![Sample our Politics & International Relations journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5947/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Politics-International-Relations.jpg"})
ABSTRACT
The paper examines how memories of Komagata Maru had travelled beyond Budge Budge and returned after these were selectively appropriated by Indians at different points of time. In Kolkata, the Punjabi Sikhs incorporated them in their anti-imperial struggle to recreate home memories through remembrances of community’s sacred text (Guru Granth), sacred space (gurdwara) and mother tongue (maboli). In spite of attempts at marginalizing the representations of Komagata Maru in Independent India, their incessant imagined journeys beyond the limits of Punjabi Sikhs widened the implications of Komagata Maru episode, elevated Budge Budge to a site of national pride. Reconstruction of the memories of many voyages of Komagata Maru not only underline how the Indian nation state was compelled to legitimize them on the eve of their centenary celebration, but also offers an entry point of reviewing of how these provide some fresh perspectives to the notion of Sikh diaspora beyond Punjab in India.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes on contributor
Himadri Banerjee was Guru Nanak Professor of Indian History, Department of History, Jadavpur University. He was also U.G.C. Emeritus Fellow in History, Department of History, University of Calcutta, Kolkata.
Notes
1. It refers to the Punjabi-speaking Sikhs who regard Punjab as place of origin and differs from native Sikhs who are mostly from Bihar and do not know Punjabi.
2. One can cite numerous examples of the community protesting against a range of Punjab political issues in the presence of the sacred text. For example, Singh (Citation1997); Murphy (Citation2012); Singh and Singh (Citation2012).
3. For the history of Komagata Maru episode at Budge Budge, see Waraich and Sidhu (Citation2014).
4. For its Punjab background, see Tatla (Citation2004).
5. It would be uncritical to portray that all Kolkata Sikhs were from the Jat caste. There were other social groups. Of them, Ramgarhias (a composite caste of carpenter, blacksmith and mason) merit special attention. They had certain differences with the politics of Jats and set up their own gurdwaras in some important locations of the city.
6. Information of this section of paper is based on information gathered from Malwinderjit Singh Waraich and Gurdev Singh Sidhu’s book cited in note 3.
7. For the history of these Sikhs of Kolkata, see Banerjee (Citation2009).
8. Abstract from a letter of 19 March 1929 by Mangal Singh, Criminal Intelligence Department (hereafter CID), Intelligence Branch (hereafter IB), 27 March 1929, West Bengal State Archives, Theatre Road (hereafter WBSATR).
9. For Gurdit Singh’s life-sketch, see CID, IB, 29 September 1926 and 17 August 1940; Special Branch (hereafter SB) File No.105/1927, WBSATR; Singh Citation1972, lxxiv–lxxv.
10. Activities of the Sikhs in Kolkata for six months (between November 1941 and May 1942): short notes on 10 important Sikhs, that is, Hazara Singh and others, Kolkata Police Museum (hereafter KPM), File No. SB/0446/05.
11. Signed statement of Bachan Das Sarma (10 and 11 September 1943), SB, File No.313/41. WBSATR.
12. Two well-known Sikh leaders who had their early education in Khalsa School, Bhawnipur were Manjit Singh Calcutta and Surjit Singh Minhas.
13. Gurdwara Garcha and Gurdwara Sant Kuthiya.
14. Daily Desh-Darpan, 17 January 1937, 29 December 1938, 26 November 1939 and 14 November 1940.
15. Cf. CID, IB, 27 April 1922 and 6 September 1923.
16. Dukhi is also credited with the publication of two other weekly, namely, Syndicate and Sanjiwaal. Singh Citation1978, 116–122.
17. See the earlier section of the essay.
18. I have had the privilege of consulting some of their old files preserved in Bhai Mohan Singh Vaid Library, Punjabi University, Patiala.
19. I would refer to their brisk activities in different engineering industries in and around Kolkata and Howrah. These were receiving regular orders from the military department. Besides, men such as Raghvir Singh remained to translate numerous British war notifications into Punjabi. These were mostly published in Desh Darpan which he had already managed to ‘purchase’ from Niranjan Singh Talib. I have heard some of these stories of translations from his son in Kolkata.
