International Research Journal of Management Science & Technology
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International Research Journal of Management Science & Technology ISSN 2250 – 1959(0nline) 2348 – 9367 (Print) An Internationally Indexed Peer Reviewed & Refereed Journal Shri Param Hans Education & Research Foundation Trust www.IRJMST.com www.SPHERT.org Published by iSaRa Solutions IRJMST Vol 9 Issue 2 [Year 2018] ISSN 2250 – 1959 (0nline) 2348 – 9367 (Print) ROLE OF LALA HAR DAYAL IN THE GHADAR MOVEMENT Ajit Singh Liddar Institution: Desh Bhagat University, Mandi Gobindgarh, Punjab. E-Mail: [email protected] Dr. Dalbir Singh Dhillon, former Head of History Dept., Punjabi University, Patiala, and former Chairman, Punjab Education Board, and presently Director, World Punjabi Centre Abstract: Role of Lala Har Dayal in the Ghadar Movement has not been property analyzed and determined. Some historians simply state that he was the founder of the Movement while others suggest it otherwise, but none of these was conclusively finalized based on facts. Ghadar Movement was started by the Indian immigrant in 1907 on the West (Pacific) Coast of North America. Within a span of 7 years, at the beginning of First World War, about 8,000 of them left their homes and hearths came to India to free it from the British rule. The Ghadar Movement did not succeed but it sowed the seeds for the future generations of revolutionaries to get motivation from its plans and deeds. Introduction: Lala Har Dayal was born in a rich family of Delhi; he passed his BA from Delhi and his MA from Punjab University Lahore. In 1905 he won a prestigious scholarship to study at Oxford University. For all accounts Har Dayal was a brilliant student, well liked by his teachers. In 1907 he quit the studies, forfeiting his scholarship and according to some writers he did this to devote himself to the freedom movement. But that view is unrealistic and not based on historical facts. He came to United States of America in 1911 and after venturing into various spiritual and non-spiritual feats, joined the Ghadar Movement in March1913. Object of the Research Paper: is to assess the real role played by Har Dayal in the Ghadar Movement based on facts. Research Methodology: I have used scientific methods of gathering data (basic information), analyzed it, weighed the evidence objectively and determined his role. Limitations: the available sources are satisfactory to factually determine the outcome. Review of Literature: I have reviewed the literature from 1907 onwards both in English and Punjabi languages. Primary sources are consulted, which are the autobiographies of key Ghadarites and newspaper reports and articles written at the time about Har Dayal and the Ghadar Movement. Suggestions: No suggestions are offered. International Research Journal of Management Science & Technology http://www.irjmst.com Page 218 IRJMST Vol 9 Issue 2 [Year 2018] ISSN 2250 – 1959 (0nline) 2348 – 9367 (Print) Brief life History: Har Dayal was born in Delhi in 1884. He studied at St. Stephen’s College, Delhi and did his M.A. from Punjab University. He was married at age 17. He passed his M.A. from Govt. College, Lahore and was awarded Govt. of India scholarship to study at prestigious Oxford University. In 1905, he joined St. Stephen College, Oxford. He was not involved in any revolutionary activity to this time. In September 1907 he resigned his scholarship, it is said that he joined the extremist movement. He did not take part in any political activity during 1905-1907 periods, other than writing few articles in journals. In England, he lived in direst poverty there, living on no more than six pence a day. Har Dayal’s activities from 1908 to 1911: He left England and went to Paris, France in February 1909. July 1909, he left Paris for Algiers, Africa. June 1910, he returned to Paris from Algiers. September 1910, he left for Martinique, a French colony in West Indies. Bhai Parmanand went to Martinique to meet with Har Dayal. Bhaiji mentioned in his book, ‘Story of my Life’, that: “Lala Har Dayal wished to found a new faith and he had chosen this place for preparing himself by discipline and study for his great mission….his life at this time was verily a life of asceticism”. Story of my Life by Bhai Parmanand. P. 44. “When I asked him he said that he wished like Buddha to give a new religion to the world, and he was preparing himself for it”. Story of my Life by Bhai Parmanand. P. 45. In February 1911, Har Dayal arrived in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, where he met Teja Singh at Harvard University, who encouraged him to go to San Francisco, California, USA. Har Dayal went to Waikiki Beach, Honolulu, Hawaii (U.S.A.) in 1911 to meditate. “The old ideas, however, again got the uppermost in his mind and