Chandra Shekhar Azad

Chandra Shekhar Azad   (23 July 1906 – 27 February 1931), popularly known as Azad ("The Liberated"), was an Indianrevolutionary who reorganised the Hindustan Republican Association under the new name of Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA) after the death of its founder, Ram Prasad Bismil, and three other prominent party leaders, Roshan Singh, Rajendra Nath Lahiri and Ashfaqulla Khan. He is considered to be the mentor of Bhagat Singh and chief strategist of the HSRA.

Chandra Shekhar Azad was born on 23 July 1906 in Bhawra village, in the present-day Alirajpur district. He was then called Chandra Shekar Tiwari.  His forefathers were from the Badarka village near Kanpur (in present-day Unnao District. His mother, Jagrani Devi, was the third wife of his father Sitaram Tiwari. After the birth of their first son, Sukhdev, in Badarka, the family moved to the Alirajpur State. 

Chandra Shekhar spent his childhood in Bhawra, and learned archery from the tribal Bhils of the erstwhile Jhabua district, which helped him later on during the armed struggle against the British.

His mother wanted her son to be a great Sanskrit scholar and persuaded his father to send him to Kashi Vidyapeeth, Banaras to study. In December 1921, when Mohandas K. Gandhi launched the Non-Cooperation Movement, Chandra Shekhar, then a 15 year old student, joined.. As a result, he was arrested and sentenced to fifteen days' imprisonment with hard punishments. From that day onward, having announced his name to be Azad (The Liberated) in court, Chandra Shekhar Tiwari assumed the name of Azad.

After suspension of the non-cooperation movement in 1922 by Gandhi, Azad became more aggressive. He committed himself to achieve complete independence by any means. Azad also believed that India's future lay in socialism. He met a young revolutionary, Pranvesh Chatterji, who introduced him to Ram Prasad Bismil who had formed the Hindustan Republican Association (HRA), a revolutionary organisation. Azad was impressed with the aim of HRA, i.e., an independent India with equal rights and opportunity to everyone without discrimination of caste, creed, religion or social status. On introduction, Bismil was impressed by Azad, when Azad reportedly put his hand over a lamp and did not remove it till his skin burnt. He then became an active member of the HRA and started to collect funds for HRA. Most of the fund collection was through robberies of government property. He also wanted to build a new India based on socialist principles. Azad and his compatriots also planned and executed several acts of violence against the British. Most of his revolutionary activities were planned and executed from Shahjahanpur which was also the hometown of Ram Prasad. He was involved in the famous Kakori Train Robbery of 1925, in the attempt to blow up the Viceroy's train in 1926, and at last the shooting of J.P. Saunders at Lahore in 1928 to avenge the killing of Lala Lajpat Rai.

Azad made Jhansi his organisation's hub for some time. He used the forest of Orchha, situated 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) from Jhansi, as a site for shooting practice and, being an expert marksman, he trained other members of his group. Near the forest he built a hut near to a Hanuman Temple on the banks of the Satar River. He lived there under the alias of Pandit Harishankar Brahmachari for a long period, and started teaching children from the nearby village of Dhimarpura. In this way he managed to establish good rapport with the local residents. The village Dhimarpura was renamed as Azadpura by the Madhya Pradesh government.

While living in Jhansi, he also learned to drive a car at Bundelkhand Motor Garage in Sadar Bazar. Sadashivrao Malkapurkar, Vishwanath Vaishampayan and Bhagwan Das Mahaur came in close contact with him and became an integral part of his revolutionary group. The then congress leaders from Raghunath Vinayak Dhulekar and Sitaram Bhaskar Bhagwat were also close to Azad. He also stayed for sometime in the house of Rudra Narayan Singh at Nai Basti, as well as Bhagwat's house in Nagra.

The HRA was formed by Bismil, Chatterji, Sachindra Nath Sanyal and Shachindra Nath Bakshi in 1924 just after two year of the non co-operation movement. In the aftermath of the Kakori train robbery in 1925, the British clamped down on revolutionary activities. Prasad, Ashfaqulla Khan, Thakur Roshan Singh and Rajendra Nath Lahiri were sentenced to death for their participation. Azad, Keshab Chakravarthy and Murari Sharma evaded capture. Chandra Shekhar Azad later reorganized the HRA with the help of revolutionaries like Sheo Verma and Mahaveer Singh. Azad was also a close associate of Bhagwati Charan Vohra who along with Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, and Rajguru, helped him to transform the HRA into the HSRA in 1928 so as to achieve their primary aim of an independent India based on socialist principle.

In the last week of February 1931, Azad went to Sitapur Jail and met Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi. He hoped that Vidyarthi would involve in the case of Bhagat Singh and others as he had previously done in the Kakori conspiracy case. Vidyarthi suggested him to go to Allahabad and meet Jawahar Lal Nehru. If he could be convinced, Nehru would be able to persuade Gandhi to talk to the Viceroy Lord Irwin and reach an agreement with the British Government in the forthcoming Gandhi-Irwin Pact. Azad met Nehru on 27 February 1931 and asked for help in stopping the execution of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev. Nehru refused and told him to leave immediately. 

Azad proceeded to the Alfred Park and met with a revolutionary colleague, Sukhdev Raj. The police were notified of his location by an informer. Faced with armed police, Azad fired upon them. He was wounded in the process of killing three policemen and wounding some others. His actions made it possible for Sukhdev Raj to escape, after which Azad shot himself when he ran out of ammunition. The file related to Azad is preserved in C.I.D. Headquarters, 1, Gokhale Marg, Lucknow. The Colt pistol of Chandra Shekhar Azad is displayed at the Allahabad Museum within theChandrashekhar Azad Park. 

