Gurdit Singh's Initial Idea
| “ | The visions of men are widened by travel and contacts with citizens of a free country will infuse a spirit of independence and foster yearnings for freedom in the minds of the emasculated subjects of alien rule. | ” |
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—Gurdit Singh |
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Gurdit Singh Dhillon, from Sarhali (not to be confused with Gurdit Singh Jawanda, from Haripur Khalsa, a 1906 Indo-Canadian immigration pioneer), was a well-to-do fisherman in Singapore who was aware of the problems that Punjabis were facing immigrating to Canada due to certain exclusion laws. He wanted to circumvent these laws by hiring a boat to sail from Calcutta to Vancouver. His aim was to help his compatriots whose previous journeys to Canada had been blocked.
Though Gurdit Singh was apparently aware of regulations when he chartered the Komagata Maru in January 1914, he continued with his purported goal of challenging the continuous journey regulation and opening the door for immigration from India to Canada.
At the same time, in January 1914, he publicly espoused the Ghadarite cause while in Hong Kong. The Ghadar Party was an organization founded by Indians of the United States and Canada in June 1913 with the aim to liberate India from British rule. It was also known as the Hindi Association of the Pacific Coast.
Read more about this topic: Komagata Maru Incident
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