Ghadar Mutiny

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The Ghadar Mutiny, also known as the Ghadar Conspiracy, was a plan to initiate a pan-India

Punjab, followed by mutinies in Bengal and rest of India. Indian units as far as Singapore
were planned to participate in the rebellion. The plans were thwarted through a coordinated intelligence and police response. British intelligence infiltrated the Ghadarite movement in Canada and in India, and last-minute intelligence from a spy helped crush the planned uprising in Punjab before it started. Key figures were arrested, and mutinies in smaller units and garrisons within India were also crushed.

Intelligence about the threat of the mutiny led to a number of important war-time measures introduced in India, including the passages of the Foreigners Ordinance, 1914, the

First Lahore Conspiracy Trial and Benares Conspiracy Trial which saw death sentences awarded to a number of Indian revolutionaries, and the exile of a number of others. After the end of the war, fear of a second Ghadarite uprising led to the passage of the Rowlatt Act, followed by the Jallianwala Bagh massacre
.

Background

Main article: Hindu–German Conspiracy

World War I began with an unprecedented outpouring of loyalty and goodwill towards the United Kingdom from within the mainstream political leadership. Contrary to initial British fears of an Indian revolt, India contributed massively to the British war effort by providing men and resources. About 1.3  million Indian soldiers and labourers served in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, while both the Indian government and the princes sent large supplies of food, money, and ammunition.

However,

Irish Republican, German and Turkish help in a massive conspiracy that has since come to be called the Hindu–German Mutiny[2][3][6] This conspiracy also attempted to rally Afghanistan against British India.[7]

A number of failed attempts were made at mutiny, of which the February mutiny plan and the Singapore Mutiny remain most notable. This movement was suppressed by means of a massive international counter-intelligence operation and draconian political acts (including the Defence of India Act 1915) that lasted nearly ten years.[8][9]

Indian nationalism in US

Early works towards Indian nationalism in the United States dates back to the first decade of the 20th century, when, following the example of London's

Irish Republican movement. The first of the nationalist organisations was the Pan-Aryan Association, modelled after Krishna Varma's Indian Home Rule Society, opened in 1906 through the joint Indo-Irish efforts of S.L. Joshi and George Freeman.[11]

The American branch of the association also invited Madame Cama—who at the time was close to the works of Krishna Varma—to give a series of lectures in the United States. An "India House" was founded in Manhattan in New York in January 1908 with funds from a wealthy lawyer of Irish descent called

Ghadar movement.[12]

Ghadar party

The Pacific coast of North America saw large scale Indian immigration in the 1900s, especially from Punjab which was facing an economic depression. The Canadian government met this influx with a series of legislations aimed at limiting the entry of South Asians into Canada, and restricting the political rights of those already in the country. The Punjabi community had hitherto been an important loyal force for the British Empire and the Commonwealth, and the community had expected, to honour its commitment, equal welcome and rights from the British and Commonwealth governments as extended to British and white immigrants. These legislations fed growing discontent, protests and anti-colonial sentiments within the community. Faced with increasingly difficult situations, the community began organising itself into political groups. A large number of Punjabis also moved to the United States, but they encountered similar political and social problems.[13]

Meanwhile, nationalist work among Indians on the east coast began to gain momentum from around 1908 when Indian students of the likes of

Lala Har Dayal
in 1911. He also enrolled at one point in a West Coast military academy.

The Ghadar Party, initially the Pacific Coast Hindustan Association, was formed in 1913 in the United States under the leadership of Baba Sohan Singh Bhakna as its president. It drew members from

Punjab.[13] Many of its members were also from the University of California at Berkeley including Dayal, Tarak Nath Das, Kartar Singh Sarabha and V. G. Pingle. The party quickly gained support from Indian expatriates, especially in the United States, Canada, and Asia. Ghadar meetings were held in Los Angeles, Oxford, Vienna, Washington, D.C., and Shanghai.[14]

Ghadar's ultimate goal was to overthrow British colonial authority in India by means of an armed revolution. It viewed the

dominion status modest and the latter's constitutional methods as soft. Ghadar's foremost strategy was to entice Indian soldiers to revolt.[13] To that end, in November 1913 Ghadar established the Yugantar Ashram press in San Francisco. The press produced the Hindustan Ghadar newspaper and other nationalist literature.[14]

Ghadar conspiracy

See also: Komagata Maru incident
Punjabi Sikhs aboard the SS Komagata Maru in Vancouver's Burrard Inlet, 23 May 1914. Most of the passengers were not allowed to land in Canada and the ship was forced to return to India. The events surrounding the Komagata Maru incident served as a catalyst for the Ghadarite cause.

