Guran Ditt Kumar - Racism Towards Hindus in Canada

Racism Towards Hindus in Canada

They circulated, for instance, the reprint of an article quoted by the Aryan in its issue of March–April 1912 : “The smoke-coloured Hindu, exotic, unmixable, picturesque, a languid worker and a refuge for fleas, we will always have with us, but we don’t want any more of him. We don’t want any Hindu women. We don’t want any Hindu children. It’s nonsense to talk about Hindu assimilation. The Sikh may be of Aryan stock; I always thought he was of Jewish extraction. He may be near-white though he does not look it. But we know him, and don’t want any more of him. British Columbia cannot allow any more of the dark meat of the world to come to this province. To deport these British subjects from India would be the wisest thing. These Sikhs are far too obtrusive. They are of no use to the country. British Columbia would be a hundred times better off without them. Certainly no more of them must be allowed to come.” Both Das and Kumar with the help of Surendramohan Bose and Hussain Rahim had set to bring together the various Indian communities in terms of a united action, until it reached the climax in the Gadhar organisation. Bose had been sent to Japan by the Scientific and Industrial Association of Kolkata in 1906. On reaching Canada at the end of 1907, Bose had informed Sri Aurobindo on 26 December, that Bengalis were wrong in hoping for Japanese help in their nationalist movement, although they had some sympathisers. Specialised in chemistry, he also toured as a lecturer on Indian subjects. In 1913 he became the general secretary of the Hindustan Association of the USA. Shortly before leaving America, in 1913, from Chicago, he sent to Harnam notes and formulae of his own for making bombs. In January 1914, Bose wrote again from Paris along with “a valuable copy of the process used by the Russian Revolutionists...” Having visited revolutionaries in Paris and Geneva, Bose reached India in February 1914. Harnam Singh (of Sahri) was the other important revolutionary who shared with them this patriotic task : a former trooper of the 4th Cavalry in India, he had gone to China in 1904 and, three years later, reached Canada with Kumar. In 1908-1909 he attended school at Seattle, and went to Vancouver as Kumar’s guest. In a letter to Das, in July 1913, Kumar described Harnam as the leader of the revolutionary movement in Vancouver. Owing to his friendship with Harnam, Baba Gurdit Singh of the Komagata Maru affair knew well this zealous group and, prior to his expedition, had received from Das names and addresses of the leading Jugantar figures like Atulkrishna Ghose and Satish Chakravarti who worked under Jatindranath Mukherjee. Harnam was deported from San Francisco on 26 September 1914.