The body was sent to Rasulabad Ghat for cremation without informing general public. As it came to light, people surrounded the park where the incident had taken place. They made slogans against the British rule and praised Azad. 

He once claimed that as his name was "Azad", he would never be taken alive by police. 

Alfred Park, where he became "Shaheed", has been renamed Chandrashekhar Azad Park. Several schools, colleges, roads and other public institutions across India are also named after him.

Starting from Manoj Kumar's 1965 film Shaheed, every film or commemoration of the life of Bhagat Singh has featured the character of Azad.  Sunny Deol portrayed Azad in the movie 23rd March 1931: Shaheed. In the movie The Legend of Bhagat Singh, starring Ajay Devgan, Azad was portrayed by Akhilendra Mishra.

The lives of Azad, Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, Bismil and Khan were depicted in the 2006 film Rang De Basanti, with Aamir Khan portraying Azad. The movie, which draws parallels between the lives of young revolutionaries such as Azad and Bhagat Singh, and today's youth, also dwells upon the lack of appreciation among today's Indian youth for the sacrifices made by these men.

Communist Ghadar Party of India

Communist Ghadar Party of India

                                              The Communist Ghadar Party of India is a far-left political party that is committed to a revolution in India based on Marxism-Leninism.   
      The party was founded on 25 December 1980, as a continuation of the Hindustani Ghadar Party - Organisation of Indian Marxist-Leninists Abroad founded in Canada in 1970. The group had established a presence in Punjab during the 1970s. Initially the group identified itself with the Naxalite movement in India, especially in Punjab. However, by the end of the 1970s the group rejected the Three Worlds Theory and sided with Albania in the Sino-Albanian split.  The name of the party was inspired by the American-based Ghadar Party, formed by Indian revolutionaries in the early 1900s. Ghadar means revolt, a narrative abbreviation referring to Indian Revolt.

The party opposed the policies of the Communist Party of India (CPI) and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)) at the time, which according to CGPI had both adopted a policy ofparliamentarianism and support for the Soviet Union and the Naxalbari were fragmented. The party also adopted a policy of opposing 'national oppression', particularly in Punjab, Kashmir andManipur and rejected defense of the centralised India state.

In December 1990 they held their first congress where they reflected upon the collapse of the Soviet Union, declaring "we are our own models". They concluded that "it is the workers and peasants, women and youth, organised in their collectives, who should rule". They recognised the communist movement as one, and rejected social-democracy as a compromise between rightreaction and revolution and rejecting support for the Indian National Congress party against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The Second Congress was held in 1999, and the Third Congress in January 2005. At the latter the Constitution of the Communist Ghadar Party of India was adopted. The Fourth Congress was held in October 2010. December 25, 2010 marked the 30th anniversary of the founding the Party.

 

The work of CGPI is based on the theoretical thinking of Marxism-Leninism and guided by contemporary Marxist-Leninist thought. Contemporary Marxist-Leninist thought is the summation, taken in general form, of the experience of the application of Marxism-Leninism to the conditions of socialist revolution and socialist construction, to the struggle against modern revisionism and against capitalist restoration, against fascism, militarism, imperialism and medievalism. It is not the final form of Marxism-Leninism under the economy, empowerment of the people and the democratic renewal of India. 

The principle adopted at the First Congress that "we are our own models", let us emulate the best we have created.

"We are her masters!" — the Program adopted by the Second Congress of the Communist Ghadar Party of India in October 1998 was characterised by the slogan: "Hum hain Iske Malik! Hum hain Hindostan! Mazdoor, Kisan, Aurat aur Jawan!" — which means: "Workers, peasants, women and youth — We constitute India! We are her masters!"  

From its 3rd congress document it states: The challenge is to enable the working class to emerge as a united force that forges a powerful front with the peasants and all the oppressed. The challenge is to organise and lead this front to wrest political power from the hands of the exploiting minority and vest it in the hands of the people. The workers, peasants, women and youth of all the nations, nationalities and tribal peoples constituting India must be enabled and organised to set the agenda for the new society.  Titled: Towards the Rule of Workers and Peasants and a Voluntary Indian Union.

 In its research, CGPI states in its 3rd congress document:- India is seeking a place at the privileged high table, to carve up the world. The Indian big bourgeoisie, in pursuit of imperialist aims, is seeking closer collaboration with US imperialism as well as with the European Union and Russia. China is seen as a major competitor, while it could also be a potential collaborator. The Indian bourgeoisie is colluding and contending with other imperialist powers, seeking to expand its own sphere of influence in the world, especially in central and South-East Asia. Imperialism, the highest stage of capitalism, stands increasingly exposed as a system that cannot prolong its life without raining death and destruction on a colossal scale. It is being exposed as a system that is unable to sustain itself without militarisation and wars of conquest, without intensifying the degree of exploitation and misery of the labouring people, and without destroying entire nations and continents. Capitalist globalisation—through liberalisation, privatisation and fiscal stabilisation—has been exposed as nothing but unbridled robbery and plunder of the nations and peoples of the world in the interests of monopolies and financial oligarchs of a few big and emerging powers.

