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Fanning the fires of
freedom abroad
By Kulwant Singh - The Tribune, Aug
16 1998
THE story of the Indian struggle for
Independence will be incomplete without
recollecting the contribution of the
Indians settled abroad, and their publications
which helped to fan the fire for Independence.
The agitation against the British in
foreign countries took a concrete shape
towards the beginning of the 19th century,
just prior to the World War I. It was
supported by the Germans and the Japanese,
both enemies of the British.
With the abolition of slavery by the
British Parliament, early in the 19th
century, and the refusal of the African
slaves to work as free labour, indentured
labour from India was sent to British
colonies all over the world. The great
Indian labour migration started in 1837,
and by about 1915, their number had
swelled to 3.5 million. A majority of
the Punjabi immigrants, largely Sikh
farm-hands, started settling down on
the Pacific Coast of America and Canada,
around California and Vancouver. Artisans
preferred the Far East, China, Japan,
Hong Kong, Malaysia and Thailand. These
areas, particularly California, became
the hot bed for spreading sedition against
the British Raj.
The first publication on foreign land
to advocate violence, as a means of
achieving India’s Indepen-dence,
was a monthly magazine — Free Hindustan,
edited by Tarak Nath Dass, a young handsome
Bengali student who devoted his life
for India’s struggle for freedom.
He was assisted by a patriot exiled
from Bengal, Surinder Mohan Bose, who
later founded the famous East India
Association, a body of intellectuals
committed to self rule by the Indians.
The first edition of Free Hindustan
was published in 1909; it focused on
the promotion of disaffection amongst
the Sikh migrants, most of them had
served as sepoys in the British Army.
On their return to India, they were
likely to influence the very classes
from which the Sikh regiments were recruited.
Therefore, this section of migrants
was rightly chosen by Tarak Nath Dass.
He was later deported from Canada for
his "objectionable" activities
and was imprisoned in San Francisco.
The popularity of Free Hindustan was
followed by two more publications —
Aryan and Swadesh Sewak. Equally revolutionary,
they generally followed the theme of
Free Hindustan. The men associated with
these papers were committed in as much
as they took courses in military training,
evidently in contemplation of an armed
revolution in India. The most important
and well known amongst them was Lala
Hardyal, who had a brilliant academic
career, a student of Gurukul Kangri
and was considered to be a mathematical
wizard. He came to Oxford with a scholarship
by the Indian government. He declined
that as he felt he should not accept
money from the British Government which
was committing atrocities on Indians.
Hardyal also edited Bande Mataram,
the most violent paper of all, financed
by the famous Madam Cama — a British
hater and a sympathiser of India’s
cause. At that time (1909-1910) there
were 5000 Indian settlers on the Pacific
Coast, who were targeted by Hardyal
to preach his doctrine — that young
Indians should leave their homes in
India and visit foreign countries so
that the social sense may be quickened
and intense indignation against injustice
be aroused against the British occupation
of India. He openly advocated murder,
the use of bombs and dynamite. For four
years, from 1909-1912, Bande Mataram
remained his launch pad for propaganda
until after the formation of the Ghadar
Party which gave further impetus to
the movement and introduced fresh publications
with effective directions by an organised
body.
During the period when Bande Mataram
was being published, two Urdu periodicals
- The Islamic Fraternity and El - Islam
were also in circulation. These were
edited and produced by a great revolutionary
,Mohammad Maulvi ,Barkatullah, who was
a professor of Urdu at the Tokyo University.
He was assisted by the Japanese in his
efforts against the British. Barkatullah
played an important role of being a
connecting link between three different
movements: Pan Islamic, Asia for Asiatic,
and the Indian sedition. The common
aim of all these movements and Barkatullah’s
writing was to free Asia, including
Turkey from the British domination.
All his pamphlets were Islamic, funded
by the Sultan of Turkey and Amir of
Afghanistan. Barkatullah’s papers
were smuggled into India in large numbers
from Yokohama to Bombay and Calcutta
and later to all cities with a sizeable
Muslim population. Barkatullah was assisted
in his efforts by a Granthi at Penang,
Bhai Bhagwan Singh. The latter was the
most wanted rebel by the British Government.
He was hunted all over the world; more
on him later.
The Ghadar Party, originally known
as the Hindu Association of the Pacific
Coast was formed in April 1912 at Astoria
(Oregan) with the efforts of Hardyal,
Barkatullah and Jatinder Nath, all known
revolutionaries. It had seven founder
members. Prominent among them were Rattan
Singh, Kartar Singh Sarabha, Jawala
Singh, Santokh Singh and Jagat Ram.
