Most of the Indians have no clue of how the Indian diaspora helped India in her freedom struggle. The Ghadar Party was a revolutionary organisation with its headquarters in San Francisco and a focus on the weekly publication “The Ghadar.”Most of these revolutionaries were former soldiers and peasants who had migrated from Punjab to the USA and Canada in search of better employment opportunities. Most of them came from Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur, where they were primarily from landless, indebted peasants. Many of them had previously served in the British Indian Army, where they developed the self-assurance they needed to escape. They had left their home countries due to the economic crisis and had been lured by the promise of a better life to come to these far-off nations.

 

Effective limitations on Indian immigration to Canada were in place by 1908 and the Alien Land Law, which forbade Indians from owning land in the US, was another restricting piece of legislation. The host countries’ discriminatory practices caused the Indian emigrants to leave the country. Hence, they decided to organize themselves to secure India’s freedom from British Rule. The Ghadar programme was designed to plan official assassinations, disseminate anti-imperialist and revolutionary literature, coordinate with Indian troops stationed abroad, get weapons, and spark a synchronised uprising across all British colonies. Lala Hardayal, Ramchandra, Bhagwan Singh, Kartar Singh Saraba, Barkatullah, and Bhai Parmanand were the driving forces behind the Ghadr Party. The Gadites wanted to incite a rebellion in India.

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At the start of the 20th century, the growing Indian Independence Movement triggered a rise in nationalist feelings not just on the Indian subcontinent but also among students and emigrants from the same area all over the world. Nationalist ideologies were instilled in these students by revolutionary thinkers like Taraknath Das and Lala Har Dayal to mobilise them.

To conduct revolutionary operations, activists had already constructed the “Swadesh Sevak Home” in Vancouver and the “United India House” in Seattle. The Ghadr party was formally established in 1913. Lala Har Dayal, Sant Baba Wasakha Singh Dadehar, Baba Jawala Singh, Santokh Singh, and Sohan created the Ghadar Party, formerly known as the Pacific Coast Hindustan Association, on July 15, 1913, in the United States. Among the Indian diaspora in the United States, Canada, East Africa, and Asia, the Ghadar party attracted a substantial following.

 

The Ghadar Party was a predominantly Indian-founded revolutionary group. The party included Sikh, Hindu, and Muslim members, although Sikh leaders predominated. The party was multiethnic but primarily Punjabi. The Ghadar party, which had its headquarters in San Francisco and its origins in the rural Californian Punjabi immigrant community, was also dedicated to bringing about the independence of India by revolution.

 

The Ghadar programme sought to coordinate official assassinations, produce anti-imperialist and revolutionary literature, collaborate with Indian troops stationed abroad, acquire weapons, and incite a simultaneous uprising in all British colonies.

A working committee was established, and it was decided to launch, “The Ghadar”, a free weekly newspaper, and to build Yugantar Ashram as the organization’s headquarters in San Francisco.

The militants in the Ghadar party immediately began an active propaganda campaign, visiting the farms and mills where the majority of the Punjabi immigrant labourers were employed.

 

 

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