"Within the capitalist democracies, the regimes in power are openly showing their contempt for the well-being and rights of the working class and peoples. They are openly revealing themselves as the tools of finance capital and of the biggest and most aggressive capitalist monopolies. The political process of bourgeois democracy, in its parliamentary and presidential forms, stands exposed as a process designed to concentrate political power in fewer and fewer hands, to the exclusion of the vast majority of people. More and more people are protesting this exclusion from power. They are protesting the fact that they have no say, except to vote once in a few years to legitimise the rule of one or another party or coalition of the bourgeoisie. 

"The times are calling on all Indian communists to redouble their efforts to forge the political unity of the working class, peasantry, intelligentsia, oppressed nations and nationalities, tribal peoples, dalits, women and youth. Such political unity can and must be forged on the basis of uncompromising opposition to the bourgeoisie and its anti-social program; and for the realisation of the program for the Navnirman of India. This is a program for taking India out of the world imperialist system by making a clean break with the colonial legacy in economic and political terms. It is a program to establish the rule of workers and peasants, and a voluntary Indian Union, with the economy being oriented to fulfil the needs of the toilers and tillers. The Communist Ghadar Party of India, as a contingent of the international communist movement, is dedicated to adopt tactics that will pave the way for the defeat of the bourgeoisie and those who conciliate with it, and ensure the victory of the program for the Navnirman of India."  

It pointed out the necessity for the working class to contest outmoded Eurocentric ideas as well as the reactionary bourgeois rendering of Indian thought, so as to develop the theory of the Indian revolution. It also pointed out that the seeds of revolution exist within the existing conditions of perpetual crisis and revolutionary theory must illuminate the way to nourish those seeds so as to open the path to revolution and social progress. The starting point of all theoretical work is the study of the facts and phenomena that are being revealed. Revolutionary theory must assist in analysing the class struggle within the present conditions.

• ...aimed at exposing and defeating the lies, illusions and diversions that the bourgeoisie is throwing at the working class and other discontented masses of people. It must be waged against the enemy within the communist movement—that is, those who are acting as the channels of spreading bourgeois illusions among the workers and peasants.

• ...against the notion that some individual genius or expert group can develop theory and lead the ideological struggle. The struggle against this 'expert line' has been waged concretely by involving more and more comrades in the theoretical and ideological work. The Central Committee has made a conscious effort to create an enabling environment for wider and wider participation in this work. This has greatly contributed to the strengthening of the work of developing theory. In addition to enriching the line, this work has assisted in raising the ideo-political level of all members of the time-tested.

• ...have brought together a large number of comrades to spend extended periods of time on concentrated research work and theoretical treatment of selected topics.

• ...approach to the theoretical and ideological work, as in the case of all other time-tested work, has been to rely on the principle of collective leadership and individual responsibility.

• ...waged a stern struggle in the course of carrying out the theoretical and ideological work, in defence of the scientific method and implementation of agreed upon decisions of the collective. The scientific method consists in starting from facts and analysing the problem as it presents itself today, based on studying the documents of the Party and the Marxist-Leninist classics. A constant struggle has been waged against the tendency to start writing without studying the facts or the Party’s basic documents and the classics.

• ...adopted the immediate program of Navnirman (reconstruction, to build afresh, a thoroughgoing renewal), aimed at making the toilers and tillers the masters of India.

• ...have further laid bare the laws of capitalism as they operate at the present stage of monopoly capitalism and imperialism. We have investigated and exposed the content of the privatisation and liberalisation program and the so-called war against terrorism. We have further elaborated the theoretical considerations underlying the Program we have adopted. All this work has contributed to developing the content of the struggle of the working class against this anti-social program. It has contributed to the development of the programmatic calls of mass organisations of the peasantry, of the youth and of all the oppressed. 

Further areas include:

• In struggle against the anti-social offensive
• United struggle of the working class
• Worker-peasant alliance
• Against imperialist war, state terrorism and communal violence
• Building organisations to empower the broad masses of people
• Work among the youth
• Work towards the Restoration of Unity of all Communists

Ghadar Party

Ghadar Party 

                                                   The Ghadar Party   was an organization founded by Punjabi Indians,  in the United States and Canada with the aim to liberate India from British rule. The movement began with a group of immigrants known as the Hindustani Workers of the Pacific Coast. 

After the outbreak of World War I, Ghadar party members returned to Punjab to agitate for rebellion alongside the Babbar Akali Movement. In 1915 they conducted revolutionary activities in central Punjab and attempted to organize uprisings, but their attempts were crushed by the British Government.  After the conclusion of the war, the party in America split into Communist and Anti-Communist factions. The party was formally dissolved in 1948.

Ghadar is an Urdu/Punjabi word derived from Arabic which means "revolt" or "rebellion." As Kartar Singh Sarabha, one of the founders of the party, wrote in the first issue: "Today there begins 'Ghadar' in foreign lands, but in our country's tongue, a war against the British Raj. What is our name? Ghadar. What is our work? Ghadar. Where will be the Revolution? In India. The time will soon come when rifles and blood will take the place of pens and ink." The name of the organization was primarily spelled "Gadar Party" or "Ghadr Party" by its members.

The economic downturn in India during the early nineteenth century witnessed a high level of emigration. Some of these emigrants settled in North America. These included Punjabis as well as people from other parts of India. The Canadian government decided to curtail this influx with a series of laws, which were aimed at limiting the entry of South Asians into the country and restricting the political rights of those already in the country. The Punjabi community had hitherto been an important loyal force for the British Empire and the community had expected, equal welcome and rights from the British and Commonwealth governments as extended to British and white immigrants. These laws fed growing discontent, protests and anti-colonial sentiments within the community. Faced with increasingly difficult situations, the community began organising itself into political groups. A large number of Punjabis also moved to the United States, but they encountered similar political and social problems. 