The mouthpiece of this party, a weekly
paper Ghadar was launched on November
1, 1913. It was published quite openly
at the Yugantar Ashram, 436 Hill Street,
San Francisco. It was initially published
in Urdu and Gurmukhi. More languages
were added later.
Two dedicated revolutionaries, Nahar
Singh and Munsha Singh, both on the
hit list of the British, were trusted
with the task of producing the paper.
A quotation from the very first number
sufficiently indicates its character:
"Today, there begins in foreign
lands, but in our own country’s
tongue, a war against the English Raj....What
is our name? Mutiny (Ghadar means mutiny).
What is our work? Mutiny. Where will
the mutiny break out? In India.....The
time will soon come when rifles and
blood will take the place of pen and
ink.....Brave men and worthy sons of
India, be ready with bullets and shots.
Soon the fate of tyrants will be decided
on the battlefield, and days of happiness
and glory will dawn for India."
The paper preached to end the British
rule in India through an armed revolution,
and to set up a Republic Government
based on liberty and equality; it was
an effective cutting edge for spreading
the "Ghadar Party’s philosophy
and revolution. The paper was critical
of nationalist leaders, who were soft
towards the British, and did not support
the radical methodology. Criminal intelligence
report of the British Government of
June 8, 1915, commenting on the contents
of Ghadar issue of April 14, 1915, states
"The leading article of this issue
abuses Indian politicians, in particular
Lala Lajpat Rai for subservience to
the British rules. Even after his deportation,
it is said, Lajpat Rai demeaned himself
by practising in British courts and
addressing the presiding officer as
"your lordship". He even brought
an action against a Calcutta newspaper
for calling him a
rebel. They have nothing to do with
political organisation in India, the
members of which think they will get
Independence by asking for it".
Every effort was made to secure a wide
distribution for Ghadar, both in India
and abroad. Large quantities of paper
were sent to countries where Indian
immigrants were settled. Hundreds of
copies reached India every week from
many places on the Pacific via Shanghai,
Hong Kong and finally to Bombay. Some
were sent to Sikhs in the Army, accompanied
by private letters implying that every
Indian on the Pacific Coast was prepared
to join in the armed revolt against
the British Government. A large portion
of Indian settlers in the western states,
even at the date, did look upon armed
rebellion in India as both desirable
and practicable, as a result of effective
propaganda.
The postal censorship introduced during
the war, revealed that Ghadar and other
publications were dispatched by the
postal authorities in the USA to practically
every country where Indians were present.
As consignments in bulk were liable
to interception, the papers were being
sent to individual addressees in envelopes
or wrappers. The list of addresses was
supplied by local contacts to the postal
department; a well organised system
was at work. A large number of army
personnel were getting the publications
even after the censorship; the supply
to Army units continued clandestinely.
By the summer of 1914, there was a
marked increase in the demand for Ghadar.
To cover the wider number of readers,
the publication started in more regional
languages, to include Punjabi, Gujarati,
Pushtu and Gurkhali. A small number
of Indian settlers at places like Trinidad,
Sudan, Eden, Madagascar, Morocco, Manila,
Jawa and Fiji started to ask for copies
of Ghadar which clearly established
its appeal and popularity. The most
popular were the poems written by Granthi
Bhagwan Singh which were translated
from Punjabi to other languages and
inflamed passions as nothing else could
do. His writings were rapacious. It
will be worth quoting one of his poems
entitled Kill or Die written in Punjabi;
when translated in English it reads
—
"Let us kill the whites; kill
the wicked and tyrannous Europeans.
Do not leave any trace of them. Extirpate
the whole nation. Set fire to all churches.
Kill European men and women. Show no
mercy, whatever. Flay them alive so
that they remember for ages. Fill the
rivers with their dead bodies. We will
even go to England shouting kill, kill,
kill".
About Bhagwan Singh, the British War
Office wrote: "With Barkatulla
was associated, at a later date, Bhagwan
Singh, a dangerous ruffian whose seditious
activities had secured his dismissal
from the post of granthi (priest) to
the Sikh temple at Penang and Hong Kong,
and who was subsequently deported from
Canada (August 1913) for entering the
country under a misrepresentation".
Bhagwan Singh was also associated with
the Ghadar movement; he had provided
270 pistols to Baba Gurdit Singh while
Kamagata Maru was passing through Yokohama.
Soon after the war the visible affects
of propaganda, by the publications,
started to show results: Thirtythree
serious crimes and several hundred other
transgressions, including murders and
raids by well organised radicals, were
traced by the British Government to
the Ghadar incitement on foreign lands.
The assassination of Mr Hopkinson, a
Canadian officer, may be added to the
list. He had been tracing the organisations,
responsible for promoting these publications,
and thus was disliked by the ‘rebels’.
