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Many Sikhs and Hindu Punjabis
who tasted freeddom outside colonial
India in USA started Ghadr movement
to free India from British rule in early
1900's. These Sikhs and Punjabi Hindus
were sent to Canada which was under
British rule for labour work. They crossed
the border over to USA and settled in
Western Coast of USA in cities like
Portland, San Francisco, San Jose and
Los Angeles. These Punjabis created
Gurdwaras and established societies.
They were subject to draconian laws
like "not allowed to marry to american
woman" by many of these states
at that time. The word Ghadr can be
commonly translated as mutiny, was the
name given to the newspaper edited and
published for the Hindustani Association
of the Pacific Coast which was founded
at Portland, United States of America,
in 1912. The movement this Association
gave rise to for revolutionary activities
in India also came to be known by the
designation of Ghadr.
It is said that by 1908 about 5000
Indians had entered Canada. 99% of which
were Punjabis and 90% Sikhs. Many Indians
were also sudying at various universities
all over USA. Americans and few Indians
established Indo-American National Association.
Many students from prominent universities
like Berkeley University, Stanford and
Harvard joined this association. Lala
Hardayal of Stanford University, Sant
Teja Singh of Harvard University, and
Bhai Parmanand decided to get more students
belonging to the poor families for Higher
education in the USA and Canada.
Indians who went to the United States
and Canada came from rural farming middle
class and labour, a large number of
among them being ex-servicemen. In the
beginning, the Indians went to San Francisco
and Stockton in California, Portland
and St. John in Oregon and Washington
states and to Vancouver and and Victoria
in British Columbia n Canada. Such persons
as Amar Singh and Gopal Singh who had
gone to America in 1905, and Tarak Nath
Das and Ram Nath Puri who followed them,
starting preaching against the British
rule in India. They also started a paper
called Azadi ka circular in Urdu. This
paper was distributed among the armed
forces in India to rouse them against
the British. Result was that Canadian
government which was under British rule
started harassing them. White labour
was encouraged to harass foreign labour,
while Chinese and Japanese government
protested against these atrocities against
their nationals, Indian goverment did
nothing. The Canadian government further
tightened the entry of Indians into
Canada. It passed a legislation that
newcomers would not be permitted to
land on the Canadian soil "unless
they came from the country of their
birth or citizenship by a continuous
journey, and on through tickets purchased
before leaving the country of their
birth or citizenship. They were also
required to possess $200 against the
previously fixed sum of $25.
In order to fight the unjust immigration
laws, the Indians (mostly Sikhs) organized
Khalsa Diwan Society in Vancouver in
1907 with branches in Victoria, Abbotsford,
New Westminster, Fraser Hill, Duncan
Coombs and Ocean falls. The Sikhs built
a Gurdwara at Vancouver which was inaugrated
in January 1908. In 1909 only 6 Indians
were allowed to visit Canada. Same year
Indian immigrants organized Hindustan
Association under the presidentship
of Bhai Bhag Singh Bhikkivind. Its objectives
were to establish Indian rule in India,
provision of safeguards from loot by
foreigners, etc. The association started
two newspapers, Pardesi Khalsa in Punjabi
and Svedesh Sevak in Urdu. These activities
awakened the Indian immigrants. Persons
like Baba Sohan Singh Bhakna, Harnam
Singh Tundilat, Udham Singh Kasel, Rakha
Ram, Ishar Singh Marhana and others
would collect on sundays and other holidays
and ponder over the problems. St John
and Seattle become center of their activities.
In 1912, at Portland Hindustani Association
of Pacific coast was formed with Baba
Sohan Singh Bhakna as its president
and GD kumar as the general secretary,
later Mr Kumar fell ill and his place
was taken by Lala Hardyal. Aim of the
party was explained as "Today,
there begins in foreign lands.. a war
agaist British raj.. What is your name?
Ghadr. What is your work? Ghadr. Where
will Ghadr break out? in India. The
time will soon come when rifles and
blood will take the place of pen and
ink." In simple words, their aim
was to get rid of the British raj in
India through an armed rebellion.
The first issue of the Ghadr, in Urdu,
came out in November 1913 and that in
Punjabi a weeks later. The paper was
distributed to politico- Indian centres
in United States, Canada, Phillipines,
Fiji, Sumatra, Japan, Shanghai,Hong
Kong, Hankow, Java, Singapore, Malaya
Siam, Burma, India and East Afria .