20. Gurmail Singh, a resident of Kolkata tracing his settlement to his great grandfather, told me that both his father and grandfather had stayed back in Kolkata during the war. His grandfather was a senior mechanic employed in the Braithwaite Co. He had already sent back all women members of his family to Punjab before the beginning of the war (26 February 2009).
21. Khushwant Singh (1999) doubts the large-scale Punjabi Sikh participation in 1946 Kolkata riot. A History of the Sikhs, Vol. II, 1839–1988, 270 and 449–450. For a different view, see Home-Political Department File No.1946. It is not a numbered file, but available for consultation in WBSATR.
22. Oral testimony Jaswant Singh, the former General Secretary, Prabandhak Committee Takhat Sri Harimandir, Patna Sahib (16 June 1995).
23. For the history of Punjab politics of these years, see Narang (Citation1983).
24. Personal interview of Bachan Singh Saral, 25 March 2009. He is a senior Punjabi journalist who had played an active role in mobilizing the movement for Punjab Suba in Kolkata.
25. Bishan Singh Shalimar, a successful Ramgarhia Sikh leader, courted arrest supporting the cause of Punjabi Suba in Punjab. It is likely that Punjab’s Ramgarhia leadership warned of him of his closeness to Jat-led struggle. After his release from jail and return to the city, he enthusiastically favoured the foundation of Ramgarhia Sewak Sabha (Citation2006). For details, see Ramgarhia Sewak Sabha, Kolkata, 40th Annual Samagam Souvenir (Calcutta: Ramgarhia Sewak Sabha, 2006), 10.
26. Telephonic interview of Ganesh Ghosh, 15 January 2016,
27. Tagore, who would surrender his knighthood on the occasion of Jallianwala Bagh massacre in 1919, was critical of British action of September 1914 at Budge Budge. He declined an official invitation to visit Vancouver (1916) on the ground that ‘he would not accept honour from a country which discriminated against its countrymen in its immigration policy’. For details, see Krishna Kripalani, Rabindranath Tagore – Biography, London: Oxford niversity Press, 1962A.
28. Nowadays, it is housed in Netaji Subhas Road, Budge Budge. Telephonic interview of Bachan Singh Saral, 16 January 2016. He is a member of the Komagata Maru Centenary Celebration Committee.
29. I have the privilege of seeing a letter of invitation for celebrating 67th anniversary of the Komagata Maru Day at Budge Budge Gurdwara signed by members of both the communities. It is seen through the courtesy of Ganesh Ghosh.
30. Telephonic interview of Ganesh Ghosh, 15 January 2016. Sri Ghosh is an octogenarian resident of Budge Budge. He is actively involved in the restoration and preservation of different historic sites of Budge Budge. See his Budge Budge Parichay: A Collection of Historical Events of Budge Budge, Budge Budge (n.d.).
31. Ghosh Citation1998, 19–20. Also see, Ganesh Ghosh, ‘Banglayai Ingrez O Sikh Sangharsha (Komagata Maru 1914) Ebang Aajo Jara Swantratata Senanir Aakhya Pelen Na’, Itihas Anusndhan, 21, 2006, 411–412. It was the summary of his larger paper which appealed for declaring martyrs’ of Komagata Maru as ‘Fighters for the cause of India’s Freedom’.
32. A copy of it dated 30 August 1997 was seen through the courtesy of Ganesh Ghosh
33. A copy of the letter No. EB/Rly/1-8 dated 28/02/2008 seen through the courtesy of Ganesh Ghosh.
34. The formation of Barnala Ministry in Punjab for a brief period in 1985 with the support of Congress may be an interesting indicator of it (see Puri Citation1985, 1681–1683).
35. In 1992, the Akali Dal boycotted the Punjab Assembly Election. In their Moga session of 1995, they celebrated the Golden Jubilee of the foundation of their party. In that meeting, it revised its earlier decision of boycotting the Punjab Assembly and passed a resolution endorsing the Dal’s participation in the democratic process of the country. Based on my telephonic dialogue with Harish K. Puri, Ludhiana, 27 January 2016.
![Supercharge Your Next Research Paper: Research and write your next paper with Jenni AI.]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/112441/MPU-humanities-jenniai.png"})