The Ghadar Party, initially the Pacific Coast Hindustan Association, was formed in 1913 in the United States under the leadership of Har Dayal, with Sohan Singh Bhakna as its president. The members of the party were Indian immigrants, largely from Punjab.  Many of its members were students at University of California at Berkeley including Dayal, Tarak Nath Das, Maulavi Barkatullah, Kartar Singh Sarabha and V.G. Pingle. The party quickly gained support from Indian expatriates, especially in the United States, Canada and Asia

The party was built around the weekly paper The Ghadar, which carried the caption on the masthead: Angrezi Raj Ka Dushman (an enemy of the British rule). "Wanted brave soldiers", the Ghadar declared, "to stir up rebellion in India. Pay-death; Price-martyrdom; Pension-liberty; Field of battle-India". The ideology of the party was strongly secular. In the words of Sohan Singh Bhakna, who later became a major peasant leader of the Punjab: "We were not Sikhs or Punjabis. Our religion was patriotism". The first issue of The Ghadar, was published from San Francisco on November 1, 1913.

Following the voyage of the Komagata Maru in 1914, a direct challenge to Canadian racist anti-Indian immigration laws, several thousand Indians resident in theUSA sold their business and homes ready to drive the British from India. However, Hardayal had fled to Europe concerned that the US authorities would hand him over to the British. Sohan Singh Bhakna was already in British hands, and the leadership fell to Ram Chandra. Following the entry of Canada into World War I, the organization was centered in the USA and received substantial funding from the German government. They had a very militant tone, as illustrated by this quote from Harnam Singh:

No pundits or mullahs do we need

The party rose to prominence in the second decade of the 20th century, and grew in strength owing to Indian discontent over World War I and the lack of political reforms.

Ghadar activists undertook what the British described as political terrorism, but what was revolution to most Indians. Ghadar activists were responsible for bombs planted on government property.

In 1917 some of their leaders were arrested and put on trial in the Hindu German Conspiracy Trial in which their paper was quoted.

The Ghadar party commanded a loyal following the province of Punjab , but many of its most prominent activists were forced into exile to Canada and the United States. It ceased to play an active role in Indian politics after 1919. The party had active members in other countries such asMexico, Japan, China, Singapore, Thailand, Philippines, Malaya, Indo-China and Eastern and Southern Africa.

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Khaksar movement

The Khaksar movement was a  social movement based in Lahore, British India, established by Allama Mashriqi in 1931 to free India from the rule of the British Empireand establish a Hindu-Muslim government in India.

 Khaksari Flag

                                               

The Khaksar movement began at a time when the Indian economy was experiencing the effects of The Great Depression  This placed an unprecedented amount of stress on all classes of Indian society. After the second Round Table Conference on March 5, 1931 Mahatma Gandhi's civil disobedience movement was halted with the signing of the Gandhi–Irwin Pact. 

Around this time  Allama Mashriqi, a charismatic Muslim intellectual whom some considered to be of anarchist persuasion,  revisited the principles for self-reform and self-conduct that he had laid out in his 1924 treatise, entitled Tazkira. He incorporated them into a second treatise, Isharat, and this served as the foundation for the Khaksar movement,  which Roy Jackson has described as being "... essentially to free India from colonial rule and to revive Islam, although it also aimed to give justice and equal rights to all faiths." They took their name from the Persian words khak and sar, respectively meaning dust and life and roughly combined to translate as "humble person". 

Adopting the language of revolution,  Mashriqi began recruiting followers to his cause in his village of Ichhra near Lahore. An early report said that the movement began with 90 followers. It quickly expanded, adding 300 young members within a few weeks.  By 1942 it was reported that the membership was four million and Jackson remarks that it was "phenomenal in its success." 

In 1934 Mashriqi had founded Al-Islah, a weekly newspaper for the Khaksar movement. 

On 4 October 1939 after the commencement of the Second World War, Mashriqui, who was then in Lucknow jail, offered to increase the size of the organization to help with the war effort. He offered a force of 30,000 well drilled soldiers for the internal defense of India, 10,000 for the police, and 10,000 to provide help for Turkey or to fight on European soil. His offer was not accepted. 

Mashraqi was released from Vellore Jail on January 19, 1942, but his movements were restricted to Madras Presidency. He remained interned until December 28, 1942. Mashraqi arrived in New Delhi on January 2, 1942. 

Allama Mashriqi disbanded the Khaksar Tehrik on July 4, 1947.  He was referred as one of the two legends of Pakistan. 

In October 1947, after the creation of Pakistan, Mashriqi founded the Islam League. Khaksar Tehrik was revived after his death and now operates in different parts of Pakistan. 

 Mashriqi had said in 1931 that the Khaksar movement had three distinct objectives; "to emphasize the idea of superiority of God, unity of the nation and service to mankind" In addition Mashriqi outlined twenty-four principles on November 29, 1936 in an address to a Khaksar camp at Sialkot.  This initial speech and subsequent set of principles  encouraged members of the movement to serve the people regardless of their caste or religion; and Khaksars were expected to convince others to join the movement through "love and affection". 

