British Intelligence Files

As early as June 1916, the British Intelligence Agency described Dr. Thind to be teaching sedition against the British occupation of India and thus, began a 24-year surveillance on his activities. While in Astoria, Oregon, Dr. Thind was an original member of The Gadar Movement, which stood for a Free and Independent India. While Dr. Thind did lecture for Indians to stand for freedom, at no instance did he ever advocate force or illegal activities.

This section outlines the yearly surveillance by the British Intelligence Agency on Dr. Thind, including his association amongst the founders of the Gadar movement.

The below text is an example of what may have prompted British Intelligence Agency to draw the conclusion that Dr. Thind was being an Indian “extremist.”

After reading the below text, please click here to view the British Intelligence Agency documents.

Salt Lake Visitor (Dr. Thind) Says People Are Tired of Oppression at Hands of British.

India will call her 300,000,000 people to arms against British oppression unless London makes satisfactory terms granting governmental liberty to India, it was affirmed Friday by Dr. Bhagat Singh Thind of Amritsar, India, who is visiting in Salt Lake.

There is a growing feeling of distrust toward the British among the people of India, and while it is India’s policy to be peaceful, continued submission to unjust rule will not be tolerated, and all of India will rise against it unless Britain makes immediate reconciliation, said the visitor.

Peace is the spirit of India, and force is the method of Europe, and if India must, she will adopt the European method of gaining her freedom, he added.

The doctor said India’s idea of freedom is a government that will permit her people to develop spiritually, and they ask nothing more. They do not wish to oust the British, they welcome them if they will grant India her rights, he continued. A status similar to that of Canada or Australia under Britain would be acceptable to India, he said, asserting that India is well able to handle her own affairs, and is as much civilized as any nation, her growth being spiritual, while that of the West is material.

It is India’s aim to spiritualize the entire world, and there is no suggestion of nationalism other than the brotherhood of all men, he said. In his opinion, a call to arms will hardly be necessary, for he believes England will compromise.