KHANKHOJE AND THE GHADAR MOVEMENT The history of the Indian Independence movement has not been written

in its entirety. For most of us it brings scenes of Jawaharlal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi, it brings to mind the epoch making and soul stirring philosophy of non-violence. The stirring scenes of multitudes asking the British to Quit India; this indeed is the story of our Independence. But behind all this there is more, much more; no movement can take place without foundations, without the preparation of the people. To my mind it all began in 1857, the great uprising that some historians would like to name as the First War of Independence and the many movements and rebellions that took place after that. The intellectual debates of people like Lokmanya Tilak, Lala LajPat Rai and Bipin Chandra Pal, the trilogy of Lal, Bal and Pal. There would be many movements which would finally culminate into 1947 and Indian Independence. The Ghadar Party was one of those; this was the only Independence movement that originated abroad, where all those patriots who left the comfort of their homes and newly found prosperity to return to India and fight the despotic rule of the British, only came back to death and imprisonment. Today in these living history series I am going to tell you about Pandurang Khankhoje, one of the founder members of the Ghadar
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Party. He was not only a dedicated student leader of the movement, he was also my father. I have the temerity to address a serious audience of history students, in spite of not being a historian, because I have lived with this story since my childhood. It is a story of patriotism, sacrifice, adventure and hard work, a story encompassing several continents. Khankhoje was born in Wardha, Maharashtra in 1886, he was brought up in a strict and orthodox brahminical way. But from childhood he rebelled, influenced by his grandfather Venkatesh Khankhoje (tatyajee) who had actually fought in 1857 alongside Tatya Tope, he dreamt of an independent India. A great admirer of Shivaji and Rani Lakshmi bai he could only think of an armed revolution. He set about training his Bal samaj and developing links with the many secret revolutionary groups in Bengal. This little group actively engaged in the Swadeshi movement making bonfires of foreign goods. By the time he finished High school his father had already received warnings from the friendly local police about his errant son, one more warning and his son would be in jail. Marriage in India is considered the cure for all ailments!!!! Even for revolutionary thoughts! His father promptly decided to marry him offKhankhoje promptly ran away. He then traveled to Pune to meet Lokmanya Tilak and ask his advice; he stayed with the great man for one

month. Khankhoje was advised to leave the country and travel to Japan. The Japanese Navy had inflicted a crushing defeat on the Imperial navy of Russia. Japan was the best place to learn the art of warfare, not India where after 1857; people were not allowed to carry arms of any sort. He arrived in Japan in 1906 without money or passport and set to work in any menial labour he could find. Practically starving he made contact with the Chinese revolutionaries of Dr Sun Yat Sen who in exchange for English lessons paid him enough to ward off starvation and taught him the use of firearms. Sun Yat Sen briefly met him and advised him to study agriculture. Indias famines had left a deep impression on Khankhoje, after Indias Independence, people would need to grow more food. Khankhoje started the India Independence League in Japan which was later taken up by the Bengali revolutionaries like Rash Behari Bose. One year passed and nothing much was achieved, he travelled steerage and without official papers with a bunch of Japanese labourers going to San Francisco to rebuild the city after the devastating earthquake of 1906. I do not have the time to tell you the problems and adventures of an Indian student on those first days in the United States; it was a question of hard work in any work he could get. He enrolled in Berkeley University, work and study has always been the mantra un the USA. His revolutionary

activities started there and then. He met Tarakhnath Das and other like minded students and started motivating any Indian he could find. The India Independence League and the Hindustanee Association were formed. A great believer in democracy and Independence he made it his goal to motivate all and sundry. His dream of an armed revolution had not left him and he joined the Mount Tamalpais Military Academy. He cleaned stables and did any menial work he could find, he had no inhibitions or thoughts about caste or uncleanliness, his only thought was Indias Independence. It was while studying in Tamalpais that he met and associated with the Mexican revolutionaries. During the holidays he would work carrying stones and help to lay a railway line where many Mexicans workers became his friends. In 1910 armed with a diploma in the military sciences, he then set out to study agriculture in Portland Oregon. It was here that the Ghadar movement crystallized. Pandit Kashiram a rich lumber mill owner who had left India because of his anti-British feelings employed many Punjabi Sikh workers who had left India in search of land to toil, in search of economic security and freedom. Sikhs known for their hard work were welcome immigrants in the USA; many were ex-servicemen who had served in the colonies. Here in this rich fertile atmosphere the movement thrived. The members of the

