Dear Friends,

recently Indian Express carried an article on Rana Preet Gill’s new book The Ghadar Movement. My quotes are inline:

Author and journalist Amandeep Sandhu explains that with the onset of the Boer War in the 1890s, the British sent a large number of men from Punjab to Africa as soldiers. “This was the beginning of migration from Punjab,” he says. Thereon, the inhabitants of Punjab soon realised that migration was the best way to escape the harsh conditions they were living in and earn for their families.

Sandhu further points to the influence of international socialism on the ideologies of the founders of the Ghadar Party. “A large number of its members would have been well acquainted with the Guru Granth Sahib, which speaks about working for the welfare of all. It stands for social justice and equality for all,” he says. Emancipation of the working class, he says, was the basic principle of socialism. The two thoughts fit together well. “The Ghadar Party was a beautiful synergy between Sikh thought and international socialism,” he suggests.

Yet, despite being entrenched in the historical consciousness and folklore of Punjab, the Ghadar movement is mentioned only in passing in the narratives of modern Indian history in school textbooks. Sandhu explains the reason for this: the left-oriented academic historians of India considered Ghadar more of a Punjab movement than an Indian one because of the large presence of Punjabis, or rather Sikhs, in it. Such an understanding often overlooked the fact that the movement consisted of several non-Sikh leaders. Har Dayal was Hindu, and so were Kanshi Ram and Rash Behari Bose. Muslim members of the movement consisted of Barkatullah and Rehmat Ali.

Please see the full story here …