Occasionally Ghadr published the following
advertisement:
Wanted: Enthusiastic and heroic soldiers
for
organizing Ghadr in Hindustan:
Renumeration: Death
Reward : Martyrdom
Pension : Freedom
Field of work : Hindustan.
The Ghadr party president often visited
the Indian groups to exhort them to
join freedom movement. Lala Hardyal
general secretary was arrested on the
pretext of a speech delievered by him
three years earlier. Baba Sohna Singh
now became the general secretary, Bhai
Santokh Singh became President, editing
of paper was taken over by Bhai Harnam
singh of Kotla Naudh singh. The party's
plan was to invade Kashmir from China,
then go for the Punjab followed by other
provinces. The members started getting
training in the use of weapons and making
of bombs; several got training in flying
aircraft also. One of them, Harnam singh,
had his hand blown off while in process
of bomb making, and he was thence onwrds
known as Tundilat, the armless knight.
The party carried out considerable
propaganda in Japan where Maulawi Barkat
Ullah was professor in Tokyo University.
His prescence attracted many muslims
to Ghadr Party. The Kamagatu Maru incident
added fuel to fire. The first world
war broke out in July 1914. On 5 August,
leading memers of Ghadr party declared
war on the British and decided to take
advantage of the involvement of British
in the war. The Ghadr party declared
war on the British and decided to come
to India to carry out armed revolution
against the British.
Baba Sohan Singh Bhakna and his companions
left for India on 22 August 1914, the
first ship with 26 Indians left Vancouver;
on 29 August, another ship with 60-70
Indians left San Francisco for India.
According to government records, 2312
Indian Ghadr men had entered India between
13 October 1914 and 25 February 1915.
Their influx continued till 1916 when
their number increased to more than
8,000. But it is likely that the Ghadr
men had entered India in greater numbers
than the government knew. Government
was very active and at least 50% of
them were arrested or confined to their
villages by state governments.
The Ghadr party established a new press
and published small pamphlets such as:
Ghadr Sandesh, Ailan-i-Jang, Tilak,
Nadar Mauqa, Rikab~gan;, Canada da Duhhra,
Naujavan Utho, Sachchz Pukar, and so
on. These pamphlets were published in
Punjabi, Urdu and Hindi, and were distributed
among the public and the soldiers. The
party also produced their own flag having
red, yellow and green colours. Dr Mathura
Singh supervised factories producing
armaments.
The party members contacted students.
They contacted soldiers stationed especially
at Mian Mir (Lahore), Jalandhar, Firozpur,
Peshawar, Jehlum, Rawalpindl, Mardan,
Kohat, Bannu, Ambala, Meerut, Kanpur
and Agra cantonments. The soldiers were
generally in sympathy with the movement.
Many party workers joined the army with
a view to obtaining arms and ammunition.
Contacts were also established with
Bengal revolutionaries such as Rash
Behari Bose whose close companions were
Sachin Sanyal and Vishnu Ganesh Pingle.
Pingle acted as a link between the Ghadr
party and Bengalis.
The movement faced financial difficulties
in India. The expenses had increased
owing to opening of various branches,
travelling, purchase of arms and ammunition
and publications. Money was not easily
available as it was in foreign countries.
To overcome this difficulty, the party
had to resort to forcible acquisition
of funds by under-taking political dacoities.
All the preparations completed, the
party executive met on 12 February 1915,
and decided to start the rebellion on
21 February. Their plan was simultaneously
to attack and capture Mian Mir and Firozpur
cantonments; 128th Pioneer and 12 Cavalry
were to capture Meerut Cantonment and
then proceed to Delhi. Units in cantonments
in northern 21 India were expected to
join the rebellion.
The British Government had intelligence
men posted at railway stations in cities
and in important villages. The lambardars,
zaildars and other village functionaries
were also alerted to provide information.
The government had managed to plant
informers in the Ghadr party itself.
Before the new leadership came forward
and reorganized the movement's plans,
the British Government "knew much
more about their designs and was in
a better position to cope with them."
In spite of this, the Ghadrites in the
central Punjab murdered policemen and
informers and attempted to derail trains
and blow up bridges. Factories for preparing
bombs were established. All this made
the government feel that they were "living
over a mine full of explosives . "
When the party learnt that the information
about the D-Day had leaked, they advanced
the date of rebellion to 19 February,
but this information also reached the
police through their informer, Kirpal.
