Bhai Parmanand was a close associate of Lala Hardayal and assisted him in organising the activities of the Ghadr Party in the US. He returned to India in 1913 and was arrested in the Lahore Conspiracy case. His death sentence was commut­ed to life-imprisonment by Lord Hardinge. After his release in 1920, he became the Chancellor of National College, Lahore. A staunch Arya Samajist, Bhai Parmanand resented certain policies of the Congress which he felt were pro-Muslim. He joined the Hindu Mahasabha and in 1933 was elected as its President.