Radical Politics in South Asian America: The Ghadar Party
by INDUJA KUMAR
The model minority myth has perpetuated the idea that South Asian Americans, and Asian Americans in general, were always the type to sit in peace and avoid making trouble [1]. Even the model of what South Asians look up to for making political change — Mohandas Gandhi — was a peacemaker, not a rabble-rouser to say the least. Civil disobedience in South Asian discourse has always taken the route of following the rules, rather than working around them, consciously and unconsciously working towards the fomentation of the idea that South Asian Americans are destined to be doctors or engineers, something other races should follow suit in pursuing. Not only does this perpetuate racism against people of color, it also creates barriers between different communities of color; for example, such myths perpetuate anti-blackness in Asian American communities.
In light of such developments in modern South Asian America, it is important for us to examine the nature of radical movements led by South Asians in the United States. One such movement is the Ghadar movement that was born in San Francisco, associated with the creation of the Ghadar party. This was a party guided by revolutionary ideals that permeated American institutions such as Berkeley, which many of the Sikh Indians who were a part of the organization attended, in addition to the influences of the fight against traditional colonialism in the homeland.
The Ghadar Party was founded by Har Dayal, in San Francisco, who had close connections to the political organizations in the area. Ghadar itself means “rebellion”, and the Ghadar Newspaper proudly declared that Ghadar was the name of their party, and their true objective, their purpose was to be “the enemy of the British Raj” [2]. Dayal realized political revolution was not happening because Indians were too obsessed with “the struggles of living”, a problem that permeates South Asian America today as well [3]. Unlike many today, Har Dayal realized the need for an intersectional approach towards achieving equality, seeing the immigration struggles and quest for independence as parallel to the struggles of Black and Latinx people in the U.S.
Contrary to the expectations of many, the Ghadar Movement quickly took on large, very worldly plans to put its ideals into action. After the beginning of the First World War, the Ghadar started a new revolutionary front, focused on mobilizing Indians serving in the British Army across the world, through travel over the seas to recruit them [4]. However, British intelligence quickly caught wind of such moves, and detained Ghadarites. Eventually the Ghadar newspaper was banned in the British Raj and Ghadarites or other Indians were held in immigration detention centers when they came to the United States [5].
From the Ghadarites, Indian-Americans must learn the importance of radical politics. We should have the goal of achieving liberation for ourselves and other people of color. Radical politics means embracing a leftist agenda and advocating for ourselves. We cannot become steeped in traditional values, though we can use them as guiding principles in our journey towards equality.
This article has been published as part of a series of weekly writings by OCA Greater Phoenix’s student leaders for AAPI Heritage Month 2019.
Resources:
[1] Bhatia, Nishtha. “India’s Ghadar Party Born in San Francisco.”, Found: San Francisco Digital Archive, FoundSF, http://www.foundsf.org/index.php?title=India%27s_Ghadar_Party_Born_in_San_Francisco.
[2] “Ghadr, Sikh Political Organization.”, Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Ghadr.
[3] Sathian, Sanjena. “The Ghadar Party.”, The Daily Dose, OZY, https://www.ozy.com/flashback/the-ghadar-party/32884
[4] “The Ghadar Party: Freedom for India.”, The Pluralism Project, Harvard University, http://pluralism.org/religions/sikhism/sikhism-in-america/the-ghadar-party-freedom-for-india/
[5] Sohi, Soma. “The Ghadar Party.”, Tides Magazine, South Asian American Digital Archive, https://www.saada.org/tides/article/the-ghadar-party