On March 14, 1937 Allama Mashriqi again addressed a camp of Khaksars at Lahore to deliver the fourteen points that became the foundation of the movement.  These points solidified the notion that the movement was both dictatorial and militaristic. At this point its aims were to establish rule in India, and then perhaps over the entire world. However the success of Muslim rule in India necessitated certain conditions, such as: "(a) "regard for the religious and social sentiments of the various communities that live in this county: (b) maintenance of their particular culture and customs, and (c) general tolerance

All members, regardless of rank, wore the same uniform; a khaki shirt with khaki pyjama secured with a belt, together with military boots. The khaki colour was chosen because it was "simple and unpresuming" and "cheap and available for all", although in practice the uniforms were paid for by the Khaksar organization. They wore a red badge (akhuwat) on their right arm as a symbol of brotherhood. On their heads Khaksars wore the white handkerchief of the Arabs and Hajis, consisting of a white cloth the length and width of one and one-half yards which was secured around the head with a cotton string. 

All Khaksars carried a belcha (spade) as a sign of unity and strength and in imitation of Muhammad.  In addition the spade represents humility, in the same way that a spade is used to level the ground, the Khaksars used it as a symbol of the "leveling" of society. 

The flag of the Khaksars is a modified Muslim symbol; a crescent moon and star on a red background

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Khudai Khidmatgar

Khudai Khidmatgar   literally translates as the servants of God, represented a non-violent freedom struggle against the British Empire by the Pashtuns (also known as Pathans, Pakhtuns or Afghans) of the North-West Frontier Province.

Also known as "Surkh Posh" or "Red shirts", it was originally a social reform organisation focussing on education and the elimination of blood feuds known as the Anjuman-e-Islah-e Afghania (society for reformation of Afghans). The movement was led by Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, known locally as Bacha Khan or Badshah Khan. 

It gradually became more political as it was being targeted by the British Raj, by 1929 its leadership was exiled from the province and large numbers were arrested. Seeking allies in India it approached the Muslim League and Indian National Congress, rebuffed by the former in 1929 the movement formally joined the Congress party. Due to pressure across India, the British government finally released Bacha Khan and lifted restrictions on the movement. As part of the Government of India Act 1935, limited franchise was for the first time introduced in the North-West Frontier Province. In the subsequent election, Bacha Khan's brother Dr.Khan Sahib was elected Chief Minister.

The Khudai Khidmatgar (KK) movement faced another crackdown for its role in the quit India movement after 1940, in that period it started facing increasing opposition from the Muslim League in the province. Its Congress affiliate won the 1946 election again, however it faced an increasing protest by supporters of the Pakistan movement. Amidst negotiations for the British departure from India, the Congress party agreed to the partition of India on the provision that a referendum was held to ascertain whether NWFP would prefer to be part of the new state of Pakistan or India. Realising they were in an untenable position the KK movement decided to boycott the referendum which allowed an easy victory for the Pakistan vote. The KK movement faced a backlash from the new Pakistani government following partition, its government was dismissed and the movement banned.

At the beginning of the 20th century Pashtun society was colonized, stagnant, violent, worn down by feuds, inequalities, factionalism, poor social cooperation, and plain ignorance.  Education opportunities were strictly limited. Pashtuns are Muslims; and religious leaders and Mullahs were known to have told parents that if their children went to school, they would go to hell. Khan stated that “the real purpose of this propaganda” was to keep Pashtuns “illiterate and uneducated”, and hence his people “were the most backward in India” with regard to education.  He also stated that by the time Islam reached his people centuries earlier, it had lost much of its original spiritual message.

Formed out of the society for reformation of Pashtuns (Anjuman-e-Islah-e-Afghan), it initially targeted social reformation and launched campaigns against prostitution. Bacha Khan as its founder seemed to be influenced by the realisation that whenever British troops were faced with an armed uprising they eventually always overcame the rebellion. The same could not be said when using non violence against the troops.

The movement started prior to the Qissa Khwani bazaar massacre, when a demonstration of hundreds of non violent supporters were fired upon by British soldiers in Peshawar. Its low point and eventual dissipation was after Pakistan's independence in 1947 when the Muslim League Chief Minister Abdul Qayyum Khan banned the movement and launched a brutal crackdown on its members which culminated in the Babra Sharif massacre. At its peak the KK movement consisted of almost 100,000 members.

Initially the movement focussed on social reform as a means of improving the status of Pashtuns against the British. Ghaffar Khan founded several reform movements prior to the formation of the Khudai Khidmatgar, the Anjumen-e Islah ul-Afghan in 1921, the farmers' organisation Anjuman-e Zamidaran in 1927 and the youth movement Pashtun Jirga in 1927. Trying to further spread awareness on Pashtun issues Abdul Ghaffar Khan founded the magazine Pakhtun in May 1928. Finally in November 1929, almost on the eve of the Qissa Khwani bazaar massacre the Khudai Khidmatgar were formed. 

Khan drew his first recruits from the young men who had graduated from his schools. Trained and uniformed, they served behind their officers and filed out into various villages to seek recruits. They began by wearing a simple white overshirt, but the white was soon dirtied. A couple of men had their shirts dyed at the local tannery, and the brick-red colour proved a breakthrough, it was this distinctive colour that earned the Khudai khidmatgar movement activists the name "the Red shirts" or surkh posh.

Volunteers who took the oath formed platoons with commanding officers and learned basic army discipline. The volunteers had their own flags: red in the beginning, later tri-colour and bands: bagpipe and drums. The men wore red uniforms and the women black. They had drills, badges, a flag, the entire military hierarchy of rank and even a bagpipe corps.

