The legacy we uphold : Gorkhas in Freedom Struggle

Ambika Rai

Gorkhas are ‘brave’! This imposition of an imagery limits or portrays the entire community in a monolithic manner. The popular narratives uttered frequently in society are mostly created by the ruling class, and as they have a strong campaign machinery, these narratives spread widely too.
Britishers identified the Kharia & Sabars as a "criminal" tribe, as they did identify Gorkhas as "brave". But can a community as a whole be identified in such a homogeneous manner? This narrative of 'brave' revolves around the idea of the Gorkhas as an exclusive ethnic group juxtaposed with the liberal nationalist imagination of the ‘Indian nation’. ‘Brave’ are those in history who serve the purpose of the then ruling class. And it goes on changing with the handover of the baton of rule.
But is it that black and white? People in a community are of different types. Various aspirations, dreams, livelihood steer the lives, and the objective reality as well as ideological beliefs often pave the thought processes. So we need to tear apart this veil and look upon deeply into the narrative.
We need to denounce this colonial construction of the Gorkha identity, which is prevailing till date. The ‘glory’ of fighting (for the masters) on the borders of the countries all over the world, doesn’t at all corroborate with the repression unleashed by the same masters, while demanding the recognition of identity. Let us not ignore the sacrifices made, but we would like to view the history from the other side. We are in a peoples' struggle now. So let us shed light from that angle. Here is an account of Gorkha peoples' participation in the freedom movement in British India. 

In the year 1907, the ‘leaders’ of the Hills submitted their charter for a separate administrative setup outside Bengal for the first time. They consisted of the retired army and police officers, who were supported by the landed aristocrats and rich traders. Their leader was S. W. Ladenla, an Additional Superintendent of Police in Darjeeling. They expressed their loyalty towards the British and stated their dislike about the ‘nationalist movement’.

But it is interesting to note that, almost at the same time, the partition of Bengal and the Swadeshi movement gave birth to a strong anti-British movement and the wave of which started to entangle the Gorkha people too. A number of revolutionary magazines were published from the different parts of the country. Gorkha Sathi was published from Kolkata in 1907. The editor of this Nepali magazine was Pritiman Thapa and Han Singh Thapa, the publisher. Pritiman Thapa gave a call to Gorkha soldiers to fight against the British in India. Regarding Thapa’s acts, the Commissioner of Police in Calcutta sent a telegram to the Director of Criminal Intelligence on May 28, 1907. It reads: “A Nepalese, Prithiman Thapa, addresses a meeting at Calcutta Square, 27th. Evening, about 200 present, advocated publishing monthly newspapers for distribution to Gorkha soldiers to ascertain situations and their duties for the motherland, case of poverty in India and true connection between Gorkhas and Bengalese and English. Unfortunately Nepali gentleman visiting Calcutta found difficulty in mixing with Bengalese not knowing Bengali. He will strive to bring Bengalese and Nepalese together....” (Foreign Dept. External lB Proceedings, Sept.1907, Nos. 1019, National Archives of India)

Parasmani Pradhan, Suryabikram Ghewali, Dharanidhar Sharma and many others established Nepali Sahitya Sammelan, aimed at the development of Nepali language and literature. And in 1920, they placed the demand for self rule within Bengal. During this time, Gandhian non cooperation movements started flourishing in the tea plantations, under the leadership of Dal Bahadur Giri and other educated Nepalis like Partiman Singh Lama, Savitri Devi, Putali Devi, Agam Singh Giri, Man Bahadur Giri, Bhagat Bir Tamang. In the entire course of the struggle for Independence, Gaga Tshering Dukpa, Mitra Sen Thapa, Major Durga Malla, Chabilal Upadhyay, Captain Dal Bahadur Thapa, Jungbir Sapkota, Ram Singh Thakuri, Krishna Bahadur Mukhia and Pushpa Kumar Ghising were the others to mention. Dal Bahadur Giri was arrested in June and November of 1921 in Darjeeling on charges of anti-government activities. He breathed his last in 1924 at the age of just 36. Partiman Singh Lama, a close friend of Dalbahadur Giri, was a Forest Range Officer. He quit government service and plunged into the movement. He organized activists in Kurseong and Mirik. He was served a notice asking him to refrain from leaving Kurseong town without the permission of the police. Helen Lepcha, who was renamed as Savitri Devi by Gandhiji, was the prominent Gorkha woman freedom fighter from Kurseong. She helped Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose in the famous escape from imprisonment in Kurseong. She, along with her twelve Gorkha volunteers, was arrested and put behind bars.

