Introduction
By the late 19th and early 20th century, Canada and US were rapidly expanding their economies. They needed labour for their economic expansion and some of the labour was being sourced from India, particularly Punjab. At the end of the 19th century, the immigration into British Columbia in Canada and the western coast of US was barely a trickle. However, attracted by the opportunities in Canada, poor monsoons in Punjab and a better standard of living in these new lands, the Indians began trickling into these regions. Most of them were Sikhs and many of them came from families that traditionally served in the army and many were indeed ex-army personnel. pp. 43-44 [2]. By 1908, three thousand five hundred Sikhs had immigrated into British Columbia and a similar number had arrived in the western coast of the US. Many of them bought farmlands by their thrift and labour and began to prosper, often returning to India to collect even their families for emigration to Canada and US.
The influx of these cheap labourers from Punjab was greatly resented in both the US and in Canada. There were many demands to halt the immigration and they found many supporters among the white supremacists and other labourers whose wages were often driven down by these immigrants. Further, the employers used the Indians as blackleg strike breakers, which was greatly resented by the labourers.
On the other hand, the employers, despite using these cheap labourers willingly, deeply disliked and distrusted them. The Indians were often seen to be in league with the anarchists and the syndicalists, which cost them much support from the better classes of the US.
Quite apart from internal pressure, the British Indian government was also worried about the emigrants because they often brought home dangerous ideas about freedom, since they lived in much more open societies than the British Indian empire was at the time. The sentiment of the Punjabis has been well captured in the quotation, `Harassed in our own land and with no support available abroad, we aliens have no land that we can cal1 our own.’
In order to curb the influx of these Punjabis, the Canadian government issued several laws that made immigration into Canada extremely hard for the Indians. In January 1908, the Canadian government promulgated the `Continuous Journey Act’. The law made it mandatory for anyone entering Canada from Asia to come from their homes without breaking their journey anywhere on the way; the ostensible reason for the act was safeguarding Canadian public health. pp. 45-46, [2] At the time, there were no direct shipping lines between India and Canada (but there were direct China-Canada and Japan-Canada lines), so this particular law was directly aimed at restricting the entry of the Indians and the law was deeply resented by the Indians.
In order to further discourage the entry of Indian immigrants into Canada, the government of Canada announced a law that every Asian must, on entry into Canada, possess two hundred dollars on him. William Lyon Mackenzie King was sent to London to discuss a `solution to the Indian question’. p. 46, [2] He wrote, ``That Canada should desire to restrict immigration frorn
the Orient is regarded as natural, that Canada should
remain a white man’s country is believed to be not only
desirable for economic and social reasons, but highly
necessary on political and national grounds.” p. 47, [3]. Further, as HH Stevens, the MP of Vancouver put it in the House of Commons in 1914, “his government knew that there was no steamship line direct from India to Canada, and therefore, this regulation would keep the Hindus out, and at the same time, render the government immune from attack on the ground that they were passing laws against the interests of the Hindus, who were British subjects.” p. 46, [2].
At the same time, students from India started enrolling in US and Canadian universities in some numbers, bringing in an educated class from India. The peasants and the scholars benefited from each other. The students were able to communicate more effectively with the authorities and were able to capably assist the peasants and labourers in the matters of their interests. They helped the labourers and the peasants create their own societies, principal ones of which were the Hindustani Society and the Khalsa Diwan. The first appeals, via these societies, were made to the British Indian Government, but the British Indian Government remained unmoved, since it was in tacit collaboration between Indian and British authorities that the laws had been made. Lord Minto wrote to Sir Wilfred Laurier on 01/03/1909, “We hold the view that continuous passage and the two hundred dollar regulations are likely to prove effective in putting a stop to immigration of Indian labour. We have published the conditions imposed by Canada widely … We raised no objections to the methods adopted by Canada, and we have not any intention of raising questions regarding them.” p. 46, [2].
Ghadar Party
What is our name? Mutiny.
What is our work? Mutiny.
Where will this mutiny break out? In India.
When will it break out? In a few years.