Ghadar used to meet on Sundays in the Gurudwaras and have heated discussions on the suffering of Indians in India. The members of this group now numbered in thousands, Lala Har Dayal was called to lead the political aspect of this movement. Lala Har Dayal a brilliant speaker, an intellectual par excellence organized them into several wings, bought a printing press and opened up the Yugantar Ashram; he shifted the head quarters from Astoria Oregon to San Francisco. The First World War was brewing. Har Dayal contacted the German Ambassador and asked for help in procuring arms and ammunition to fight in India for its Independence. Khankhoje led the secret wing dedicated to military training and bomb making, and the handling of explosives with the help of Punjabi ex-servicemen and people like Vishnu Ganesh Pingle. Khankhoje also kept his role as motivator or Pracharak as he used to call himself. In March 1914 Har Dayal was arrested, the Ghadar was in a spin, Pandit Kashiram and Sohan Singh Bakhna took over the leadership. In July 1914 the incident of the Steam Ship Komagata Maru took place, the Ghadrites proceeded to Vancouver to help. By August 1914 Britain was at War, the world looked in horror, USA remained neutral at that moment. The brave Punjabi Ghadrites were restless, they were geared to fight the British and saw this as an opportunity to go home and bring

revolution to India. Khankhoje in the middle of his studies left the University with the intention to go back home and fight. HINDUS GO HOME TO FIGHT THE REVOLUTION was the headline in the Astoria newspapers and Sir Michael Dwyer Gov of Punjab said that about 8000 immigrants had returned home. The valiant Punjabi Sikhs created many disturbances and many were arrested and executed, many were sent to Kala Pani: the Andamans cellular jail. This movement managed to unnerve the British. Khankhoje had another serious worry as usual he had no papers, no passport and little money. In New York he met Kadri Bey a Persian Officer, who was in reality Agashe a Maharashtrian. He was informed that a meeting was to take place in Constantinople with the Germans. Khankhoje left with Agashe posing as his Persian brother. In Constantinople the Germans organized two expeditions led by German officers one to Afghanistan, where the Ghadar declared its Independent Government Raja Mahendra Pratap as the President and Barkatullah as the Prime Minister. Wilhelm Wassmuss the German Lawrence as he was dubbed was the German officer in charge of the second expedition with Khankhoje and two other Indian revolutionaries. Khankhoje was on his way to fulfill his dream, bearing arms and ammunition he would train a small

army and enter undivided India via Baluchistan. The First World War was raging and General Percy Sykes was defending the borders against the Germans the gate to the east, as he called it. The theatre of war in Mesopotamia was grim. Khankhojes army of about 5000 strong (Indian Prisoners of war, Baluch tribals and Persians) was fighting a guerilla war in Persian Baluchistan. After many skirmishes they finally engaged in battle against General Percy Sykes, the superior strength and better training defeated what my father always called The Ghadar Army. Khankhoje was wounded and taken prisoner, on his way to a summary military trial and death, he managed to escape. He lived with the Persian tribes the Khashghais for about a year, when on a daredevil mission in 1919 he returned to India disguised as the secretary of a Persian prince. He met Tilak in Bombay. Tilak aghast scolded him for returning and sent him back. Disappointed he returned via Europe and met Mme Cama, who informed him about Virendranath Chattopadhyaya in Germany. Another phase of his life had begun. In 1920 Chattopadhyaya, Luhani and Khankhoje went to Russia to establish contacts with the newly formed Comintern. They had formed an Indian Revolutionary Committee, their mission to bring independence and democracy to India. The USSR, newly

formed had enough troubles of their own and did not want to annoy the British. This initiative came to naught. Khankhoje returned to Berlin with Chatto; besieged by the British secret service, penniless in a country defeated in war, Khankhoje left Berlin for Mexico. We do not know how and when he arrived in Mexico and sought his Mexican revolutionary friends. Sometimes in 1924 he was engaged to teach agronomy in the Chapingo school of agriculture, he had managed to complete his BSc and Msc and was on his way to complete his Phdwhen the war was declared. Khankhoje started the genetics department in Chapingo. The Mexican Chapter is another story.