Social media is a place where people put out anything claiming it to be true, and others tend to believe it without looking for any substantial basis to it. In the same way, a twitter user by the name of Evil Aryan tweeted, "I am not afraid of seven crores of Muslims in India but I think, the seven crores in India, plus the armed hordes of Afghanistan, Central Asia, Arabia, Mesopotamia, and Turkey will be irresistible. Are we then doomed?" - Lala Lajpat Rai Woke leader of that era. Tributes." The post claims that one of the most prominent freedom fighters, Lala Lajpat Rai considered Muslims as a threat. 

At the time of writing this article, the tweet has been reshared more than 100 times. One of our readers requested us to verify it.

The truth behind this claim

In the comments section, the source of this quote was given by the user, which is 'Lala Lajpat Rai's letter to C R Das'. After a keyword search on google, we found an article published on Blogspot in 2005. 

The article quotes a letter written by Lala Lajpat Rai to C R Das. In the third and fourth paragraphs, we can see what has been quoted in the tweet. 

Evidently, some sentences have been cleverly eliminated to manipulate the complete meaning.

To further understand the authenticity and context of the letter, we checked the source of the letter, which is Dr. B. R. Ambedkar's book 'Pakistan or Partition of India'.

Under Part V, Chapter XII 'National Frustration', we found the Lajpat Rai's letter to C R Das. The chapter talks about the turmoil that the nation was going through in the 1920s due to the state of Hindu-Muslim Unity as it was crucial in order to stand against the British Rule. In this chapter, Dr. Ambedkar shows different viewpoints and approaches of leaders of that time. Following which, he quotes one of the Muslim leader, Dr. Saifuddin Kitchlew, an Indian freedom fighter, barrister, politician and a critic of Pakistan Movement.  

Another Muslim leader, Maulana Azad Shobhani, was also quoted talking about the enmity and war, between Hindu and Muslim. 

Annie Beasant was one of those leaders who expressed their apprehension towards such communal propositions and was quoted in the book under the same chapter. Similarly, Lala Lajpat Rai's letter to C R Das was in the context of concern over these sabotaging mindsets and beliefs, which were propagated by such Muslim leaders.

He wrote in his letter, "There is one point more which has been troubling me very much of late and one which I want you to think carefully and that is the question of Hindu-Mohamedan unity. I have devoted most of my time during the last six months to the study of Muslim history and Muslim Law and I am inclined to think, it is neither possible nor practicable. Assuming and admitting the sincerity of the Mohamedan leaders in the Non-co-operation movement, I think their religion provides an effective bar to anything of the kind. You remember the conversation, I reported to you in Calcutta, which I had with Hakim Ajmalkhan and Dr- Kitchlew. There is no finer Mohamedan in Hindustan than Hakimsaheb but can any other Muslim leader override the Quran? I can only hope that my reading of Islamic Law is incorrect, and nothing would relieve me more than to be convinced that it is so. But if it is right then it comes to this that although we can unite against the British we cannot do so to rule Hindustan on British lines, we cannot do so to rule Hindustan on democratic lines. What is then the remedy? I am not afraid of seven crores in Hindustan but I think the seven crores of Hindustan plus the armed hosts of Afghanistan, Central Asia, Arabia, Mesopotamia and Turkey will be irresistible. I do honestly and sincerely believe in the necessity or desirability of Hindu-Muslim unity. I am also fully prepared to trust the Muslim leaders, but what about the injunctions of the Quran and Hadis? The leaders cannot override them. Are we then doomed? I hope not. I hope your learned mind and wise head will find some way out of this difficulty."

The statements "I am not afraid of seven crores in Hindustan but I think the seven crores of Hindustan plus the armed hosts of Afghanistan, Central Asia, Arabia, Mesopotamia and Turkey will be irresistible." was in response to Dr. Kitchlew's. The ending statements clearly describe that Lala Lajpat Rai's stand, which is, he was optimistic that in the near future,  Hindu-Muslim unity would emerge stronger.

Thus we can conclude that whatever the tweet quotes were actually written by Lala Lajpat Rai in a letter to C R Das, but has been misrepresented as some of the sentences are eliminated and presented in way to give a different, rather misleading context and meaning of the statements, that were said by Lala Lajpat Rai.