When veterinary officer with Punjab government, Rana Preet Gill went on a vacation to the Andamans in 2019, she saw a statue of Pt Ram Rakha Bali in the park outside the Cellular Jail. What hit her most was how little she knew about the man associated with the Mandalay conspiracy case, wherein members of the Ghadar Party were accused of conspiring to incite rebellion against British rule in India, among troops in Mandalay and other parts of Burma, in a series of trials in 1916 and 1917.
“I felt ashamed; I hail from Hoshiarpur, the same village as Bali in Punjab and hardly had any knowledge about the contribution of this Ghadar revolutionary,” she says.
After returning home, Rana Preet began researching and seamlessly it led her on a journey to write The Ghadar Movement: A Forgotten Struggle, published by Penguin Viking.
Several lesser-known revolutionaries of the Ghadar Movement find mention in the book, replete with rich anecdotes and in-depth research. “I was intrigued by Ram Rakha, who went on a hunger strike and sacrificed his life. It aroused my curiosity about the Mandalay Conspiracy and I met many historians and gathered information. The research led me to the Ghadar Movement and the book was born out of my love for the martyrs. The library in Jalandhar, built by the Gadharites, is invaluable,” says Rana Preet.
Cover of the book Ghadar Movement: A Forgotten Struggle
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Special Arrangement
There were few books on members of the Ghadar Party,including a few by Bhagat Singh. Rana Preet decided to make the stories accessible.
“A majority of the literature available is academic and out of bounds for common readers,” she says. Her experience of writing two novels earlier motivated her to attempt this complex subject. . It took Rana Preet five years to complete the manuscript.
The 38-chapter narrative, spanning 244 pages, is lucid, beginning with Bombay, Bengal, and Punjab under British Rule. It sets the tone with tales of bravery and transitions to the exodus of the Punjab peasantry to far-flung places including Burma, Malaya, Singapore, China, Iran, Egypt, and East Africa before exploring Canada and America. Stories about Sohan Singh Bhakna and Pandit Kanshi Ram are well constructed.
Rana Preet is at her best when writing about the revolutionaries in exile- Shyamaji Krishnavarma, who owned the India House at 9, Queen’s Wood, Highgate; Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, Madam Bhikaji Rustom Cama, Ramnath Puri, a bank clerk from Lahore; Taraknath Das, who went abroad to master the art of revolution; Guru Dutt Kumar, who operated from Canada; Pandurang Khankhoje and Abdul Hafiz Mohammed Barakatullah `Bhopali’, who was proficient in Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Turkish, English, German and Japanese. Barakatullah travelled to England, America, Japan and was said to be a great advocate of Hindu-Muslim unity.
Rana Preet highlights the allure and appeal of studying abroad during those times. Jawala Singh Thatthiyan, a “prosperous potato farmer” near California, was at the forefront, offering scholarships to meritorious students. The scholarships began in 1912 and provided a monthly stipend of $ 50 in addition to study materials and travel expenses.
The chapter on Lala Har Dayal, described as the Face of Ghadar, is one the most engaging. Inspired by the `Lion of Punjab’, Lala Lajpat Rai, Lala Har Dayal left for England on a British Government scholarship in 1905 at the age of 21 and returned to India in 1908.
The author with her book Ghadar Movement: A Forgotten Struggle
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement
“After India attained independence, the Ghadar Party was officially disbanded. The premises on 5 Wood Street was handed over to the government of India marking the end of an era of revolution. But the spirit of Ghadar stayed alive. A living, breathing, formless, fiery spirit with a heart and soul,” says Rana Preet.
