Review: The Ghadar Movement by Rana Preet Gill
The Ghadar Movement by Rana Preet Gill examines how racism under colonial rule and xenophobia in Canada led to this lesser-known struggle that saw people in India work with the diasporain an effort to overthrow British rule
Almost everyone has an opinion about the past but it is uncommon for a veterinary officer, inspired by a chance visit to the Andamans’ Cellular Jail (now a memorial and museum), to write a book on the Ghadar Movement. In doing so, author Rana Preet Gill has breached the boundary of pedantic historical writing and presented the spirit and struggle of Ghadarites in a more comprehensible way.
The Ghadar Movement; A Forgotten Struggle, comprising 38 short chapters, brings out both the national and international influences that shaped the movement, and the interconnection of people from Bombay, Bengal and Punjab to the widespread network of emigrants in Canada (a dominion of the British Empire) and the United States, who consolidated the movement. Among the various causes of emigration at that time was the colonial state’s harsh tax regime that pushed the peasantry into a cycle of impoverishment. Many men from Punjab initially moved to the South Pacific Coast Islands as watchmen and guards and later to Canada and USA seeking better wages, if not greater work opportunities. In the 1900s, early settlers from different districts of Punjab landed on the West Coast of the US where the work was less mechanized and required intensive physical labour. Apart from peasants, there were student drop outs and those who had served in the British police and army but were dissatisfied with their rank and emoluments. The intent to relocate overseas came from the need to earn money and send it back to families to facilitate their escape from poverty.
By 1908 there were more than 3000 Indians in Canada. None of them planned to get involved in any activity that could jeopardise their future. Yet, the experience of racism faced in India and the continuation of prejudice and xenophobia outside made it difficult for them to survive with dignity. They decided to unite and fight for their rights in foreign lands as well as organise themselves to spread awareness about exploitative conditions under British rule that necessitated India’s political freedom. At this point, although the Ghadar movement had not yet taken formal shape, the seeds of a political consciousness were being sown. The Khalsa Diwan Society was formed to represent the rights of Punjabi expatriates in 1906. The social and religious needs of the community were provided for by building a gurdwara in Vancouver in 1908. The gurudwara was open to people from all religions and cultures and served as a meeting point where peasants, students and radicals could exchange ideas and discuss the future course of action.
Around the same time, expatriates like Shyamji Krishna Verma, who founded the Indian Home Rule Society in 1905 and India House in London, was vociferous against colonial rule and was publishing extensively in the Indian Sociologist. Many, including VD Savarkar and Lala Har Dayal, were influenced by the political views exchanged at India House.
Across the Atlantic, in 1912, Punjabi peasants, revolutionaries in exile, and students joined hands to form the Hindi Association of the Pacific Coast in Portland. Sohan Singh Bakhna was chosen as the President, Pandit Kanshi Ram became treasurer, and GD Kumar was the Secretary. Apart from Sikhs and Punjabis like Kartar Singh Sarabha, Ram Rakha Bali, Harnam Singh Sahri and H Singh Tundilat, there were many others who had migrated from different parts of India like Taraknath Das (from Calcutta to Vancouver), Ramnath Puri (clerk from Lahore who was a political exile in America), Udham Singh Kasel, Padurang Khankhoje, VG Pingle and Darishi Chenchiah, among others. A monthly newspaper, Swadesh Sewak, published in Punjabi and English from the Swadesh Sewak Home in Vancouver in 1910 was circulated in Canada, America and also among the Sikh regiments of the British army.
The imposition of restrictions on immigration by the government of Canada added fuel to the fire and also led to a spillover of Indian migrants to the US. The time was ripe for something more audacious. In May 1913, Lala Har Dayal formally joined the association as its secretary and set up the party office in San Francisco. Their ideology, which was to cause a ghadar (mutiny, uprising) against the oppression and tyranny of British rule, was propagated through the newspaper which was circulated in Egypt, South Africa, Fiji, Philippines, Hong Kong, Thailand, Burma, Mexico, Panama, Brazil, Australia, Japan and Singapore. The use of Urdu and Gurmukhi made it popular among the masses. The paper shared information about colonial exploitation, raised awareness about international revolutions, and, through passionate poems, incited readers to fight for freedom. The British government saw this as sedition and from 1914 onwards arrested many members associated with the movement, tried them in courts, and eventually executed them or imposed life imprisonment.
Rana Preet Gill highlights the important incidents and the background and contribution of those associated with the movement. While her writing is evocative and her mention of the role of women can open up new areas of social inquiry, she has relied on select secondary publications for her research and left out some other well-researched works of historical scholarship that could have enriched this volume.
Still, Gill’s book is a reminder that the Ghadar movement was an important transnational anti-colonial uprising whose significance should be recalled as an important part of the freedom struggle. It is noteworthy that the centenary celebration of the Ghadar movement in 2013 was commemorated not only in India but also by the Punjabi diaspora. In 2016, the Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau apologised on behalf of the government of Canada for the 1914 Komagata Maru incident, which denied entry to a ship carrying Sikh immigrants into Vancouver. The ship was forced to return to Calcutta where a tragic confrontation with British authorities led to many casualties among the migrants. This infamous incident has become ingrained in public memory. Just as Gill has tried to write the story of Ghadar through her own sensibilities, the reader is bound to reflect on the political implications of migration and the contribution of the diaspora from the colonial period to the present. Rana Preet Gill writes this book at a time when history is about selective erasure. The Ghadar Movement: A Forgotten Struggle is successful in its endeavour to invite readers to, instead, remember our glorious past and its heroes.
Rachna Mehra is a historian with School of Global Affairs, Dr BR Ambedkar University, Delhi.