he left California and went to Honolulu to practice his ascetic life. I was informed of all this by means of his letters in British Guiana”. Story of my Life by Bhai Parmanand. P. 46. He came back to San Francisco in September 1911 from Hawaii. Activities during 1912: In 1912, he had an affair with Ms. Frieda Hauswirth, his student. On the recommendation of Bhai Parmanand, Har Dayal was appointed a lecturer at Stanford University in Indian philosophy, pro bono, from which he was forced to resign because of an article he wrote on ‘Free Love’ in Sept 1912. “During his stay there, however, his thoughts again began to take a new turn and this time it was in the direction of socialism and communism. Lala Har Dayal indeed never occupied a middle position. He was always going from one extreme to another. Almost immediately from communism he had passed to anarchism”. In a short span of time, he was a Hindu Ascetic, a Hindu Philosopher, a Socialist, a Communist and an Anarchist. Story of my Life by Bhai Parmanand. P. 53. On 13 October t 1912, Har Dayal started a ‘Fraternity of the Red Flag’ and published a folder in which he invited “all4Radical Comrades” to join a communist orientated organization, the International Research Journal of Management Science & Technology http://www.irjmst.com Page 219 IRJMST Vol 9 Issue 2 [Year 2018] ISSN 2250 – 1959 (0nline) 2348 – 9367 (Print) Fraternity of the Red Flag which he had set up. In a letter to his friend, Van Wyck Brooks, Har Dayal wrote: “Sometime, in the future (about 8 years hence), I will produce something valuable.” Letter to Van brooks, December 23, 1913. Har Dayal was not involved in any substantial revolutionary activity from November 1912 to the summer of 1913, when he was invited by the ‘Hindustan Association of the Pacific Coast’ to assist it with starting the newspaper and managing the Ghadar office. Harish K. Puri confirms the point that: “It was only in the summer of 1912 that Har Dayal began to be identified with nationalist activities. Ghadar Movement - Ideology, Organization, Strategy by Harish K. Puri. P. 65 “He was not directly involved in any organizational activity for India’s freedom loosely organized as Nalanda Club” Ghadar Movement - Ideology, Organization, Strategy by Harish K. Puri. P. 66 He attended the meetings of the ‘Association’ on March 25, 1913 at St. Johns, Oregon, confirmation meeting in April 1913 in Astoria, Oregon and meetings on 31 May 31 to 4 June, 1913 in Astoria. From 1 November 1913 to 25 March 1914, Har Dayal started and managed the Ghadar newspaper. 25 March 1914: On the instigation of British Government, US authorities arrested and charged him for taking part in Anti-US activities. He was released on bail of $1,000 on 28 Mar 1914; he skipped the bail and left USA in April 1914. Har Dayal’s contribution to the Ghadar Movement during the short period of about 6 months is very much appreciated. His mastery of propaganda through print media and expertise as an orator was impressive. All the elements, which were essential for a revolutionary movement, were present in the Indian immigrants; Har Dayal gave the movement a direction and coordinated those elements into a thread. He named the Head Quarters of the party, ‘Yugantar Ashram’, the name of the newspaper, the ‘Ghadar’. In the process, the more formal name, the Hindi Association of the Pacific Coast, was dropped from use and easier to use and meaningful name came into common use, the ‘Ghadar Party’, from the name of the newspaper. It is worth noting that the decision by Har Dayal to use the names like ‘Yugantar’ and ‘Ghadar’ were deliberately taken to bend the Movement towards ‘Hindu’ base. Summary of Activities: Har Dayal was with the Ghadar Movement about 6 months: Har Dayal was not involved in the Ghadar Movement till 1912, and did not have any achievements in the field of revolutionary arena, despite these facts he is hailed as a great revolutionary and all sorts of stories were spread about his greatness. Time had proved that he was an ordinary man, with some good qualities and many more not so good. That is why it is pertinent to highlight his character, his other personality traits as a man, as a leader, an intellectual and a revolutionary, to properly assess his contribution in the Ghadar Movement. The reason for the British to pop up Har Dayal was to use him as a diversion to underplay the role of the Sikhs and the Punjabi’s in the Ghadar movement. The British did not want to jeopardize the role of the Sikh in the British Indian defense. The above is in the realm of possibility. The British did the same with the role International Research Journal of Management Science & Technology http://www.irjmst.com Page 220 IRJMST Vol 9 Issue 2 [Year 2018] ISSN 2250 – 1959 (0nline) 2348 – 9367 (Print) of the Germany in the Ghadar Movement.