‘CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER’S APOLOGY ON KOMAGATA MARU INCIDENT’ –

What is the Komagata Maru incident?
Over a century ago, on May 23, 1914, a cargo steamship named Komagata Maru sailed into Burrard Inlet in British Columbia, Canada, on which Vancouver harbour is located. The vessel was owned by a Japanese company and chartered by a Singapore-based businessman named Gurdit Singh. On it were 376 passengers from Punjab — 340 Sikhs, 24 Muslims and 12 Hindus, who had come aboard in batches at the ship’s departure at Hong Kong on April 4 1914, subsequently, in Shanghai and Yokohama.

Q A
What is the Komagata Maru incident?
  • Over a century ago, on May 23, 1914, a cargo steamship named Komagata Maru sailed into Burrard Inlet in British Columbia, Canada, on which Vancouver harbour is located. The vessel was owned by a Japanese company and chartered by a Singapore-based businessman named Gurdit Singh. On it were 376 passengers from Punjab — 340 Sikhs, 24 Muslims and 12 Hindus, who had come aboard in batches at the ship’s departure at Hong Kong on April 4 1914, subsequently, in Shanghai and Yokohama.
  • The authorities at Vancouver, however, refused to allow the passengers to disembark. For two months, agitated negotiations took place between the passengers and Canadian immigration officials, during which the passengers endured extreme hardship and near starvation.
  • On July 23, the Komagata Maru was finally turned away, with all except 24 passengers — who were allowed to enter Canada — still on board. The ship made its way back to India, and docked at Budge Budge on the Hooghly near Calcutta on September 27. The British government saw their act of travelling to Canada as revolutionary and seditious, and after a scuffle with passengers, police shot dead 19 of them. Many others were jailed.
Why is it in news?
  • On April 11, 2016, the Prime Minister announced that he would “make a formal apology in the House of Commons for the Komagata Maru incident”.
How will Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s apology help?
  • Canada has a large Punjabi and Sikh immigrant population, who now constitute a powerful and successful section of Canadian society.
  • There are four Sikhs in Trudeau’s Cabinet, and the Prime Minister has quipped that he has more Sikhs in his government than the government of Narendra Modi.
  • However, the scars of Komagata Maru remain ingrained in the community’s historical consciousness even after 102 years, and they have repeatedly asked the Canadian governments to acknowledge and apologise. Trudeau’s gesture has, therefore, been universally hailed. The Punjabi community in Canada are very happy and successful, and form a dominant section of voters. The political parties in Canada realise that they need the support of Indians settled there.

WORD FROM TEAM GS-SCORE –

Relevant for

IR of GS:2; history of GS:1
For further detail Refer article titled “In Canada’s Justin Trudeau apology for Komagata Maru, an attempt to heal a century-old scar” from Indian express  dated April 14, 2016

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