On the 8th May 1934, Bhawani Bhattacharya and Rabindranath Banerjee, the young revolutionaries made an assassination attempt on the Governor of Bengal John Anderson at Darjeeling. Bhawani Bhattacharya was eventually sentenced to death and Rabindranath Banerjee sentenced to life in prison. Later other revolutionaries who were found co-conspirators were also sentenced to prison. Though it is not clear as to where they lived or who hosted them, it is known that they met frequently with the underground revolutionaries and supporters at the Nipendra Narayan Hindu Public Hall and practiced firing at the forests below the Shrubbery Park. Darjeeling was truly humbled by the blood of these great revolutionaries. A great spurt thence was noticed among the local people who took up the cause of the motherland.

Chobilal Upadhyay, a Gorkha, was the first president of the Assam Provincial Congress Committee (APCC). Bhaktabahadur Pradhan, Dalbir Singh Lohar, Pratap Singh Subba were the other prominent freedom fighters there. Upadhyay, along with others, hoisted the Congress flag at Behali Thana in 1942. The police arrested him and sent him to jail.

Under the leadership of Subhas Chandra Bose Gorkhas joined the Indian National Army (INA) and fought against the British government. He appealed to the Indian Nepalis in the Darjeeling hills to join him, at a meeting of the Bengal Provincial Congress held in Jalpaiguri in 1939. Responding to the appeal, an estimated 1,000 people from remote hill areas enrolled.

Captain Durga Malla, a Gorkha from Dehradun and an eminent freedom fighter of INA, was caught in forest of Malaya by the Japanese forces, and was hung in the central jail of Delhi on the 25 August 1944. He was charged with “Waging War against King emperor” and “Committing a civil offence contrary to the section 41” under the Indian Army Act. He fought alongside Captain Mohan Singh, who himself was the General and Commander in Chief of Army for liberation of India. Captain Mohan Singh even chose Captain Durga Malla as the Major of INA and he was assigned for gathering information from the British group.

Special mention must be made of Captain Ram Singh Thakuri, who remains immortal as the military musician for the Azad Hind government-in-exile because of the tunes he set to the INA’s marching songs.

Captain Dal Bahadur Thapa, another great Gorkha rebel was the commander of an elite unit within the INA. During the battle at the Kohima-Manipur Front, he was captured by the British forces and was charged with “Waging War” during a trial held at Red Fort, Delhi.

Major Purna Singh Thakur was the first Gorkha to join the initiative of Captain Mohan Singh. Puran Singh Thakur was given the task of recruiting troops from the Indian Prisoners of war for INA. In June 1942, he along with fellow members were captured in Rangoon and was imprisoned for as seven years.

The INA had a group comprising of teenagers known as ‘Bal Sena’ or ‘Janbaz Dal’. One of the functions of the group was akin to modem day suicide squads or human bombs. Indreni Thapa and Sabitri Thapa, the two Gorkha teenagers of ‘Janbaz’ reached the zenith of martyrdom by blowing up British tanks, making themselves human bombs by strapping mines on their bodies and crawling under the British tanks camouflaged as bushes. Reportedly, non other than Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose was the eye-witness of this supreme sacrifice.

Pushpa Kumar Ghising participated in the Naval Uprising of 1946. He resigned from the Navy on September 8, 1946 to plunge into the independence movement now on its ultimate stage. He got into the naval ammunition dump alone and taken its control after bringing down at least three British soldiers stationed there. The weapons thus procured were used by the Indian sailors to hold back the British for 5 days. On the fifth day, Ghising and his friends were arrested and taken to the Mulundi Jail where he was court-martialed but acquitted during the trial.

The name of such brave Gorkhas does not end here. The list holds other names too who participated in the freedom struggle, Bhaktabahadur Pradhan, Dalbir Singh Lohar, Pratap Singh Subba, Deo Narayan Pradhan, D. B. Pradhan, Jungbir Sapkota and Krishna Bahadur Mukhia among many others.

As a matter of fact, they are the ones who truly deserves to be called as “Brave” among the Gorkhas. But there may be just a handful of us who know about these people. Like every other freedom fighter of our country, they have fought for the freedom from the British clutch, so why their effort and sacrifices does goes out in vain? Don’t they deserve the place in history?