Why should it break out? Because the people can no longer bear the oppression and tyranny practised under British rule and are ready to fight and die for freedom’
Much before the Ghadar Party (whose goal has been stated above) was formed, the grievances of the Indians of Canada and Western US began to coalesce and aided by the students who had come to the US and Canadian universities, the Indians began to form their own societies. The first attempts to build an association of Indians in US and Canada were made by Surendramohan Bose, Taraknath Das, Khagendra Chandra Sen, Gurudutt Kumar and Ramanath Puri. All these efforts often petered out due to lack of funds or the inability of the promoters to focus on the societies, but at any time, there were at least a few Hindustani associations that were fighting for the rights of the Indians in Canada and US. A number of societies were formed (it is beyond the scope of this article to trace the various societies and their effects), and most of them foundered soon after birth, as has been noted earlier, but the increasing hostility of the Canadian (and often, US) governments led to the alienation of the Indians from the British, whom they saw as betrayers and acting against their interests. And slowly and steadily as the frustration fed into anger of the labourers and peasants, the Revolutionary ideals often preached by the students began to percolate into the Indians of the West coast.
Lala Hardayal, a lecturer at the Stanford University, played a huge role in the dissemination of the revolutionary ideals into the Indians in the US and Canada. He arrived in the US in 1911, and obtained a post at the Stanford University as a lecturer. Har Dayal began publishing virulently anti-British propaganda and in the frustrated Indian populace, he found a receptive audience in the labourers of the west coast of the US. With the suppression of the Indian Revolutionary journals in England and the growing disenchantment with Shyamji Krishna Verma and the Indian Sociologist, the ground was ripe for a new Revolutionary organisation and a newsletter. Thus, when in tune with the spirit of the times, Lala Hardayal suggested founding of the Ghadar newsletter and an organisation of the same name, it found a ready made audience, not only in the US and Canada, but also in other parts of the world. The Ghadar grew so popular that it was soon making its way back to India, despite being banned by the British authorities. This Revolutionary organisation was to play a vital role in the coming revolt against the British, with the beginning of the first world war. By the time the Komagata Maru episode occurred, the Revolutionary fervour had already acquired a solid following among the Indians of US and Canada.
Komagata Maru Episode
“For sixty days in 1914, a shipload of would be lndian immigrants was held just off shore by an angry province determined to stay white. The passengers fought off police, struggled in the courts, gave up when menaced by the navy, but left behind a legacy of death.” p. 120, [3]. This statement about the Komagata Maru was made by the promoter, Baba Gurdit Singh, in this book, `The Voyage of the Komagata Maru’.
Originally, there was nothing political about this ship, Komagata Maru, at all. In order to circumvent the `direct voyage’ rule, a Sikh contractor named Gurdit Singh chartered the ship, Komagata Maru to carry Indian workers from East Asia to Canada. About his motivation, Gurdit Singh wrote in the ship’s log, “The reason which led me to this work is that when I
came to Hong Kong in January of 1914, 1 could not
bear the trouble of those who were in the Gurudwara
waiting to go to Vancouver. They were waiting there for
years …How tyrannical and hard was this on our
brothers!..This affeded my mind and I resolved to take
them to Vancouver under any circumstance.” p. 122, [3].
Gurdit Singh and his fellow passengers had been encouraged by the judgement of the Supreme Court of Canada in the case of the Panama Maru in 1913. However, the organisers of the voyage were unaware of the new restrictions of possession of $200 and the `continuous journey’ clauses that made it impossible for the passengers to disembark at Vancouver as in the case of the passengers of the Panama Maru.
The Komagata Maru voyaged from Hong Kong, on 04/04/1914 with one hundred and six passengers. Another one hundred and eleven passengers joined them at Shanghai, eighty at Moji and fourteen at Yokohama. On 23/05/1915, it reached Vancouver with three hundred and seventy six passengers. Of them, twenty five were Muslims and the rest were almost exclusively Sikhs and the immigrants arrived in the port of Vancouver. They tried to disembark, but were prevented by the port authorities, saying that the passengers did not possess health certificates or the required two hundred dollars. Further, the cable of the British envoy, Green, in Tokyo, that the ship contained malcontents and subversives biased the Canadian authorities against the passengers. None except the ship’s doctor and those already domiciled in Canada were allowed to disembark from the ship. The ship, however, remained anchored off the coast of Vancouver.
The Indians already in Vancouver formed a `Shore Committee’ to help the passengers on the ship disembark, by raising the necessary funds, raising public opinion for their cause and if needed, by moving a court of law for the purpose. Two major protest meetings were organised, the first on 31/05/1914 and the second on 21/06/1914, against the heartless attitude of the authorities, and many non-Indians, especially the Canadian socialists, participated in it. But the authorities remained firm in their determination to prevent the passengers from disembarking and the legal petition of the Shore Committee was heard in the Canadian Supreme Court. With the enforced captivity of the passengers aboard the ship, the sanitation facilities and the condition of the passengers grew steadily worse. Fleas, rats and other pests began to harass the passengers steadily.
