British Empire then was what proverbially is known as where the sun never set. It was practically spread all over the globe. The British claimed that it ruled its colonies with uniform policy and subjects of one colony could migrate to any other colony without any discrimination. But the practical facts were not so. The British empire practised double standards in dealing with its colonies. It had different rules for some colonies where only whites were preferred. They were namely, Canada, Australia and New Zealand which were being treated as exclusive white preserves especially of British origin. Blacks and brown people of other colonies were not allowed there on the pretext of some ridiculous local laws just designed to deny entry to the brown Asians.
One such law was used in British Columbia (Canada). The law was that Indians must reach the Canada shores in one ship to be allowed into Canada. It was forbidden to carry any Indian in Western Canada ships. If any ship carried any Indian on board, the ship was forced to carry back that Indian on its own expenses. So, the Indians could not travel to Canada. The immigration condition was merely to fool the world.
Baba Gurudutt Singh was a contractor in China. On his own expenses he hired a ship named ‘Kamagatamaru’ of Japanese origin. Mr. Singh put 500 Sikhs on the ship and reached Canada. Thus, he had met the ‘All Indians in one ship’ condition.
Now it was the test of Canada’s immigration law. But to the chagrin of Baba Gurudutt Singh and the other 500 Sikhs they were not allowed to put their feet on Canada soil. One of the passengers took recourse to the law. He appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada through a lawyer for permission to enter Canada.
The appeal was rejected by the all white Supreme Court.
The ship had to return with all the passengers aboard. The Canadian immigration condition fraud stood exposed to the world. The British government was obviously a partner in the fraud.
The Canadian newspapers commented on the incident. It became a subject of raging debate in Indian newspapers and magazines. Lala Lajpat Rai was angered at this colonial fraud of the British who were creating white empires within British empire. He met British newspaper editors and the Deputy Minister of India in the British cabinet to seek the justice. The policies of different colonies of the same empire were hollow and fraudulent, he argued.
Meanwhile, Canada’s parliamentary leader, Mister Henry Barsa had reached London on some official business.
The Deputy Minister for India, Mr. Charles Robert informed Lala Lajpat Rai that a meeting could be arranged between him and Mr. Barsa to talk about a solution. Lalaji met Mr. Barsa. Following which message were exchanged between London and Ottawa. Mr. Barsa claimed that the British authorities and the government were responsible for the discriminatory ‘Colonies Policy’. He said that he was helpless in the matter.
On the other side, when all the efforts failed Baba Gurudutt Singh returned to India a dejected man. He had lost all his money on ‘Kamagatamaru’ venture. The exposure of the double standards of the British was little consolation to him. His troubles didn’t end there.
In his own country ruled by the same double faced British, he was in for more troubles. He was fired at near Calcutta. The police filed several false cases against him to make his life miserable. That’s the kind of treacherous games the colonial rulers played with the natives of India.
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