Author: Josh, Sohan Singh
Title: Tragedy of Komagata Maru
Description: New Delhi, People's Publishing House, 1975. orig. wrappers. 21x14cm, vi,120,(3) pp.. 3pp photoplates.. Some wear. Good. ¶ On the abortive attempt made by 376 Punjabis to emigrate to Canada on board the Japanese steamship Komagata Maru. Only 24 were admitted, the remaining 352 were forced to return to India. ["This was one of several incidents in the history of early 20th century involving exclusion laws in both Canada and the United States designed to keep out immigrants of only Asian origin... Komagata Maru arrived in Calcutta on September 27. Upon entry into the harbour, the ship was stopped by a British gunboat, and the passengers were placed under guard. The government of the British Raj saw the men on Komagata Maru not only as self-confessed lawbreakers, but also as dangerous political agitators. When the ship docked at Budge Budge, the police went to arrest Baba Gurdit Singh and the 20 or so other men that they saw as leaders. He resisted arrest, a friend of his assaulted a policeman and a general riot ensued. Shots were fired, 19 of the passengers were killed. Some escaped, but the remainder were arrested and imprisoned or sent to their villages and kept under village arrest for the duration of the First World War. This incident became known as the Budge Budge riot.... the inflamed passions in the wake of the incident were widely cultivated by the Indian revolutionary organisation, the Ghadar Party, to rally support for its aims. In a number of meetings..,.used the incident as a rallying point to recruit members for the Ghadar movement, most notably in most notably in support of promulgating plans to coordinate a massive uprising in India..." - wikipedia].

Keywords: Canadian Punjabi Immigrants, Canada, Immigration, India South Asia, Political History, Sikh SIkhs, Punjab Punjabis, Immigrant Emigrant, Ghadar Party