The Shore Committee and Gurdit Singh hired Mr. Bird, a famous advocate, as their lawyer. Addressing the meeting on 21/06/1914, Bird spoke of their tale of woe, and a formal petition was sent by the Hindustani association to the Secretary of State, India and the Premier Borden, stating, “Whereas the Hindustanee passengers on board of the Komagata Maru are unlawfully prevented by the Immigration authorities from consulting with their legal advisors and from procuring provisions and water from their Hindu friends, making their lot on board, a lot to which cattle would not be subjected, and whereas such brutal and unlawful treatment be tolerated in India, we urge the Dominion authorities under the principle – do unto others as they would do unto you; see that the Hindus are saved from the high-handed actions of immigrations officials. We further protest that the action of the immigration officers in Vancouver is as unlawful as anarchists and one so provoking that the Hindus shall never forget or forgive the powers that be if they do not remedy the League and the Khalsa Diwan Society.” p. 128, [3]
On 07/07/1914, the Supreme Court gave its judgement saying that the new Orders-in-Council prevented it from intervening with the work of the immigration department.
Justice JA MacDonald stated, “The Immigration Act is not unconstitutional, and the Order-in-Council…..is not ultra vires, and as the Board was legally seized of the subject of the inquiry, 1 think the court cannot review a decision upon a question which the Board was authorized to decide.”
Thus, with the legal route for the redressal of their grievances closed, the next move came from the Immigration Department of Canada. The port authorities ordered the Komagata Maru to leave the Canadian waters. However, the harassed passengers, who were by this time in no mood to relent, seized control of the ship and refused to move it out of the Canadian waters. The port authorities retaliated by blockading the supply of food and fresh water, taken to the Komagata Maru in a boat. Then, they sent a tugboat named Sea Lion with one hundred and twenty policemen, to storm the ship. However, the passengers flung hatchets, iron bars, pieces of machinery, coal, firebricks and other objects, and drove the Sea Lion back and the Canadian policemen had to beat an ignominous retreat.
The Canadians, then, on the night of 21/07/1914, brought a ship named the Rainbow alongside the Komagata Maru to fire on the latter, if necessary. p. 60, [2] The members of the Shore Committee, alarmed at the possible bloodshed of their compatriots, decided to send out a delegation on the tugboat Sea Lion to the passengers of the Komagata Maru to persuade them to comply with the instructions of the authorities. The delegation was successful, and the passengers relinquished control of the ship to the ship crew.
The businessmen, whose cargo had not been unloaded from the Komagata Maru, had also been supporting the demands of the passengers who wanted to disembark, as the cargo could not be unloaded otherwise. The Canadian government bought their compliance with the Minister of Agriculture, Martin Burrell, promising to reimburse the businessmen who had suffered loss due to the inability to unload their cargo. Further, the Canadian government also offered generous provisions worth $40,000 for the ship to sail back to Hong Kong. p. 131, [3]. With the last resistance gone, the Komagata Maru sailed back to Yokohama on 23/07/1914. p. 61, [2].
The Komagata Maru sailed to Yokohama, but the passengers could not alight there, as the Japanese authorities did not permit all the Indians to land there, as they had no permits. After a long delay there, the British Consul of Kobe offered generous provisions for the ship to sail to Calcutta. The ship was forbidden from sailing to either Hong Kong or Singapore.
The Komagata Maru finally sailed into Calcutta and dropped anchor at Budge Budge on 27/09/1914. From the moment, the people on board were looked on as self confessed criminals and political agitators, who had attacked law enforcement officers. When the ship docked at Budge Budge, the police went to arrest Baba Gurdit Singh and twenty of his principal followers. The attempt was resisted, shots were fired and nineteen people were killed in the violence. Most of them were either arrested and kept in prison or forcibly interned in their villages for the duration of the first world war. A few however escaped and managed to hide or make their way around without being detected. Gurdit Singh remained in hiding till 1922, but was persuaded by Gandhi to surrender and was imprisoned for five years.
