Modern India

In the 19th and 20th century, a large number of Indians moved to foreign countries like America, Canada, Great Britain, South Africa, South-East Asia, etc. Many of them played an important role in India’s freedom struggle.
Role played by Indian diaspora in the freedom struggle of India:

• Indian intelligentsia in Europe:
  • Shyam ji Krishna Varma founded the “India Home Rule Society” in 1905 and a hostel ‘India House’ in London, which became the centre for Indian revolutionaries like Savarkar, Madam Cama, and Madan Lal Dhingra etc.
  • Madam Bhikaji Cama hoisted the Indian tricolour-flag in Germany in 1907. Later, she moved to Paris and started the Paris Indian Society. She wrote, published and distributed revolutionary literature, including Bande Mataram (in response to the Crown ban on the poem Vande Mataram) and Madan’s Talwar (in response to the execution of Madan Lal Dhingra). These weeklies were smuggled into India through the French colony of Pondicherry.
• Ghadar revolutionaries: Lala Hardyal and Sohan Singh Bhakna colluded with the Indian community in San Francisco and formed ‘Ghadar Party’ by 1913. The party played an instrumental role in distributing revolutionary news and poetry from different centres of the world such as Russia, Ireland, India, etc. It developed strong solidarity ties with Irish, Egyptian and other anti-colonial movements.
  • They acted as a link between the militant diaspora intellectuals and the activists in the Indian subcontinent. The Ghadar movement was helped by the Indian communities around the Pacific Rim to acquire money and arms.
  • Ghadar publicity about the infamous “Komagata Maru” incident fuelled the Punjabi Muslim soldiers of the Fifth Madras light infantry in Singapore to mutiny in 1915.
  • With the support of the Ottoman and German empires, rebels like Raja Mahindra Pratap, Maulana Barkatullah, Champakraman Pillai and others had set up a provisional government of India in Afghanistan in 1916 for coordinating an upsurge or uprising within the subcontinent.
• Indian prisoners of war: When South East Asia was invaded by Japan, about 45,000 Indian prisoners of war were captured from Singapore alone. These soldiers were used by Mohan Singh (captain), and later by Subhash Chandra Bose to form the Indian National Army (INA) to fight against British forces.
  • The INA trials became a galvanising point in the Indian Independence movement. It led to shift of loyalties in the serving army men, as observed in the mutinies of Royal Indian Airforce and Royal Indian Navy, after which a decisive shift in the British policy towards India’s independence was observed.

Overall, the Indian diaspora played a significant role in India’s freedom struggle, both in terms of raising awareness about the cause and providing support to the Indian National Congress and other organizations working towards India’s independence.