He was born in India (English father,
Indian mother), and could speak Indian
languages fluently. He had established
a ring of informers who used to report
to him about the activities of the Sikh
community. He was known for taking bribes
for petty favours. He played an active
part in refusing admission of Sikhs
who arrived at Wancoure in the Kamagata
Maru. The flash point, leading to his
murder was the false evidence which
he was to give to save one of his stooges
who had murdered two Sikhs in cold blood.
Mewa Singh Lopoke, a devout Sikh and
known revolutionary, shot Hopkinson
on October 21, 1914, in the premises
of the court, before he could give fabricated
evidence. After killing Hopkinson, Mewa
Singh surrendered to the police. Later,
in his defence he stated "If the
police and administration join together
in perpetrating justice, somebody must
rise against it. I have risen, I have
taken courage to give a knock to this
wall of injustice, you may hang me.
What more can you do?"
Mewa Singh was hanged on January 11,
1915; His day of martyrdom is celebrated
by Sikhs all over Canada to this day.
This sensational murder brought in open
the vulnerability of the British or
whites who were not safe even in their
own homeland. It also conveyed that
sedition was not confined to the Indian
subcontinent alone. Instead, it was
a worldwide agitation.
During the same period, the visible
affects of publications started to manifest
in India. A comprehensive scheme was
unearthed for provoking a mutiny amongst
Indian troops. Seditious pamphlets published
abroad, including large number of Bande
Mataram and Ghadar, were being circulated
amongst soldiers. Ten bombs were recovered
from a cavalry regiment located at Meerut;
plans of starting a revolt by massacre
of European was timely foiled. All units
located in the North Indian cantonments
were searched to locate volatile literature,
which was found aplenty. At least four
mutinies in the Army were instigated
by the publications. These were: Punjab
Regiment’s revolt in Jhansi, mutiny
by the Sikh Squadron of the Central
India Horse (4 Sikh Sepoys were hanged
and 108 were sentenced to Kalapani),
Madras artillery mutiny, and mutiny
in 3/12 Punjab Regiment. A large number
of publications were found during the
searches carried out after the arrest
of Shaheed Bhagat Singh from the premises
of members of the revolutionary organisations
all over India.
The success of Ghadar can be assessed
by quoting from the political summary
of September, 1914, originating from
the office of Security of States U.K.:
It reads: "We know that there is
active sedition propaganda in full swing
openly preaching rebellion in America.
This has spread through Japan to Hong
Kong and Singapore, and has manifested
itself in India. They preach mutiny
openly and unashamedly. We have heard
of manifestations of this movement from
several centres in the Far East, and
its existence is absolutely certain.
It is in touch in Europe with seditionist
centres at Paris and Zurich."
It will be in fitness to talk about
Kirti: An Indian publication, parallel
of Ghadar, first published in Amritsar
in 1926, and later at Meerut. Kirti
preached the philosophy of Kirti Leher,
a well-organised and co-ordinated movement,
ultra revolutionary, pro-Communist and
seditionist, advocating violence and
eulogising the activities of revolutionary
heroes, many hanged. Members of the
Kirti Leher group had made ‘contacts’
with serving Sikh soldiers at Meerut
cantonment, with the object of spreading
disloyalty in the Indian Army as one
of the main points in their many sided
programmes. These ‘contacts’
were persuaded to visit the Kirti office,
where they were systematically lectured
by Harminder Singh Sodhi, a former editor
of Ghadar who had secretly returned
to India after completing a full course
of training in Moscow. He was deputed
to take over charge of Meerut office
by the Kirti Control Board, and subsequently
to become Editor-in-Chief.
Copies of Kirti were given to the soldiers
to be smuggled into regimental lines
and barracks; the ‘contacts’
were instructed to form their own "cells"
in the Army. Large scale desertions
from a Sikh unit followed by serious
cases of mutinous behaviour by Sikhs
proceeding on active service abroad
took place as a result of Kirti preachings.
Rattan Singh and Santokh Singh, founder-members
of Ghadar Party coordinated activities
of Kirti Leher in India and Ghadar Party
abroad, both organisations with identical
ideologies and ultimate aims.
India’s struggle for Independence
was given a global character by dedicated
men. The literature they produced had
a lasting impact on Indians abroad as
well as at home. The long-term contribution
of publications cannot be quantified
by a few incidents quoted; the psyche
of Indian youth was oriented towards
seeking self rule by radical methods,
irrespective of personal loss. Many
young men who were hanged and transported
were keen readers of these fiery publications.
While we celebrate the 50th year of
Independence, we salute the brave and
bold men who contributed to India’s
Independence by their pen.
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