The police raided the party headquarters
at four different places in Lahore and
arrested 13 of the "most dangerous
revolutionaries." All cantonments
were alerted and the Indian troops placed
under vigilance; some were even disarmed.
Arrests of Ghadr men took place all
over the Punjab. Rash Behari Bose, with
the help of Kartar Singh Sarabha, escaped
from lahore to Varanasi: Vishnu Ganesh
Pingle was arrested at Meerut on 23
March 1915. All the leaders were put
in the lahore jail.
The government of the Punjab sought
and the Government of India passed under
the Defence of India Act wide powers
to the Punjab Government who formed
a special tribunal of three judges,
including one Indian, to try the Ghadr
men in the Central Jail, Lahore. Thus
the rebellion was smashed by the government
before it had really taken shape.
The Ghadr men were tried by the Special
Tribunal in what are known as Lahore
conspiracy cases in batches. The trial
of the first batch began on 26 April
1915. In all, 291 persons were tried
and sentenced as under: death for 42,
114 were transported for life, 93 awarded
varying terms of imprisonment, 42 were
acquitted. Confiscation of property
was ordered in the case of many. No
one appealed against the punishments.
Those who were hanged included Kartar
Singh Sarabha, Jagat Singh (Sursingh)
Vishnu Ganesh Pingle, Harnam Singh Sialkoti,
Bakshish Singh (son of Ishar Singh),
Bhai Balvant Singh (Khurdpur), Babu
Ram, Harnam Singh, Hafiz Abdulla and
Rur Singh (Sanghval).
Under the circumstances, the army units
which had promised to join the revolution
kept quiet. However, some units such
as 26 Punjabi, 7 Rajput, 12 Cavalry,
23 Cavalry, 128 Pioneers, Malaya State
Guides,23 Mountain Battery, 24Jat Artillery,
15 Cancers, 22 Mountain Battery,130
Baluch and 21 Punjabi did come out in
the open. About 700 men of 5 Light Infantry,
located in Singapore, mutineed on 15
February and took possession of the
fort. The rebellion was subdued by the
British troops; 126 men were tried by
court martial which sentenced 37 to
death, 41 to transportation for life,
and the remy ing to varying terms of
imprisonment Soldiers from other units
were punished as under:
Death Transportation
23 Cavalry
12 Cavalry
130 Baluch
128 Pioneers
1 for life
The party workers also went to Iran
and Iraq to instigate Indian troops
against the British, and to Turkey to
exhort Indian prisoners to fight for
India's freedom. In Iran, the party
was able to raise an Indian Independence
Army. The Army advanced towards Baluchistan,
and en route capttlred Kirmanshah. Then
they advanced along the coast towards
Karachl. Meanwhile, Turkey was defeated
and the British had occupied Baghdad.
The Indian Independence Army thus losing
its base was also defeated.
The Ghadr party contacted Germany,
Turkey, Afghanistan, China and other
countries, but not much help came from
any of these. Germany sympathized with
the Ghadr party and occasionally tried
to render some help in the form of weapons
and money, but these often failed to
reach the party. For instance, 5,000
revolvers on board Heny S. which sailed
from Manila were captured en route by
the British. Germany had also formed
an Oriental Bureau for translating and
disseminating inflammatory literature
to the Indian prisoners of war in Germany.
During World War I, revolutionaries
from most countries had gone to Switzerland,
which was a neutral country. The Indians
there formed Indian Revolutionary Society,
also known as Berlin-lndia Committee.
The Society had formed a provisional
government at Kabul, but had no contacts
with the Indian public. The Ghadr party
established links with the Society and
both agreed to help each other. Germany
sent financial help to the Society but,
on learning that it was being misappropriated,
discontinued it. The Society soon collapsed.
No sum ever reached the Ghadr party.
The Ghadr movement, as says O 'Dwyer,
"was by far the most serious attempt
to subvert British rule in India."
Most of the workers were illiterate—only
25 of them knew Urdu or Punjabi. Still
they organized a strong movement which
for the time being thrilled the country
and made the British panic. Although
the movement was suppressed, it provided
nucleus for the Akali movement that
followed a few years later. The Ghadr
leaders were especially prominent among
the Babar Akalis.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Copyright © Harbans Singh "The
encyclopedia of Sikhism. "
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