Canada-based Prof Mohan Singh Memorial Foundation on Tuesday urged the Punjab Government to start a syllabus in its educational institutions, including schools and colleges, on the heroes of Gadar movement as a tribute to them for their sacrifice to free India.
The Foundation has also demanded opening a university in the name of Gadar patriots, besides naming the villages, schools, and streets in the ancestral places of those associated with the Gadar movement after their names
The demand came a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi named 21 islands of Andaman and Nicobar after Param Vir Chakra awardees.
“We had urged Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann last year to open a university in the name of Gadar patriots, but it has not been opened so far…We are going to meet the Chief Minister again to remind him about this promise…We are also going to demand to name villages, schools and streets in the ancestral places of those associated with the Gadar movement after their names,” said Foundation’s head Sahib Thind.
The Gadar movement started in 1913 with the formation of the Hindustan Association of the Pacific Coast with its headquarters in San Francisco, US. It later became a nationalist movement to liberate India with the force of arms from British colonialism.
The foundation, a secular non-political human rights organization, has also been demanding an official apology for the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in the British Parliament.
The Komagata Maru tragedy is a dark chapter in Canadian history. The foundation has been lobbying for an apology in the Canadian Parliament for more than two decades. On the insistence of the foundation, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau formally apologized in the House of Commons for the incident on May 18, 2016.
On May 23, 1914, a steamship arrived in Vancouver carrying 376 passengers who had hopes for a new life in Canada. After a long journey from India, the majority of the passengers — who were of Sikh, Muslim and Hindu origin — were denied entry into Canada due to the laws in existence at the time.
