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Gadar–An Attempt to Free India from British Slavery
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By Inder Singh
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REMEMBERING GADAR
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The Gadar Movement was the saga of incredible courage, valor and determination of overseas Indians to free India from the shackles of British slavery. Indians had come to Canada and the United States for economic opportunities or for higher education. Instead, they imbibed the fire and zeal of revolutionaries and became the trail blazers of freedom struggle for India. They may have lived ordinary lives but they left an extra-ordinary legacy.
At the dawn of the twentieth century, Indians started coming to Canada and the United States for economic opportunities. As the number of immigrants increased in Canada, the locals felt threatened by labor competition from the hardy and willing Indian workers. Fear of labor competition led to racial antagonism and demands for exclusionary laws against cheap foreign “Asian workers”. In 1908, the Canadian government imposed restrictions on new immigrants, which virtually ended immigration of Indians to Canada.
In the US too, they started facing widespread hostility. The pent-up frustrations of the white workers manifested in violence against Indian workers, vandalism of their belongings and hatred of their religion, lifestyle and living. Like Canada, the United States enacted Asian exclusionary laws in 1917 to bar Asians emigrating to the United States.
Many students from India had come for higher education. But, upon graduation, most of them were not able to get jobs commensurate with their qualifications. The Indian students attributed discriminatory hiring practices to their being nationals of a subjugated country. Har Dyal who had been a faculty member at Stanford University for some time, was identified with nationalist activities in the United States. He inspired many students studying at the University of California, Berkeley and channelized their pro-Indian and anti-British sentiment for independence of India. Two of his many student followers, Katar Singh Sarabha and Vishnu Ganesh Pingle later on played very prominent roles in the Gadar movement. Dyal’s fervor for India’s freedom spread beyond the university campuses to Punjabi farmers and laborers who had already been victim of racial attacks, discrimination and repression from the host community.
On April 23, 1913 (End of May, per Prof Harish Puri in Ghadar Movement; June 2, per Jagjit Singh in Gadar Party Lehar), at a meeting in Astoria, Oregon, Har Dyal and others passionately spoke for throwing the British out of India. It was at this meeting that Hindustan Association of the Pacific Coast was formed with a major objective to liberate India from British colonialism with the force of arms and help establish a free and independent India with equal rights for all. Sohan Singh Bhakna was elected President, Har Dayal, as General Secretary and Kanshi Ram as treasurer. Har Dayal provided leadership for the newly formed association and was the central figure and the force behind the new organization. The headquarters of Hindustan Association was established in San Francisco from where a magazine appropriately titled Gadar was launched for free distribution to promote the aims, objectives and activities of the organization. Gadar was sent to Indian revolutionaries in India, Europe, Canada, The Philippines, Hong Kong, China, Malysia, Singapore, Burma, Egypt, Turkey, and Afghanistan. The visible effects of the Gadar publications started to manifest in India and abroad. Many committed volunteers opened branches of the Gadar party in other countries. The Gadar magazine became very popular among Indians and over a period of time, the Hindustan Association of the Pacific Coast itself became known as the Gadar Party.
The British government used every means to stop the circulation of Gadar and other such publications, particularly in India. They hired agents to penetrate the Gadar party and watch their activities. Under pressure from the British Indian Government, Har Dyal was arrested by the U.S. Government, but later released on bail on March 24, 1914. Har Dyal jumped the bail and left for Switzerland and from there, he went to Germany.
Indians in Canada were very unhappy with the new laws which effectively prevented Indian immigration from India. An enterprising Indian in Singapore, Gurdit Singh, chartered a Japanese vessel Komagata Maru and brought 376 passengers in May 1914, after complying with the Canadian exclusion laws. The Canadian government refused disembarking of the ship at Vancouver. After a two-month legal wrangling, only 24 passengers were allowed to immigrate and the ship was forced to return to India on July 7. The action of the Canadian government created bitterness, frustration and vengefulness not only among the passengers but also among the Indian people in Canada and the US. On reaching Calcutta on September 29, 1914, the British Indian police opened fire on them when they refused to go to Punjab, resulting in several fatalities. The police also arrested over two hundred passengers and put them in Jail. The brutal treatment of the returning passengers generated a wave of resentment against the British government and encouraged more Indians in North America to join the Gadar party.
In August, 1914, World War I broke out. Germany offered the Indian Nationalists (Gadarites) financial aid to buy arms and ammunitions to expel the British from India while the British Indian troops would be busy fighting war at the front. The Gadarites drew plans to infiltrate the Indian army and excite the soldiers to fight—not for the British but against the British Empire—and free India from the shackles of British imperialism. The Gadarites inspired an estimated 8000 thousands overseas Indians to go to India to launch a revolution.
Before leaving for India, the Gadarites had hoped that Indians were ready for a revolution. They however found that the Indian political leadership openly and willingly co-operated with the British. Many Gadarites including Sohan Singh Bhakna, president, and Kesar Singh and Jawala Singh, vice presidents were taken captives on reaching India while Kartar Singh Sarabha, V.G. Pingle and several others were able to evade arrest. An estimated 3000 overseas Indians were intercepted; more than 300 were put in jails while many more were restricted to their villages.
Kartar Singh Sarabha and other Gadarite leaders worked with all those forces that were working to liberate India. They made alliance with well-known revolutionaries in India such as Ras Behari Bose. They organized meetings to plan for the revolution, procure arms and arrange funds to carry out propaganda and other activities. Since many Gadarites were retired military soldiers, they tried to infiltrate into various units of the armed forces. But, most of the plans of the Gadarites either failed or were foiled by the British agents and by the end of February 1915, most of the Gadar activists were taken captives.
The Gadarites were prosecuted by the Special Tribunal. As many as 46 including Kartar Singh Sarabha and Vishnu Ganesh Pingle were given death sentences, 69 were imprisoned for life and 125 were given varying terms of imprisonment. In the San Francisco Hindu German Conspiracy Trial (1917-18), twenty-nine “Hindus” and Germans were convicted for varying terms of imprisonment for violating the American Neutrality Laws.
The Gadarites did not hesitate to make any sacrifice for the cause of freedom, dignity and prosperity of their motherland. They fought valiantly for their cause and left a major impact on India’s struggle for freedom. The heroism, courage and sacrifices of the Gadarites inspired many freedom fighters to continue their mission.
Former President K.R. Narayanan, in his speech for the 90th anniversary celebration event in Fremont, California, wrote, “In the evolution of India’s struggle for independence, the Gadar Movement constitutes an important landmark. Countless daring and intrepid people participated in that movement, set the goal of liberating our country through armed struggle, faced untold misery and hardships in pursuit of their objective and even made the supreme sacrifice of laying down their lives.”
The 100th anniversary of Gadar Movement falls in 2013. India and overseas Indians should pay fitting and well deserved tribute to Gadarites and Gadar martyrs.
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Inder Singh is Chairman of GOPIO, Global Organization of People of Indian Origin. He was GOPIO President from 2004-09. He is chairman of Indian American Heritage Foundation. He was NFIA president from 1988-92 and chairman from 1992-96. He was founding president of FIA, Southern California. Inder Singh can be contacted by telephone at 818-708-3885 or by email at indersingh-usa@hotmail.com.
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July 2012
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