Khan set up a network of committees called jirgas, named and modelled after the traditional tribal councils. Villages were grouped into larger groups, responsible to district-wide committees. The Provincial Jirgah was the ultimate authority.

Officers in the ranks were not elected, since Khan wanted to avoid infighting. He appointed a salar-e-azam or commander-in-chief, who in turn appointed officers to serve under him. Other ranks included Jarnails (Generals). The army was completely voluntary; even the officers gave their services free. Women were recruited too, and played an important role in the struggles to come.

Volunteers went to the villages and opened schools, helped on work projects, and maintained order at public gatherings. From time to time they drilled in work camps and took long military-style marches into the hills.

Under the influence of Abdul Ghaffar Khan the movement advocated non-violent protests and justified their actions through an Islamiccontext. Khan did not find Islam and non-violence as incompatible. Despite that the movement was intrinsically non-sectarian. In more than one occasion when Hindus and Sikhs were attacked in Peshawar, Khidmatgar members helped protect their lives and property.

“The Holy Prophet Mohammed came into this world and taught us ‘That man is a Muslim who never hurts anyone by word or deed, but who works for the benefit and happiness of God's creatures.’ Belief in God is to love one's fellow men.” – Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan

“There is nothing surprising in a Muslim or a Pathan like me subscribing to the creed of nonviolence. It is not a new creed. It was followed fourteen hundred years ago by the Prophet all the time he was in Mecca.” – Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan

Pledge of the Khudai Khidmatgar

Example 1 

• In the name of God who is Present and Evident, I am a Khudai Khitmatgar.
• I will serve the nation without any self-interest.
• I will not take revenge (badla) and my actions will not be a burden for anyone.
• My actions will be non-violent.
• I will make every sacrifice required of me to stay on this path.
• I will serve people without regard to their religion or faith.
• I shall use nation-made goods.
• I shall not be tempted by any office.

Example 2 

In the presence of God I solemnly affirm that:

1. I hereby honestly and sincerely offer myself for enrollment as a Khudai Khitmatgar.
2. I shall be ever ready to sacrifice personal comfort, property, and even life itself to serve the nation and for the attainment of my country's freedom.
3. I shall not participate in factions, nor pick up a quarrel with or bear enmity towards anybody. I shall always protect the oppressed against the tyranny of the oppressor.
4. I shall not become member of any other organization, and shall not furnish security or tender apology in the course of a non-violent fight.
5. I shall always obey every legitimate order of my superior officers.
6. I shall always live up to the principles of non-violence.
7. I shall serve all humanity equally. The chief objects of my life shall be attainment of complete independence and religious freedom.
8. I shall always observe truth and parity in all my actions.
9. I shall expect no remuneration for my service.
10. All my services shall be dedicated to God, they shall not be for attaining rank or for show.

The Oath of the Khudai Khidmatgar

• I am a Servant of God, and as God needs no service, serving His creation is serving Him,
• I promise to serve humanity in the name of God.
• I promise to refrain from violence and from taking revenge.
• I promise to forgive those who oppress me or treat me with cruelty.
• I promise to refrain from taking part in feuds and quarrels and from creating enmity.
• I promise to treat every Pasthun as my brother and friend.
• I promise to refrain from antisocial customs and practices.
• I promise to live a simple life, to practice virtue, and to refrain from evil.
• I promise to practice good manners and good behavior and not to lead a life of idleness.
• I promise to devote at least two hours a day to social work.
• I put forth my name in honesty and truthfulness to become a true Servant of God.
• I will sacrifice my wealth, life, and comfort for the liberty of my nation and people.
• I will never be a party to factions, hatred, or jealousies with my people; and will side with the oppressed against the oppressor.
• I will not become a member of any other rival organization, nor will I stand in an army.
• I will faithfully obey all legitimate orders of all my officers all the time.
• I will live in accordance with the principles of nonviolence.
• I will serve all God's creatures alike; and my object shall be the attainment of the freedom of my country and my religion.
• I will always see to it that I do what is right and good.
• I will never desire any reward whatever for my service.
• All my efforts shall be to please God, and not for any show or gain.

Anthem of Khudai Khidmatgar

We are the army of God
By death or wealth unmoved,
We march, our leader and we,
Ready to die!

In the name of God, we march
And in his name, We die
We serve in the name of God
God's servant are we!

God is our king,
And great is he,
We serve our Lord,
His slaves are we!

Our country's cause
We serve with our breath,
For such an end,
Glorious is death

We serve and we love
Our people and our cause
Freedom is our aim,
And our lives are its price.

We love our country
And respect our country
Zealously we protect it
For the glory of God

By canon or gun undismayed
Soldiers and horsemen,
None can come between,
Our work and our duty. 

British troops employed a wide variety of tactics against KK activists.

"The British used to torture us, throw us into ponds in wintertime, shave our beards, but even then Badshah Khan told his followers not to lose patience. He said 'there is an answer to violence, which is more violence. But nothing can conquer nonviolence. You cannot kill it. It keeps standing up. The British sent their horses and cars to run over us, but I took my shawl in my mouth to keep from screaming. We were human beings, but we should not cry or express in any way that we were injured or weak." -- Musharraf Din (Baldauf).

Another tactic employed against non-violent protesters who were blocking roads was to charge them with cars and horses.

