Unfolded Pages of the Ghadar Movement

By 1915, all the Ghadar revolutionaries had gone to their respective battlefronts. Only Ram Chandra remained at the Ghadar headquarters. Representatives of the Berlin Committee and the German Government established contact with him — among them were Chandra Kanta Chakravarti, Harambha Lal Gupta, and Ranjodh Singh. Of these, Ranjodh Singh went to Bangkok, while the other two stayed in America and Japan. Lala Lajpat Rai also spent these years in America and Japan.

On June 6, 1919, Lala Lajpat Rai wrote an article titled "Indian Revolutionaries in America and Japan." In it, he wrote of Ram Chandra:

"He (Ram Chandra) was bent upon driving out to India every Hindu of any consequence or influence in the United States."

That is, Ram Chandra was determined to send all influential Indian leaders from America back to India.

Ram Chandra sent a wealthy Ghadarite from Canada, Ram Singh Dhuleta, with a secret written message to the Far Eastern front. When Ram Singh reached Manila to meet Bhai Bhagwan Singh, the revolutionaries at the eastern front had already been arrested and defeated. Ram Singh was detained in Manila. When Bhai Bhagwan Singh removed the sole of Ram Singh's boot and took out Ram Chandra's "secret" message, it turned out to be nothing more than an editorial page from the Ghadar newspaper. Both men returned to Japan, where the authorities ordered them to leave. Ras Bihari Bose, having escaped from India, was living in Japan under the name "Thakur."

Bhai Santokh Singh travelled a long and perilous route — from Siam (Thailand) through Indo-China and China — before reaching Japan. These three Ghadarites eventually returned to America. At that time, Bhai Bhagwan Singh was the President of the Ghadar Party, Barkatullah the Vice President, Santokh Singh the General Secretary, and Ram Chandra the editor and manager of the Ghadar newspaper.

When the leadership met to review the party's work, Ram Chandra refused to attend the meeting or present the financial accounts. A General Body meeting was then called, demanding explanations from him on the following points:

• Present the party accounts and explain the benami (fictitious) plots bought in the names of his wife and his friends.
• Why were the party's secret documents and financial ledgers kept with Vishnu Das Bagai, known to be a British secret agent? Why did Ram Chandra maintain close relations with him despite knowing this?
• Explain how the British Government learned — through Vishnu Das Bagai — about the two ships Larsen and Maverick carrying arms for the Ghadar movement, leading to their capture.

The party wanted to avoid internal division, but Ram Chandra still refused to clarify. Instead, he built his own faction and published a notice in the Ghadar newspaper expelling Santokh Singh, Bhagwan Singh, and Ram Singh from the party. However, these men were well-respected figures. Ram Singh had donated property worth $150,000 to the Ghadar Party and had handed $40,000 in cash to Ram Chandra before leaving for India. Bhai Bhagwan Singh was a true patriot, though fond of good food and comfort — his only weakness.

The Ghadar Party's General Body expelled Ram Chandra from the organization and removed Bhagwan Singh Giani from the presidency. They took control of the office and the Ghadar newspaper. Ram Chandra, however, persisted and launched his own separate paper. This episode was a deeply tragic chapter in the Ghadar party's history and its effects lingered long afterward. Even today, many writers and politicians seek clarification on it.

The California State Senate Fact-Finding Committee later wrote:

"A Ghadar Party member named Ram Chandra succeeded Hardayal as editor of the Hindustani Ghadar News, but soon began operating it for his personal financial gain instead of for the organization. He sold news services to American papers and was regarded as a traitor by members of the party."

Lala Lajpat Rai also wrote about the Ghadar members, Ram Chandra, Vishnu Das Bagai, and the Berlin Committee representatives:

"Among the Ghadar Punjabis, the worst members were Ram Chandra and Harish Chandra. The Sikhs, as a whole, were pure, selfless, and disciplined. Even the weakest among them — Bhagwan Singh — was far better than Ram Chandra or Chakravarti or Gupta. He neither embezzled nor misused party funds. I have never met a Sikh revolutionary who was not honest, brave, and self-sacrificing. None ever misappropriated even a cent of revolutionary funds; instead, many lived lives of constant sacrifice and danger."

He further noted that many Ghadarites who went to India to fight for freedom handed over their entire property to the party — much of which ended up in Ram Chandra's hands. According to Lala Lajpat Rai, Ram Chandra had thousands of dollars of patriots' money and even told him that Ram Singh alone had entrusted him with $40,000. He was also receiving funds from the Germans. Lala Lajpat Rai also wrote, Vishnu Das Bagai, was Ram Chandra's full partner and he admitted to having been on the British payroll for six months.

