Many Indians began living abroad with the rise of trade linkages. However, the severity of hardships on native Indians by British power resulted in hatred and anguish among non-resident Indians in Europe, America and Africa. They united themselves in various to raise concerns about Indians under despotic rule. Some of these personalities and their contributions are:
India House (Indian Home Rule society)
- It was an informal Indian nationalist organization that existed in London between 1905 and 1910.
- It was started by Shyamji Krishna Varma.
- India house ceased to be a potent organisation after its liquidation in the wake of the assassination of William Hutt Curzon Wyllie by a member of the India House by the name of Madan Lal Dhingra.
- This event marked the beginning of the London Police’s crackdown on the activities of the house and several of its activists and patrons, including Shyamji Krishna Varma and Bhikaji Cama moved to Europe where they carried out works in support of Indian nationalism.
- Some Indian students, including Har Dayal, moved to the United States.
- The network that the House founded was key in the nationalist revolutionary conspiracy in India during World War I.
Ghadar Party
- Ghadar party was a predominantly Sikh organization formed by Sohan Singh Bhakna & Lala Hardayal in 1913 in San Francisco.
- The party collaborated with revolutionaries inside India and helped them get arms and ammunition.
- Sohan Singh Bhakna was the first chairman of the Ghadar Party. The party published Hindustani Ghadar newspaper in Urdu and Punjabi language.
- The Komagata Maru incident in 1914 inspired several thousand Indians residing in the USA to sell their businesses and rush home to participate in anti-British activities in India.
- The party had active members in India, Mexico, Japan, China, Singapore, Thailand, Philippines, Malaya, Indochina and Eastern and Southern Africa.
Berlin Committee
- Berlin committee for Indian independence” was established in 1915 by Virendra Nath Chattopadhyay, including Bhupendra Nath Dutt & Lala Hardayal under the Zimmerman plan with the full backing of the German foreign office.
- Their goal was mainly to achieve the following four objectives:
- Mobilize Indian revolutionaries abroad.
- Incite rebellion among Indian troops stationed. abroad.
- Send volunteers and arms to India.
- Even to organize an armed invasion of British India to gain India’s independence
Komagata Maru incident
- It involved the Japanese steamship Komagata Maru on which a group of citizens of the British Raj attempted to emigrate to Canada in 1914 but were denied entry and on forced return to Calcutta (Present day Kolkata), India, they were fired upon by British police resulting in the killing of 20 Sikhs. The ship was chartered by Gurdit Singh, an affluent Punjabi businessman (Singaporean fisherman).
- Komagata Maru sailed from British Hong Kong, via Shanghai, China, and Yokohama, Japan, to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, in 1914, carrying 376 passengers from Punjab, British India.
- Of them, 24 were admitted to Canada, but the other 352 passengers were not allowed to disembark in Canada, and the ship was forced to return to India.
- The passengers comprised 340 Sikhs, 24 Muslims, and 12 Hindus, all British subjects.
- This was one of several incidents in the early 20th century in which exclusion laws in Canada and the United States were used to exclude immigrants of Asian origin.
Others
- During World War I, Raja Mahendra Pratap established the first provisional government of India at Kabul in Afghanistan in 1915. He was the president of the government and Maulvi Barkatullah was Prime Minister. Germany & Russia gave recognition to this government.
- Bhikaji Cama was a freedom fighter and political activist. She was born to an extremely wealthy Parsi family. She led the revolutionary movement from America and Europe for India’s freedom. At the International Socialist Congress held at Stuttgart (Germany) in 1907, she unfurled the first version of the Indian National Flag. She was known ‘Mother of Indian Revolution’. She served as private secretary to Dadabhai Naoroji.