Thread by @Katz4B

🧵A British + Canadian - Max MacAuliffe & W Hopkinson connection lives on - #Khalistanis

Maharaja Ranjit Singh (Nov13, 1780-June 27,1839); reign 1801-1839 Sher-e-Punjab. 10y Fought his 1st battle. Defeated Zaman Shah Durrani x2. Conquered Lahore 1799. Consolidated various Misils; had 1of d strongest army-Khalsas & created 1 of the greatest empires, Afghanistan-China.

Duleep Singh (1839-1893) after multiple ascendants were deposed, 1843 was crowned as Maharaja at 5yo with his mother Rani Jind (Kaur) administering the empire.

British East India Company (BEIC) took advantage of the turmoil within the empire & launched several armed attacks. Annexed the vast Sikh Empire after 2 Anglo-Sikh wars which lasted several years 1945-48.

Brits won the 1st Anglo-Sikh war & retained Duleep S on the throne but under a British Council of Regency; imprisoned & exiled Rani Jind Kaur; he wasn’t allowed to her for 13 yrs -She came to live with him in England & told him about his religion & kingdom.

Brits won the 2nd Anglo-Sikh War, in 1849 BEIC compelled 10yo DuleepS to sign the treaty of Lahore & moved him to UP, away from the influence of his people to fully anglicized him; he was converted to Christianity before age 15 & moved to England in 1854.

Queen Victoria paid special attention to his education; he was denied d wish to go to University! She nicknamed him “Black Prince” & befriended by Queen Victoria, to whom the Koh-i-Noor diamond was also presented through him by Lord Dalhousie in June 1850.

Marj. Duleep Singh converted back to Sikhism but was never allowed to return to his people/land nor cremated. He died in a Paris hotel room at age 55yrs & buried in England.

Brits realized the strength of d Sikhs from fighting Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s Khalsa army & were grateful to the Sikhs' support in the 1857- 1st Revolutionary War & realized their usefulness as an effective resistance to the Afghans. Thus began another plan to divide & rule!

Max Arthur MacAuliffe (1838-1913) Irish born & educated, joined the British India service in 1862 & made Deputy Commissioner of Punjab, in 1882. Missionary conversions were allowed freely; 1881 Christians were around 4000 thousand in Punjab; 1882-1921 it jumped to 300,000.

MacAuliffe partly translated the Guru Granth Sahib into English & Sikh history (6 vol). Befriended the elite Sikh & furthered the building up of British loyalists among the Sikhs with land grants.

MacAuliffe's book-"..they (Sikhs) were physically & spiritually worthy of being collaborators with British in ruling India” -as Punjab would have been the entry point for Aryans as proposed by the British. The tall & fair Sikhs of the north were thus more like their "masters"

1872 Brits crush the uprising of the Namdhari Sikhs.
1873 -1st Singh Sabha- to deal with rising conversions & define/codify Sikhi - this was spoken at length by MacAuliffe

Foundation of Singh Sabha 1st in Amritsar, then another in Lahore in 1879 to deliberate on the question of Sikh identity- Sanatan Sikh were prominent in Amritsar & Tat Khalsa in Lahore.

Singh Sabha had the patronage of landowners, and prominent Sikhs & sought to solidify patronage of the English with Sikh education at the Sabha & ensured patronage by cultivating loyalty to the crown.

British Admin & MacAuliffe realize the connections between Sikhs & Hindus needed to be weakened & manipulated, & the various sects within the Sikhs- widening the fissures within the Sikhs would benefit the crown, just as they had done in Bengal.

The term MacSikh pertains to MacAuliffe’s Sikhs (as his translated version of Sikh history has been the materials to educate generations of Sikhs worldwide)
Max Arthur MacAuliffe changed his name from Michael to Max -becz of his admiration of Max Muller (& his work on Hinduism)

Kahan Singh Nabha-scholar, author & secretary to Maharaja Hira Singh; befriended by MacAuliffe in 1885; knew many languages, assisted MacAuliffe in translating the GGS & even traveled with him to England. 1932- the British government gave him the title of Sardar Bahadur

MacAuliffe impressed upon Nabha the need for a unique identity for d Sikhs - to distinguish them from the Hindus. 1898 Nabha published “Ham Hindu Nahi Hai” - clearly set d separation in print btwn Sikhs &Hindus by codifying what constitutes a Sikh & how they r not Hs

Anand Marriage Act,1909 - Nabha also helped to draft the act thus eliminating any connection to Hindu marriages or its practices in Sikh ceremonies.

Vir Singh-(1872-1957) furthered the gap between Sikhi & Hindus by cleansing various references to Hindu gods previously found in the GGS. Also added the practice of adding Kaur & Singh to the names of Sikhs.

1905 Was seen as a win for the loyalist Sikhs with the removal of the Hindu deities from the Har Mandir Sahib under the pressure of the Singh Sabha & supported by the administration.
Pic - photograph of Golden Temple from 1880

The North American Connections-
1910-Cheap labor was needed to lay RR lines on the west coast of Canada (a British colony)-many were enticed with promises of land & money to travel to faraway lands. Also worked in lumber mills & farms (California)

Indian migrant workers, who were mostly Sikh, traveled & settled in Vancouver, Canada & NW US (farmers). Many had been soldiers in the British Indian Army & were hard-working.

In Canada Laws were passed to deter the Indian migrant workers from coming - Indians must have $200 on landing in Canada- while other migrant workers needed only $45.
---continue with more on North West connections

Durgiana Mandir a 16th-century temple rebuilt in 1921 to look like the Harmandir Sahib - is a reminder for future generations of the connections the people of Punjab have with each other.

Continuing the Story of Sikhs in North West America & More on emergence of #Khalistanis
The Ghadar Movement-Sikhs who had fought for dBrits felt very insulted by these laws. They began connecting w/each other in Gurudwaras; network of Gurudwaras formed Up & down d west coast.

