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Garma
Garam More |
A Saga of Sacrifice & Struggle |
Gadar Party, 1913 - 1915
The
GADAR or GHADAR PARTY was secular in character. Its aim was to overthrow the FOUNDING
MEMBERS:
Gadar Party - BackgroundThe word GADAR or GHADAR means revolt or rebellion. The GADAR Party was a revolt against the British rule in India and it was started and organized by the Indian immigrants to Canada and the United States of America. It was not the result of efforts of any one man or a group. It was the result of the general and natural reaction of the political, social, and economic conditions that prevailed in India in about the year 1904, and on the minds of the brave and courageous of Punjab. They were hard pressed by the adverse economic conditions prevailing in the Punjab at that time to earn their livelihood. These immigrants were adventurous and hardy people. They worked hard, got good wages and did very well in these new countries. They saw the American people upholding the American Declaration of Independence of 4th of July 1776, establishing the right of freedom and liberty of every human being in the political, social, and economic field. The Indian mind was thus charged with this feeling of freedom and consequently they wanted to get rid of the foreign rule in their own country. This rise in the consciousness of the Indian people was admired by the American people but the Canadian people did not like it because in Canada, the British and the French formed the main bulk of the people. But in the days of economic depression in the United States the white laborers began to think that the economic depression was mainly due to the inflow of the hard working laboring class of the Asians. So they began to ill treat them. There were riots and the Asians, i.e., Indians, Japanese, Chinese, suffered life and property losses. Whereas the Japanese and Chinese governments worked with the American government to make good the losses of the Japanese and Chinese sufferers respectively, the British India Government did not show any interest. This further strengthened Indian's urge to free their Country from the foreign Yoke. In 1908, in Seattle (Washington) Mr. Tarak Nath, started a monthly magazine named "Free India" under the management of a Bengali exile Surinder Mohan Bose. This magazine advocated armed rebellion against the British rule in India. Mr. Tarak Nath also formed "East India Association" in 1911. Similarly in Oregon State too, a meeting of the Indians was held at Portland in 1912 at which "The Hindustani Association" was formed and it was also decided there to start an URDU weekly newspaper, "The India."
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