13) THE UNSUNG MUSLIM HEROES OF THE GHADAR MOVEMENT

From Radical Desi magazine

            This February marks 100 years of a mutiny in the British army that took place under the influence of the Ghadar Party.

            The majority of those who participated in the rebellion that rocked Singapore were Muslim soldiers. The uprising took place on February 15, 1915. Two Muslim platoons, Fifth Light Infantry and Malay Guide, were posted in Singapore around that time.

            The Ghadar Party, a group of South Asian radical political activists, was established in the US in 1913. The party came into being in response to racism against the South Asian immigrants who had moved to North America for a better livelihood. These immigrants had come to the US and Canada as British subjects. Many had previously served in the British army and not surprisingly believed in the fairness of the British Empire.

            However, the British government never came to their aid in a situation of racial violence from white supremacists. They soon realized that the root cause of their sufferings abroad was the British occupation of India. As a result they started getting organized to fight back against racism and colonialism. Thus, the Ghadar Party was formed with a mandate to go to India and launch an armed rebellion with the help of Indian soldiers in the British army. Although the majority of the Ghadar activists were Sikhs, the party believed in secularism and wanted to establish an egalitarian society in post-British India.

            In 1914, when the British were locked in war with Germany, these activists thought that it was the right time to return and launch a revolt with the help of the masses and those serving in the army. The political situation in India was not that encouraging, and the public was not ready for a radical movement. Thus, the attempted rebellion was suppressed by the authorities. Many Ghadar activists were arrested and hanged, while others had to serve life imprisonments.

            On the way to India, many halted in Singapore and propagated against the British Empire, encouraging the Indian soldiers to leave their jobs and join the revolution. They had already built connections in the Muslim platoons, and Ghadar literature was being distributed among the soldiers. In the meantime, Turkey’s opposition to Britain had also influenced these Muslim soldiers, and the Ghadar Party took advantage of that.

            Unfortunately, the British army came to know about the plan and transferred the Malay Guide to Penang. But the authorities somehow could not figure out that the Fifth Light Infantry had already fixed February 15 as the date for rebellion. The platoon was informed that they had to leave for Hong Kong the next morning. As the soldiers were being asked to deposit their ammunition that evening they revolted, killing one officer. This led to indiscriminate killings of white officers.

            The mutineers occupied the barracks and formed three groups, one of which marched to the German prisoners’ camp, while the second headed to the headquarters, and a third party went into the city. But the German prisoners refused to join the uprising. In the end, the British government was able to suppress the rebellion and 44 mutineers were executed. Out of these, 41 were shot to death publicly.

            The British documents acknowledge that these mutineers were influenced by the Ghadar Party. The centenary of the Singapore mutiny is a reminder of the Muslims’ participation in the freedom movement, something that the Hindu right deliberately denies. These days, when Hindu fundamentalists are emboldened by the election of the Hindu nationalist Bhartiya Janata Party government, assaults on Muslims have increased, in the form of religious conversion campaigns designed to bring them into the Hindu fold. Often Muslims are branded as traitors and terrorists, and their loyalties are questioned. That the Muslims were part of the Ghadar movement needs to be recognized to dispel this myth.

            The story also has lessons for supporters of the imaginary Sikh homeland of Khalistan, who continue to distort the image of the Ghadar movement. Because the majority of Ghadar activists were Sikhs, the Khalistanis are determined to present the Ghadar movement as a Sikh struggle. The secular image of the Ghadar Party is therefore constantly under attack from both Hindu and Sikh religious extremists. The party had many prominent non-Sikh faces, reflecting its humanist and inclusive character, something that remains missing in theocratic, exclusionist and counter-revolutionary movements.

(The above article is from the February 15-28, 2015 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading socialist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)