Lord Rowlatt wrote about the `Budge Budge Riot’ (as the resistance of the passengers of the Komagata Maru became famous as), stating “On the 19th of the month (September) occurred the disastrous Budge Budge riot. The circumstances which led up to and produced this affair exercised some influence on after-events and must therefore be clearly understood. … On the 23rd of July they started on their return journey with an ample stock of provisions allowed them by the Canadian Government. They were by this time in a very bad temper as many had staked all their possessions on this venture, and had started in the full belief that the British Government would assure and guarantee their admission to a land of plenty. This temper had been greatly aggravated by direct
revolutionary influences. The revolutionary party too had endeavoured to smuggle arms on board at Vancouver. During the return voyage the War broke out. On hearing at Yokohama that his ship’s company would not be allowed to land at Hong Kong, Gurdit Singh replied that they were perfectly willing to go to any port in India if provisions were supplied. The British Consul at Yokohama declined to meet his demands, which were exorbitant but the Consul at Kobe was more compliant, and after telegraphic communication between Japan and India, the Komagata Maru started for
Calcutta. At neither Hong Kong nor Singapore were the passengers allowed to land. This added to their annoyance, as, according to the findings of the Committee, many had not wished to return to India at all.
The Komagata Maru arrived at the mouth of the Hooghly on the 27th September 1914 and was moored at Budge-Budge at 11 a.m. on the 29th. There a special train was waiting to convey the passengers free of charge to the Punjab. The Government was acting under the provisions of the recently enacted Ingress into India Ordinance, which empowered it to restrict the liberty of any person entering India after the 5th September 1914, if such action were necessary for the protection of the State. Information had been received regarding the temper and attitude of Gurdit Singh and his followers. It was justified by events. The Sikhs refused to enter the train and tried to march on
Calcutta in a body. They were forcibly turned back and a riot ensued with loss of life on both sides. Many of the Sikhs were armed with American revolvers. Only 60 passengers in all, including the 17 Muhammadans on board, were got off the train that evening. Eighteen Sikhs were killed in the riot many were arrested either then and 29, including Gurdit Singh, disappeared. Many were arrested either then, or subsequently. Of those who were arrested, the majority were allowed to go to their homes in the following January. Thirty-one were interned in jail.” pp. 146-148, [1]
Effect of the Komagata Maru
For two months, the Indians of the West Coast of Canada and US had been living in tension and excitement. The injustice perpetrated on the passengers of the Komagata Maru had engendered in them a desire for revenge. Wild and exaggerated reports about the revolutionary situation back home in India were received by those on the shore from the passengers on the ship. The first sparks of the conflict between Germany and Britain were already in the air by the time the Komagata Maru left the waters of Vancouver. The belief gained ground that it was only necessary to send back a few thousand volunteers from US and Canada to force the British to quit India for good.
This mistake was to cost the Ghadar Party heavily in the attempted Revolution.
Late in July 1914, at a gathering of the Ghadar Party members in Oxnard, it was decided that the Ghadar Party members should return to India and fuel the coming Revolution. Similar meetings were held at Upland, Fresno Los Angeles, and Clairmont, with similar resolutions taken by the Ghadar Party members. On 03/08/1914, the Ghadar newsletter, in a special publication, explained to its readers, that they all had a duty to return to India in the event of a war between Britain and Germany and spread the Revolution against the British. Once the war began, the Indians in US and Canada began to swarm onto ships leaving for Asia to raise the standard of revolt in India.
“The Committee found that most of the passengers were disposed blame the Government of India for all their misfortunes. “It is well known,” states the report, ” that the average Indian makes no
distinction between the Government of the United Kingdom, that of Canada, that of British India, or that of any colony. To him these authorities are all one and the same.” And this view of the whole Komagata Maru business was by no means confined to the passengers on the ship. It inspired some Sikhs of the Punjab with the idea that the government was biased against them; and it strengthened the hands of the Ghadr revolutionaries who were urging Sikhs abroad to return to India, and join the mutiny which, they asserted, was about to begin. Numbers of emigrants Hstened to such calls and hastened back to India from Canada, the United States, the Philippines, Hong
Kong and China.” pp. 148-149, [1]
Thus, the Komagata Maru, besides being a tragic episode in the history of the Indians in Canada, constituted a vital plank of support for the Ghadar Party cadre, as the outraged people flocked to these Revolutionaries for aid.
References:
[1] – Lord Rowlatt, “Seditions Report”
[2] – Arun Coomer Bose, “Indian Revolutionaries Abroad: 1905-1922”
[3] – Sukhdeep Bhoi, Masters’ thesis, Queens University, Canada.