(The following article is from the November 1-15, 2009, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

By Gurpreet Singh

A new book on the Indian revolutionaries who were active in Canada was released in Surrey on Thanksgiving Day. Authored in Punjabi by Sohan Singh Pooni, Canada De Gadri Yodhay (The Gadar combatants of Canada) is the biographies of 41 freedom fighters, mostly associated with the Gadar Party, a revolutionary group that believed in armed struggle against the British occupation of India.

     The book release ceremony proved a major crowd puller at the Grand Taj Banquet Hall. The venue was packed with visitors, and with descendants of the revolutionaries. The book was released by Dr. Hugh Johnston, retired professor at Simon Fraser University, who has also authored a book on the struggle of the Sikhs against racism in Canada. Among those honoured on the occasion were the relatives of the Gadar heroes. However, the presence of the politicians belonging to the NDP, Progressive Conservative and Liberal parties was ironic, as the Gadarites were anti-establishment.

     Though the Gadar Party was formally established in the U.S. in 1913, the Gadar movement had its roots in Canada where the Indian immigrants had to endure racism. It was the discriminatory attitude of the Canadian establishment that partially made these men politically aware of the need to fight against foreign rule back home.

     Most of these men came to Canada in the beginning of the twentieth century as British subjects. Their dreams for better living were shattered as the Canadian government systematically discriminated against them by restricting their immigration, family reunions and disfranchising them. As a result a need for struggle for both social justice and freedom arose. The Gadar Party was a byproduct of this abusive environment that motivated about 300 people in Canada alone to become members of this militant group, according to Pooni, who took nine years to complete his work.

     His research took him to India and across the border, where he visited archives and other places to lay hands on rare documents and pictures, and to interview the descendants of these men.  

     The common thread between these men was that they were mostly rural Sikhs from Punjab, some of whom had served in the British army. Most came to Canada as British subjects and were disillusioned by the fact that the British Empire was not treating all its subjects fairly. They had to pay heavily to travel to Canada. Initially, they tried to challenge the "continuous journey law", the bar on bringing their families and institutional racism through petitions and appeals. But they soon realized that their slavery was the root of these problems, and to end that an armed resistance was necessary. Subsequently, these men became members of the Gadar Party. Most returned to India in hopes to initiate a rebellion that was supposed to be the sequel of the Gadar (mutiny) of 1857, only to face the gallows or life imprisonment.

     Among them were prominent ideologues like Bhag Singh, Tarak Nath Dass, Hussein Rahim, Harnam Singh Sahri, Balwant Singh Khurdpur, Karam Singh Daulatpur, Bhagwan Singh Dosanjh and Munsha Singh Dukhi. The book reveals their connection with Canada. Apart from leading the Gadar movement to set India free from British rule, these men participated in different struggles for the rights of immigrants in Canada.

     Realizing that the misery of their compatriots in India was to be blamed on the lack of education, they helped to build schools in Punjab. Despite challenges from the orthodox and conservative social environment of India, they resolved to encourage female education. Some of them later turned into communists.

     Bhag Singh was the first Indo Canadian martyr, shot in 1914 by Bela Singh, the agent of an infamous immigration officer, William Hopkison. The leader of the Khalsa Deewan Society that governed the oldest Sikh temple of Vancouver, Bhag Singh was instrumental in encouraging former Sikh soldiers to burn their medals and certificates to break loyalties with the British Empire in 1909. This wasn't an easy task, as the Sikh preachers in India were pro-British and prayed for the long life of their English masters. The book begins with his biography, followed by the profile of Badan Singh, who had also died with Bhag Singh after being hurt in the shootout. These killings were avenged by Mewa Singh, who assassinated Hopkinson and was hanged for the murder. His profile suggests that he may have done this at the instructions of the Gadar leaders.

     The biography of Hari Singh Soond, who killed Bela Singh in India, is also a part of the book.

     The book gives a detailed account of the activities of Hussein Rahim, who was in the forefront of the fight for the right to vote and the struggle to let the passengers of the Komagata Maru set foot on Canadian soil. The ship was turned back on July 23, 1914, under the racist immigration law. This incident added fuel to the fire and strengthened the foundation of the Gadar movement.

      Despite being Sikhs, some devoutly religious Gadar heroes mentioned in the book were liberal and secular. After all, one of the objectives of the Gadar Party was to keep apart politics and religion and to promote unity. Some of these men who returned to India saved Muslims from Hindu and Sikh fundamentalists during the partition of India and Pakistan on religious lines in 1947. These men did not buckle under pressure from the religious zealots and helped Muslims in reaching safe destinations. These details will help in understanding the secular indoctrination of the Gadarites.

     The book ends with the biography of Darshan Singh Canadian, a communist leader of Punjab, who was murdered by the Sikh separatists in 1986. He had spent several years in Canada before India's independence, taking part in the struggle for right to vote and the labour movement.

     The huge attendance of Indo Canadians at the event suggests that their interest in the history of the Gadar movement has largely been overlooked by the mainstream historians of India and Canada. Book release ceremonies in the Punjabi community hardly ever generate curiosity of this level.