Lajpat Rai described such pseudo-revolutionaries as mercenaries rather than patriots. He wrote, the Berlin Committee's representatives — Chakravarti and Harambha Lal Gupta — later became bitter enemies of each other, but were both of the same breed: men fighting each other merely to win German favor. Harish Chandra, son of Munshi Ram of Punjab, admitted to being a representative of the Berlin Committee and was arrested in Britain. Rai suspected that Harish Chandra had been bought off and was working for British intelligence in America — a suspicion later confirmed.

Of the true revolutionaries, Lajpat Rai wrote with great admiration:

"Among the Punjabis I met many fine men who acted with passion and sincerity, uncalculatingly throwing themselves into revolutionary work. They lived without greed, could travel in any class, wear any clothes, and never bargained for anything."

He praised genuine patriots such as Kedar Nath, Rishikesh, and especially M.N. Roy (whom he met in Japan and later in America) and Ras Bihari Bose.

In a New York lecture at the Vedanta Society (page 209 of his writings), Rai told Ras Bihari Bose,

"I shall keep myself distinct from those who seek to overthrow British rule by revolution."

Still, during his time in America and Japan, he interacted closely with these revolutionaries, including Ram Chandra himself. They invited each other to meals and shared finances. Ras Bihari Bose had deposited 19,500 yen with Lajpat Rai in Japan so the money would not be seized if he were arrested; Rai returned it later while in America. Ram Chandra also arranged $600 for the printing of Lajpat Rai's Young India, and even gave $3,500 (stating it was Ghadar Party money) to send for the legal defense of Bhai Parmanand and others imprisoned in India. However, this money never reached India — it was instead invested in Cuban sugar stock, and later discovered to have been used to construct Lajpat Rai Bhavan in Lahore.

Lala Ji visited the Ghadar Ashram only once — for a lunch held in his honor — and remained wary of their revolutionary entanglements.

From Lajpat Rai's writings, it is evident that collective leadership at the Ghadar headquarters had collapsed. Most leaders were away on missions, leaving Ram Chandra alone in charge. Of all the Ghadar leadership, only three survived and returned to America — and Ram Chandra, instead of welcoming them, refused to render accounts and sowed division within the party.

According to both the California Senate Report and Lajpat Rai's writings, Ram Chandra used the party's funds for his personal gain, while true Ghadar leaders were facing execution.

The Government's Home and Political Department Report (March 1915) makes it clear that Vishnu Das Bagai was a British agent, whose reports led to the hanging of revolutionaries like Harnam Singh Saini and Bhai Balwant Singh, and to the capture of the arms-carrying ships.

The San Francisco Conspiracy Case (1917)

During World War I, on April 7, 1917, the United States entered the war on the side of Britain and its allies. The very next day, Ghadar leaders and members of the Berlin Committee in America were arrested. Even the staff of the German Consulate in San Francisco was detained.

The arrested Ghadarites were tried under what became known as the San Francisco Conspiracy Case. The British government sent witnesses from India, including Ranjodh Singh and Charan Das.

When Ranjodh Singh appeared in court, he submitted a written note to the judge with three questions:

• Is America a free country?
• If I speak the truth, will I be pardoned?
• If I tell the truth, will I be handed over to the British?

The judge replied that America was a free country but he could not guarantee that no action would be taken against the witness or that he would not be handed over to the British. Hearing this, Ranjodh Singh fainted in court, refused to testify, and was returned to prison. There he was tortured, later sent to an asylum, and died insane.

The trial began on November 29, 1917, and the verdict was delivered on March 24, 1918. Nineteen Indians were among the accused. The British Government spent $3 million on the case. The Indian defendants collectively appointed Mr. Riley as defense counsel, while other Ghadarites raised funds across America. Ram Chandra, however, hired his own lawyer and refused to join the common defense, despite repeated appeals. The Defense Committee feared his separate argument would weaken their case, but he would not relent.

The defense contended that the Indian defendants had violated no American law — that they acted only to free their own country, following in the footsteps of George Washington.

Then came the shocking climax: during the court proceedings, Ram Singh Dhuleta drew a revolver from his turban and shot Ram Chandra dead. The U.S. marshal immediately fired back, killing Ram Singh. Both bodies lay in the courtroom as stunned silence fell. The judge adjourned the hearing; investigation followed, but police never determined whether the shooting was a joint Ghadar party decision or Ram Singh's personal act of vengeance.

Articles on Ram Singh Dhuleta's life later appeared in Kirti magazine, edited by Bhai Santokh Singh, which hinted that there were still matters too sensitive to reveal, to be written openly only when the time was right.

After full deliberation, the court pronounced the following sentences:

• Tarak Nath Das – 22 months
• Bhai Santokh Singh – 21 months
• Bhai Bhagwan Singh – 18 months
• Gopal Singh Mohi – 18 months
• Others – slightly lesser terms