Har Dayal's contacts with erstwhile members of India House in Paris and

Delhi-Lahore Conspiracy of 1912, led the British government to pressure the American State Department to suppress Indian revolutionary activities and Ghadarite literature, which emanated mostly from San Francisco.[15][16]

1912

Rashbehari Bose and Sachin Sanyal staged a spectacular bomb attack on Viceroy Hardinge while he was making official entry into the new Capital of Delhi in a processing through Chandni Chowk in December 1912. Hardinge was injured, but not killed.

1914

During World War I, the British Indian Army contributed significantly to the British war effort. Consequently, a reduced force, estimated to have been as low as 15,000 troops in late 1914, was stationed in India.[17] It was in this scenario that concrete plans for organising uprisings in India were made.

In September 1913, Mathra Singh, a Ghadarite, visited Shanghai and promoted the Ghadarite cause within the Indian community there. In January 1914, Singh visited India and circulated Ghadar literature amongst Indian soldiers through clandestine sources before leaving for Hong Kong. Singh reported that the situation in India was favourable for a revolution.[18][19]

In May 1914, the Canadian government refused to allow the 400 Indian passengers of the ship

Calcutta, the passengers were detained under the Defence of India Act at Budge Budge by the British Indian government, which made efforts to forcibly transport them to Punjab. This caused rioting at Budge Budge and resulted in fatalities on both sides.[20] A number of Ghadar leaders, like Barkatullah and Tarak Nath Das, used the inflammatory passions surrounding the Komagata Maru incident as a rallying point and successfully brought many disaffected Indians in North America into the party's fold.[19]

Outlines of mutiny

By October 1914, a large number of Ghadarites had returned to India and were assigned tasks like contacting Indian revolutionaries and organisations, spreading propaganda and literature, and arranging to get arms into the country that were being arranged to be shipped in

Siam. Tehl Singh, the Ghadar operative in Shanghai, is believed to have spent $30,000 for helping the revolutionaries to get into India.[23]

Amongst those who returned were

Jatin Mukherjee and Satyen Bhushan Sen were seen interviewing these Sikhs.[29]
The Ghadarites rapidly established contact with the Indian revolutionary underground, notably that in Bengal, and the plans began to be consolidated by Rash Behari Bose and Jatin Mukherjee and the Ghadarites for a coordinated general uprising.

Early attempts

Indian revolutionaries under

Jatin Mukherjee and reported that some 4000 Sikhs of the Gadhar had already reached Calcutta. 15.000 more were waiting to join the rebellion.[31] Rash Behari sent Pingle and Sachin to Amritsar, to discuss with Mula Singh who had arrived from Shanghai. Behari's man of confidence, Pingle, led a hectic life in UP and Punjab for several weeks.[32]

During the

Ferozepore & Rawalpindi were organised while risings at Dacca, Benares, and Jubbalpur would be further extended.[33]

Preparing bombs was a definite part of the Gadhar programme. The Sikh conspirators – knowing very little about it – decided to call in a Bengali expert, as they had known in California Professor Surendra Bose, associate of

Taraknath Das. Towards the end of December 1914, at a meeting at Kapurthala, Pingle announced that a Bengali babu was ready to co-operate with them. On 3 January 1915, Pingle and Sachindra in Amritsar received Rs 500 from the Ghadar, and returned to Benares.[34]

