift for the people of the state he was
far ahead of his time. He fought for social justice He fought against the dowry system ,
untouchabilty and child marriage . He favoured widow marriage he fought his whole life
against the evils which were prevailing in the Hindu Society like dowry system ,
untouchabilty , child marriage and social uplift of the people of the state. He would be
remembered for all the times to come . the author recollected some remeberances of
Ch. Mohan Lal Motial on the occasion of his 19 th Death Anniversary.
It was the fatefull day of 24 th July 1994 that he breathed his last at the age of 97 years.
Chaman mein gul khiltai nahi sabi ke liye
Jahan bhar atti hai kesi-kesi ke liye
App ke jane ke badh andhera rahega mehfil mein
Hazaro chirag jlane padege roshni ke liye