Ghadar Movement-Influenced by those in Europe, like Shymaji & Savarkar, d party was officially formed in 1913 under Sohan Singh Bhakna & Lala Har Dyal (printed newspaper) to Free India from British & to help ex-pats. Flag - red, yellow, & green - freedom, brotherhood, equality.

Nationalists like Taraknath Das & Harnam Singh gave the group their voice through a monthly publication “Ghadar” & articulated their plight. The publication made its way around the world to revolutionaries - but the Brits became aware & hatched their own plans.

The British intelligence was aware of the Ghadar revolutionary movement & decided to place a mole who could blend in easily with the ex-pats in Canada. William C. Hopkinson was that agent!

Hopkinson - ½ Brit & ½ Sikh was in the police service in Calcutta. Born in Punjab he identified more w/ his British father & held a deep disdain for the dark-skinned people from his mother’s side. He was tasked with penetrating the Ghadar party.
pic: officer to right-Hopkinson

Hopkinson infiltrated the Indian community in Canada under an Indian pseudonym & soon began attending the gurudwara meetings & reporting to his superiors. He was given more resources & instructed to cultivate informants from within the Gurudwaras & Sikh community.

Fluent in Hindi & Punjabi, he easily interpreted & worked with the Canadian Immigration Dept as well as US immigration services, while spying for British Intelligence. He enticed d informants w/ money & promise of land back home;

With the promise of land, money & support of the British govt. to entice them -He managed to turn Babu, Bela & Arjun Singh & they passed on the names & plans of the revolutionaries to the British spy.
The idea of #Khalistan was the brainchild of Hopkinson (Sandeep Sanyal)

Anti-Indian Immigration Laws of Canada were spurred on by racial bias of white Canadians in Vancouver. Ok w/Cheap labor to build RR but didn't want them as permanent residents. Continous Passage Act -immigrants needed to travel directly from their country of origin non-stop!

Komagata Maru,1914 -Protesting draconian immigration laws against Indians, 379 Indian nationalists & families of workers set sail from Japan on a coal ship. Hopkinson devised a plan to keep them out of Canada w/o using arms -by just refusing the ship to dock in Vancouver!

Maru was docked offshore. The Ghadarites provided d passengers w/food, supplies & a lawyer - but after 62 days they were forced to turn back. Hopkinson’s plan had worked & his informants had gathered the names of all the revolutionaries onboard. He passed it on to his superiors.

The Komagata Maru 1914 - video:



pic: The Sardar businessman-revolutionary Baba Gurdit Singh & his son. He had hired the ship Komagata Maru...

In India, passengers were promptly arrested; a riot broke out killing 22. 45 were hanged & others were imprisoned for life.
Any that made it back to Punjab were betrayed by Sikh loyalists.
On its way back they weren't allowed to disembark at any port-they were onboard for 6mos‼️

The Remaining members of the Ghadar vowed to take revenge & found out the moles among them - Hopkinson & 2 of his informants were shot to death by Ghadarites in Canada.
Bhai Mewa Singh who shot Hopkinson was hanged & his death anniversary is still celebrated in Vancouver.

WW1 broke out in Europe, d Ghaderites planned to return to Punjab & agitate against the Colonizers, but the network of British spies & those among their own who were loyalists exposed their plans. But They had sown d seeds of armed resistance & weren't disbanded till 1948

Story Returns to India - 1919
Lut. Gov. O’ Dwyer of Punjab (1912-1919), suggested Gandhi be deported to Burma but was opposed by British Administration. Drs S. Kitchlew & Satyapal, 2 prominent leaders, a symbol of Hindu-Muslim unity, organized a peaceful protest in Amritsar.

They were protesting the Rowlatt Act (which allowed protestors to be arrested and imprisoned for 2yrs w/o trial)
April 9, 1919, Ram Naumi was being celebrated when O’ Dwyer issued orders to Deputy Commissioner, Mr. Irving to arrest Drs Satyapal & Kitchlew.

Mr. Irving invited the 2 doctors to his house for tea & conversation, but within 30mins they were arrested. A crowd gathered outside the Deputy com’s house, but unprovoked they were fired upon, killing several protesters. Then a gathering of activists was planned for April 13.

April 13, Jallianwala bagh-to protest d arrests, Rowlatt act & celebrate Baishaki, a peaceful gathering was planned at 4:30pm.
O’Dwyer had ordered Gen Dyer to maintain order in d city. Dyer had gone around Amritsar announcing not to gather but not to d Bagh's side of town!

To crack down on revolutionaries gathering- Gen Dyer opened fire on unarmed people at the park for Baisakhi; soldiers kept firing until all d ammunition was spent. 1650 rounds were fired & over 1000 died, but the official number was reported as 379

Dyer was relieved of his army duties but continued to receive a pension; he was also honored with a sword w/ d words “Saviour of Punjab” engraved on it. Many Brits & elite Punjabi admirers collected money worth about £26,000 for Dyer.

The Akal Takht jathedar Giani Arur Singh (appointed by d Brits to Akal Takth) presented Dyer with a siropa (robe of honor) & a kirpan, soon after the massacre - this prompted the call for reforms & then d formation of SGPC.

Gov O’Dwyer was also given a fund of rupees 1.75 lacks collected by Punjabi elite like Kunj Bihari Thapar, Umar Hayat Khan, Chaudhary Gajjan Singh & Rai Bahadur Lal Chand. He was eliminated by Sardar Udham Singh (Ghadar party) in London in 1940.

The next year 32 Sikhs were listed by the British admin & were made part of the 175 members of the SGPC. This was the "more democratic" process that formed the SGPC in 1920. The British were pleased.