In 1930, soldiers of the Garhwal Rifles refused to fire on non-violent protests led by Khudai Khidmatgars in Peshawar. By disobeying direct orders, the regiment sent a clear message to London that loyalty of India's armed forces could not be taken for granted to enact draconian measures. However, by 1931, 5,000 members of the Khudai Khidmatgar and 2,000 members of the Congress Party were arrested.  This massacre was followed by the shooting of unarmed protestors in Utmanzai and the Takkar Massacre followed by the Hathikhel Massacre.

In 1932, the Khudai Khidmatgar movement changed its tactics and involved women in the movement. This unnerved many Indian officers working in the region as in those days of conservative India it was considered a grave insult to attack women, more so in a conservative Pashtun society. However the brutality increased and in one case five police officers in Benares had to be suspended due to "horrific reports about violence used against young female volunteers".

The British bombed a village in the Bajaur Valley in March 1932 and arrested Abdul Ghaffar Khan as well as more than 4,000 Red Shirts. The British bombardments in the border area continued up till 1936-1937 because, “India is a training field for active military training which can be found nowhere else in the Empire", a British court concluded in 1933.

Other tactics ranged from poisoning to the barbaric as castrations were used against some Khudai Khidmatgar activists. 

After the anti-war resignation of Dr. Khan's Ministry in 1939 because of the events of World War 2, British tactics towards the movement changed to employ divide-and-rule tactics through the instigation of sectarian and communal tensions over brute force. Governor George Cunningham's policy note of 23 September 1942, called for the government to ‘continuously preach the danger to Muslims of connivance with the revolutionary Hindu body. Most tribesmen seem to respond to this’, while in another paper he commented about the period 1939–1943: ‘Our propaganda since the beginning of the war had been most successful. It had played throughout on the Islamic theme.

The movement was facing intense pressure by 1930 and the leadership under Ghaffar Khan was actively seeking political allies in India to help reduce the pressure on it by the British authorities. Previously in December 1928, Barrister Muhammad Jan Abbasi invited Bacha Khan to attend a Khilafat conference. The session ended badly with Maulana Shaukat Ali nearly being attacked by one member from the Punjab.

Despite the initial closeness between Ghaffar Khan and Ali, the harshness of their critique of Gandhi contrasted poorly with the patience shown by Gandhi in Ghaffar Khan's eyes. Another attempt was made by senior KK leaders to approach Sir Fazli Hussain a senior Punjabi leader of the Unionist party pleading for assistance against the crackdown which was dismissed.

The Congress subsequently offered all possible help to the Pathans in exchange on their part to joining the Congress party for the freedom struggle for India. This offer was put forth in the Frontier province, and was accepted by the Khudai Kidmatgars on August 1931. The move shocked the British authorities who were forced to ease pressure on the KK.

More, with the introduction of provincial autonomy under the Government of India Act 1935, The first limited election were held in NWFP in 1936. Ghaffar Khan was banned from the province. His brother, Dr. Khan Sahib, led the party to a narrow victory and became Chief Minister. Ghaffar Khan returned to Peshawar in triumph on August 29, 1937 on what the Peshawar daily Khyber Mail called the happiest day of his life. During the two year stint of the Congress party under Dr Khan Sahib as Chief minister, major reforms were introduced including land reforms, promotion of the teaching of Pashto and the release of political prisoners.

On Congress directive the ministries in eight out of eleven provinces resigned in protest against Britain's not promising India independence after the War. The decision to resign proved a pivotal moment in Indian history, in the Frontier it was instrumental in giving those groups that opposed the Khudai Khidmatgar movement the opportunity to broaden their constituency.

The KK's activists role in helping Subhash Chandra Bose's escape in 1943 has largely been ignored till recently. In 1943, Amir Khan Khattak along with four other people received Subhash Chandra Bose at Nowshera Railway Station. He had come to make his escape to Germany via Afghanistan. Disguised as a Muslim, Subhash was taken to Khattak's village Dak Ismailkhel on the request of Mian Akbar Shah from Faqir Chand's house in Peshawar. He stayed with him for two days before leaving in a Pashtun attire for the German Embassy in Kabul leading to his journey to Germany and finally Japan.Agha Haider Ali of the Afghan National bank, helped Bose get in touch with the Kabul authorities and with his travel plans. 

The increasingly liberal movement faced an increasing backlash from conservatives because of its support for the Congress party amidst growing support for the Pakistan movement. The decision of Dr. Khan Sahib to support his daughters marriage to a Sikh soldier led to some senior associates of Bacha Khan to leave. 

Similarly his son, Ghani Khans criticism of feudal landlords angered many conservative "Khans" and Nawabs, some formerly sympathetic to the movement. 

This coincided with a determined effort by the British Raj to discredit the movement with the assistance of mullahs and ulema allied with the British. The British Governor, Cunningham, instructed the big khans to meet each mullah on individual basis and tell him to serve the 'cause of Islam' for which he would be duly paid. The Mullahs were told that in case of good progress they would also be considered for government pension. A Cunningham policy note of 23 September 1942 reads: 'Continuously preach the danger to Muslims of connivance with the revolutionary Hindu body. Most tribesmen seem to respond to this', while in another paper he says about the period 1939-43: 'Our propaganda since the beginning of the war had been most successful. It had played throughout on the Islamic theme.

The Khudai Khidmatgar movement decline can be traced back to two decisions the first was the Congress decision in 1939 to resign from power in protest against British World War II policy. This move gave an opportunity to the Muslim League to develop and for the British authorities to alter their strategy.

