Declare Sept 29 as ‘Komagata Maru Day’: Ex-MP Tarlochan Singh to Mamata Banerjee

Former Rajya Sabha MP Tarlochan Singh has urged West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to designate September 29 as “Komagata Maru Day” — a gesture to commemorate the tragic events of 1914 at Budge-Budge Ghat, Kolkata.

In his letter, Singh chronicled the “historic saga” of the steamship Komagata Maru — renamed Guru Nanak Jahaz by its passengers — which carried 376 Punjabi immigrants, including 340 Sikhs, to Vancouver in May 1914. Due to exclusionary Canadian immigration laws, most passengers were denied entry and detained offshore for two months before being forced to return to India. Upon their arrival at Budge-Budge Ghat on September 29, the British police attempted to arrest community leaders aboard the ship and in the melee killed multiple passengers.