Previous Year Question

Komagata Maru was a Japanese steamship associated with the famous Komagata Maru incident of 1914.

A Punjabi businessman, Gurdit Singh, chartered the vessel. His purpose was to transport Indian passengers from Asia to Canada and challenge the discriminatory Canadian immigration restrictions then in force.

The ship reached Vancouver on 23 May 1914 carrying 376 passengers of Indian origin—340 Sikhs, 24 Muslims and 12 Hindus, most of them connected with Punjab.

At the time, Canada enforced the Continuous Journey Regulation, which required immigrants to arrive in Canada through an uninterrupted journey from their country of origin. In practice, this became an important mechanism for restricting immigration from India.

The passengers were forced to remain aboard the ship for nearly two months, and most were denied permission to enter Canada. After legal efforts failed, the ship was ordered to return and departed Vancouver for India on 23 July 1914.

After its return to India, a confrontation occurred between passengers and British authorities at Budge Budge near Calcutta. The incident intensified resentment against colonial rule among overseas Indians and became significant in the history of Indian nationalist and revolutionary politics.