In 1940, a split occurred within the Pakhtun Zalmey, the youth organisation affiliated with Bacha Khan's Khudai Khidmatgar movement. It occurred after Bacha Khan refused to accept the results of the internal party 1940 elections in which Salar Aslam Khan of Kohat won the contest as president of Pakhtun Zalmey with overwhelming majority. The refusal by Bacha Khan to accept Salaar Aslam caused a great damage to the party in southern districts of the province where Khudai Khidmatgars won all the seats of the provincial as well as national assemblies in the previous elections. Salar Aslam was also a member of the Forward Block and Bacha Khan's argument was that he could not trust anyone but his elder son, Ghani Khan, whom he wanted to lead Pakhtun Zalmey. "It was a mistake of Bacha Khan. He was not happy about his decision later, but had to argue that at that sensitive stage of the political struggle, he could only trust Ghani Khan. 

The party also faced attempts by the British Raj to discredit it by portraying it as an irreligious group trying to promote a pro Hindu and pro communist agenda.  Despite these attempts, the movements political wing contested and won the 1946 provincial elections.

An exception to the rule of non-violence occurred when Badshah Khan's son Ghani Khan on 26/27 April 1947 founded the breakaway group Zalmai Pukhtoon (Pashtun Youth), a militant, organisation of Pukhtoon youth, carrying fire-arms, the aim of which was to protect the Khudai Khidmatgars (Servants of God) and members of the Congress Party from violence feared at the hands of Muslim League activists. It had no connection as such with the Khudai Khidmatgars. Nehru’s fateful visit to the Frontier in October, 1946, and its tragic aftermath in a gradual erosion of the popular base of the incumbent Khan Sahib Ministry. Despite this, the movement stayed true to its non-communal leanings, when the red shirts came out to protect thousands of sikhs and Hindus worried they would be attacked in the increasing pre-partition violence between Hindus and Muslims. 

Pakistan's Independence in August 1947 marked the beginning of the end of the Khudai Khidmatgar movement. While the Congress government remained in power briefly it was eventually dismissed by the Governor under the orders of Pakistan's founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Dr. Khan Sahib was replaced by former Congressite Abdul Qayyum Khan. He successfully stopped an attempted rapprochement between Ghaffar Khan and Muhammad Ali Jinnah by stopping a planned meeting between the two citing security threats. With that, Jinnah gave Qayyum Khan a free hand in dealing with the Congress and the Khudai Khidmatgars. The crackdown that followed culminated with the Babra Sharif massacre. Despite the provocation and its obvious ambivalence over Pakistan's creation, the Khudai Khidmatgar leaders reconvened at Sardaryab on 3 and 4 September 1947 and passed a resolution  that stated "The Khudai Khidmagars regard Pakistan as their own country and pledge that they shall do their utmost to strengthen and safeguard its interest and make every sacrifice for the cause; The dismissal of Dr. Khan Sahib’s ministry and the setting up of Abdul Qaiyum’s ministry is undemocratic, but as our country is passing through a critical stage, the Khudai Khidmatgars shall take no step which might create difficulties in the way of either the Provincial or Central Government; After the division of the country the Khudai Khidmatgars sever their connection with the All-India Congress organization and, therefore, instead of the Tricolor, adopt the Red Flag as the symbol of their party."

You have thrown us (Khudai Khidmatgar) to the wolves.

—Bacha Khan addressing the Mahatma after Partition of India.

However Qayyum Khan and the central government had already decided that there would be no accord with the movement. The Khudai Khidmatgar organisation was declared unlawful in mid-September 1948, mass arrests followed and the centre at Sardaryab (Markaz-e-Khudai Khidmatgaran), built in 1942, was destroyed by the Provincial Government. This crackdown ultimately led to the Babra Sharif massacre. 

The movement was also hit by defections as party members switched sides out of fear or for benefit. Those members that wished to survive politically rallied behind a former ally, turned opponent of Qayyum Khan, the Pir of Manki Sharif. The Pir created a breakaway Muslim League, however, it proved no match for Qayyum who engineered his re-election in 1951. 

The movement lingered on till 1955 when it was again banned by the central government because of Ghaffar Khan's opposition to the One Unit. An aborted attempt was made to bring Ghaffar Khan into the government as a Minister as well as turning the KK movement into a national organization, however Ghaffar Khan turned down the offer. 

Although the ban on the movement was lifted in 1972, the Khudai Khidmatgar movement had been broken.

Criticisms

The Khudai Khidmatgar movement was a success in the terms of its opposition to British rule. However, the social effects of the movement have not survived. While the Ghaffar Khan family maintains a hold over the political philosophy of the movement, its history has largely been wiped out from official memory in Pakistan. The movement has also been criticized for its opposition to partition, and by that virtue the creation of Pakistan. 

As a result it has been seen as a secessionist movement in Pakistan, and in the 1950s and 1960s it was also perceived as pro communist, an argument that was used by conservative elements to discredit it as anti-Islam. The movement's claim to total non-violence seems flawed as well; some critics argue that while the movement proved a success against the British, it like other non-violent movements would not have proved a success against another Imperial power. This is supposedly proved by its failure to pose a challenge to the Pakistani government amidst a crackdown that was far more brutal than any done by the British.  Others have also suggested that the Khudai Khidmatgar movement was not in fact as non-violent as its supporters would argue. Writers like Schofiled and Bannerjee have documented cases of attacks on British personnel and soldiers.