The Gorkhas in the Freedom Struggle of India

Title: The Gorkhas in the Freedom Struggle of India

Author: K KMuktan

Publisher: Concept Publishing, New Delhi, 2015 (First)

ISBN: 9789351251460

Pages: 159

India and Nepal share a unique culture and serves as a role model for other Asian countries in bilateral political relations. Citizens of both countries can visit the other and reside for any length of time without any legal formalities. They are also entitled to engage in trade and prosper. Consequently, a lot of Nepalis reside in India on a permanent basis without any feeling of alienation. The flow of populations had started around 1815 when the British unsuccessfully tried to annex Nepal to the empire of the English East India Company. The Gorkhas’ indomitable fighting spirit endeared them to the British who enlisted them in the army. The families of these service personnel followed them and Gorkha settlements sprang up at many places such as Dehradun, Darjeeling and Assam. Over time, they became thoroughly indigenous and fully integrated with the local community. They opposed the British when the spirit of nationalism emerged towards the end of the nineteenth century. Many Gorkhas participated in the country’s freedom struggle on an individual capacity led by Gandhi. The Gorkha soldiers of the British Indian army, which was defeated in Malaya and Singapore during the Second World War, also changed sides along with their other compatriots and joined Subhas Chandra Bose’s Indian National Army (INA). They fought against their former masters and reached the gates of India at Imphal and Kohima. This book takes stock of Gorkhas’ contributions in these two areas of freedom struggle. K K Muktan is a retired bureaucrat-turned author who was born and brought up in Assam. He served in the Assam and Meghalaya civil services and had acted in the capacity of district sessions judge. Himself a Gorkha, he has authored another book on Indo-Nepalese socio-cultural dimensions.

Muktan clears a general confusion among the people of the difference between the terms ‘Nepali’ and ‘Gorkha’. Here in this book, both words are interchangeably used and the author assures us that there is no harm in doing so. ‘Nepali’ is the geographical epithet used for a person who is a national of Nepal. In the strict sense, ‘Gorkha’ is an ethnic term derived from Lord Gorakhnath, the patron saint of the principality of Gorkha in Nepal. So, technically all Gorkhas are Nepali, but not vice versa. The origin of Gorkha settlement in India can be traced back to 1815 when the East India Company started recruiting Gorkha sepoys for Indian army immediately after the Treaty of Segauly. With the two world wars, the recruitment assumed added momentum and the soldiers settled in India. The British encouraged Gorkha population to grow in India with a view that the children of these Indian Gorkhas could be recruited to the military. They established Gorkha Regimental Homes at several army headquarters in 1864 to provide accommodation for the Gorkha families. The author estimates the present Gorkha population in India to be around six million. Article 7 of the Indo-Nepal Treaty of Peace and Friendship 1950 granted the nationals of both countries the same privileges in the matter of residence, ownership of property, participation in trade and commerce, movement and other privileges of a similar nature. No passport or visa is required to cross the open border. Many Gorkhas still serve in the Indian army and Muktan affirms that India is forever safe in the hands of loyal and redoubtable Gorkha soldiers.

In 1942, Singapore fell to Japan and 45,000 Indians were taken as prisoners of war. Out of this, around 20,000 were Gorkhas. Subhas Chandra Bose had formed the INA to fight the British with Axis support. The POWs were given the choice between war and incarceration. Either they could join the INA and fight or remain under detention. There was not much to choose from and most of them sided with Bose’s army. The Gorkhas faced a dilemma. Their loyalty to their masters was legendary and to desert them now would be a deed extremely shameful to them. However, the author claims that they rose to the call of the Indian nation and realized that their ultimate loyalty should be to India, which is their motherland for the last four to five generations. However, British historians deny this claim and argue that only very few Gorkhas switched sides. Anyway, the INA eventually lost the war along with their Japanese allies and prominent Gorkha military men who served in it were brought to Delhi after the war and hanged after court martial. Gorkhas in India commemorate August 25 as Balidan Divas (Martyrs’ Day) to pay respect to Major Durga Bahadur Malla who was executed on that day at Delhi in 1944.

This book includes a brief history of India’s freedom movement as a backdrop to Gorkha participation in it. This narrative never rises above that of a high school text book in substance. Many Gorkhas participated in the struggle, especially so in Assam where many of them were employed as civilians in the tea estates and oil companies. The experience gained by eager participation in peaceful struggle was exported to Nepal itself to fuel the anti-Rana agitation. But this was brutally suppressed. The Gorkhas were also attracted to Arya Samaj, with its motto of swaraj, swabhasha and swadharma. Seeing the unity of Gorkhas, the British tried to sow seeds of discontent among them. They were classified into martial and non-martial battalions based on castes. This attempt to breed disunity and ill-feeling among them was realized by Gorkhas.

The book includes some anecdotes that bring to light the closely woven relationship between Gorkhas and the Indian national movement. Many of us wonder why India’s national anthem is in the Bengali language rather than Hindi. Subhas Bose, who was a Bengali, was very fond of the song Janaganamana penned by Rabindranath Tagore and used this as an anthem of the INA. This song was put into martial tune as we listen to today and orchestrated in full military band by Ram Singh Thakuri, a Gorkha bandmaster in INA. This was later recognized as the national anthem after independence. He had also composed the much popular marching song of INA called kadam kadam badhaey ja. The book also showcases life sketches of Gorkha freedom fighters, trade union leaders and politicians such as Ram Singh Thakuri, Bhakta Bahadur Pradhan, Bishnulal Upadhyaya and Dalbir Singh Lohar.

This book is truly special of its kind, displaying the sociopolitical links of an ethnic community that had settled in India from the early nineteenth century. However, this can only be termed an amateur effort when you look at its structure and depth of research. Many facts are needlessly repeated, sometimes half a dozen times, in various contexts. As can be expected, the author focuses only on the positive aspects of Gorkha presence in India and does not mention the First War of Independence 1857 when the Gorkhas fought with the British and Jallianwala Bagh 1919 where the soldiers who accompanied Reginald Dyer were Gorkhas handpicked for the purpose. But of course, it is true that they were only following superiors’ commands in their line of duty in support of their sworn allegiance to the British Crown.

The book is highly recommended.

Rating: 3 Star