Coordination

Pingle returned to Calcutta with Rash Behari's invitation to the

Naren Bhattacharya left for Benares (early January 1915). In a very important meeting, Rash Behari announced the rebellion, proclaiming: "Die for their country." Though through Havildar Mansha Singh, the 16th Rajput Rifles at Fort William was successfully approached, Jatin Mukherjee wanted two months for the army revolt, synchronising with the arrival of the German arms. He modified the plan according to the impatience of the Gadhar militants to rush to action. Rash Behari and Pingle went to Lahore. Sachin tampered with the 7th Rajputs (Benares) and the 89th Punjabis at Dinapore. Damodar Sarup [Seth] went to Allahabad. Vinayak Rao Kapile conveyed bombs from Bengal to Punjab. Bibhuti [Haldar, approver] and Priyo Nath [Bhattacharya?] seduced the troops at Benares; Nalini [Mukherjee] at Jabalpur. On 14 February, Kapile carried from Benares to Lahore a parcel containing materials for 18 bombs.[35][36]

By the middle of January, Pingle was back in Amritsar with "the fat babu" (Rash Behari); to avoid too many visitors, Rash Behari moved to Lahore after a fortnight. In both the places he collected materials for making bombs and ordered for 80 bomb cases to a foundry at Lahore. Its owner out of suspicion refused to execute the order. Instead, inkpots were used as cases in several of the dacoities. Completed bombs were found during house searches, while Rash Behari escaped. "By then effective contact had been established between the returned Gadharites and the revolutionaries led by Rash Behari, and a large section of soldiers in the NW were obviously disaffected." "It was expected that as soon as the signal was received there would be mutinies and popular risings from Punjab to Bengal." "48 out of the 81 accused in the Lahore conspiracy case, including Rash Behari's close associates like Pingle, Mathura Singh & Kartar Singh Sarabha, recently arrived from North America."[37]

Along with

Sachin Sanyal and Kartar Singh Sarabha, Pingle became one of the main coordinators of the attempted mutiny in February 1915. Under Rash Behari, Pingle issued intensive propaganda for revolution from December 1914, sometimes disguised as Shyamlal, a Bengali; sometimes Ganpat Singh, a Punjabi.[38]

Setting a date

Confident of being able to rally the Indian

Howrah Station
the next day (which would have been cancelled if Punjab was seized) and was to strike immediately.

1915 Indian mutiny

See also: 1915 Singapore Mutiny
Outram Road
, Singapore, c. March 1915

By the start of 1915, a large number of Ghadarites (nearly 8,000 in the Punjab province alone by some estimates) had returned to India.

Benares.[4][43][44] A plan was made for a unified general uprising, with the date set for 21 February 1915.[4][43]

February 1915

In India, confident of being able to rally the Indian

Howrah Station
the next day (which would have been cancelled if Punjab was seized) and was to strike immediately.

However, the Punjab CID

Giani Pritam Singh, Swami Satyananda Puri and others fled to Thailand or other sympathetic nations.[19][51]

Later efforts

Other related events include the

German mission to Kabul, the mutiny of the Connaught Rangers in India, as well as, by some accounts, the Black Tom explosion in 1916. The Indo-Irish-German alliance and the conspiracy were the target of a worldwide British intelligence effort, which was successful in preventing further attempts. American intelligence agencies arrested key figures in the aftermath of the Annie Larsen affair in 1917. The conspiracy led to criminal conspiracy trials like the Lahore Conspiracy Case trial in India and the Hindu–German Conspiracy Trial in the United States, the latter being the longest and most expensive trial in the country at that date.[1]

Trials

Main articles: Lahore Conspiracy Case trial and Hindu–German Conspiracy Trial

The conspiracy led to a number of trials in India, most famous among them being the Lahore Conspiracy Case trial, which opened in Lahore in April 1915 in the aftermath of the failed February mutiny. Other trials included the Benares, Simla, Delhi, and Ferozepur conspiracy cases, and the trials of those arrested at Budge Budge.[52] At Lahore, a special tribunal was constituted under the Defence of India Act 1915 and a total of 291 conspirators were put on trial. Of these 42 were awarded the death sentence, 114 transported for life, and 93 awarded varying terms of imprisonment. A number of these were sent to the Cellular Jail in the Andaman. Forty-two defendants in the trial were acquitted. The Lahore trial directly linked the plans made in United States and the February mutiny plot. Following the conclusion of the trial, diplomatic effort to destroy the Indian revolutionary movement in the United States and to bring its members to trial increased considerably.[53][54][55]

Impact

The Hindu–German Conspiracy as a whole, as well as the intrigues of the Ghadar Party in Punjab during the war, were among the main stimuli for the enactment of the Defence of India Act, appointment of the Rowlatt Committee, and the enactment of the Rowlatt Acts. The Jallianwala Bagh massacre is also linked[specify] intimately with the Raj's fears of a Ghadarite uprising in India especially Punjab in 1919.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Plowman 2003, p. 84
  2. ^ a b Hoover 1985, p. 252
  3. ^ a b Brown 1948, p. 300
  4. ^ a b c d e Gupta 1997, p. 12
  5. ^ Popplewell 1995, p. 201
  6. ^ Strachan 2001, p. 798
  7. ^ Strachan 2001, p. 788
  8. ^ Hopkirk 2001, p. 41
  9. ^ Popplewell 1995, p. 234
  10. ^ a b c Fischer-Tiné 2007, p. 333
  11. ^ Fischer-Tiné 2007, p. 334
  12. ^ a b Fischer-Tiné 2007, p. 335
  13. ^ a b c Strachan 2001, p. 795
  14. ^ a b Deepak 1999, p. 441
  15. ^ Sarkar 1983, p. 146
  16. ^ Deepak 1999, p. 439
  17. ^ Strachan 2001, p. 793
  18. ^ a b Deepak 1999, p. 442
  19. ^ a b c d Strachan 2001, p. 796
  20. ^ Ward 2002, pp. 79–96
  21. ^ a b Sarkar 1983, p. 148
  22. ^ Hoover 1985, p. 251
  23. ^ Brown 1948, p. 303
  24. ^ Bose 1971, pp. 87–88, 132
  25. ^ Statement of Pingle and Mula Singh to Cleveland, d/31-3-1915, H.P. 1916, May 436-439B. Notes on Tahal, Roll 6, RG 118.
  26. ^ Rowlatt Report §110, §121 and §138.
  27. ^ Majumdar 1967, p. 167.
  28. ^ Bose 1971, pp. 161–162
  29. ^ Terrorism in Bengal, Government of West Bengal, Vol. III, p505
  30. ^ Ker 1917, pp. 373–375
  31. ^ Rowlatt, §121, §132-§138
  32. ^ Terrorism in Bengal, Vol. V, p170
  33. ^ Rowlatt, §138
  34. ^ Ker 1917, p. 367
  35. ^ Rowlatt, §121
  36. ^ Ker 1917, pp. 377–378
  37. ^ Bose 1971, pp. 124–125
  38. ^ Majumdar 1967, p. 167
  39. ^ a b Majumdar 1967, p. 169
  40. ^ Chhabra 2005, p. 597
  41. ISBN 9788170227519.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link
    )
  42. ^ Deepak 1999, p. 443
  43. ^ a b c Gupta 1997, p. 11
  44. ^ Puri 1980, p. 60
  45. ^ Ker 1917, p. 369
  46. ISBN 0-333-41837-9
  47. ^ a b Sareen 1995, p. 14,15
  48. ^ Kuwajima 1988, p. 23
  49. ^ Strachan 2001, p. 797
  50. ^ Qureshi 1999, p. 78
  51. ^ a b Gupta 1997, p. 3
  52. ^ a b Chhabra 2005, p. 598
  53. ^ Talbot 2000, p. 124
  54. ^ "History of Andaman Cellular Jail". Andaman Cellular Jail heritage committee. Archived from the original on 13 January 2007. Retrieved 8 December 2007.
  55. ^ Khosla, K (23 June 2002). "Ghadr revisited". The Tribune. Chandigarh. Retrieved 8 December 2007.

Further reading

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