Born in 1884 in Calcutta, India, Taraknath Das was a pioneering anti-colonial activist deeply immersed in the struggle against imperialist British rule. He was recruited into an anti-British activist group as a college student in Calcutta, then fled to Japan, fearing arrest. After continuing to organize students at the University of Tokyo against the British, British authorities demanded his extradition. Instead, Das sought political asylum in the United States. Shortly after arriving, he enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley, and acquired a job as an interpreter at a federal immigration office. The INS (United States Immigration and Naturalization Service) assigned Das to a post in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Indian immigration was severely restricted at this time — not strictly through law, but through various bureaucratic and racialized mechanisms. The INS’ expectation was that Das would act as a gatekeeper, keeping potential South Asian immigrants from crossing the border from Canada into the United States. Instead, Das helped coach many prospective Indian-American citizens through the bureaucratic intricacies of their naturalization exams. At the same time, Das began his publication, the Free Hindusthan, which warned of continued injustices in India and the need to resist Indian exclusion in North American society. Threatened with the loss of his job if he continued publishing the Free Hindustan, Das chose political integrity and to keep his publication.
Das then moved to Seattle, then ventured across the country to attend Norwich University, a military institution in Vermont. There, he was closely surveilled by British, Canadian, and American intelligence officials, who warned the university of Hindu “agitators” and ultimately had Das expelled for his anti-British rhetoric. Finally, Das arrived in New York City, where he revived his Free Hindusthan and published alongside prominent Irish-American nationalist George Freeman’s Gaelic American. This alliance was particularly alarming for British intelligence officials, understanding the mass movement potential that an alliance between Irish and Indian communities could have.
The Free Hindusthan
First published by Taraknath Das in 1908, the Free Hindusthan shed light on the struggles of Indians under British colonialism. Issues often contained graphic images of malnourished Indian children and updated readers on key developments of the anti-colonial movement. In one of his earliest pieces, Das asserted the right to Indian independence, writing, “We have no room to live as human beings under the British flag either at home or abroad. Great Britain's present aspiration is to hold India under subjugation forever.” Much of Das’ work had broader anti-imperialist connections, and the Free Hindusthan shared printing press space with the New York-based Gaelic American, a similar publication working for freedom from British tyranny. Scholar of the Ghadar Party Maia Ramnath notes in her book Haj to Utopia that “the first two issues of Free Hindusthan had arrived enclosed inside a copy of the [Gaelic American], even before the partnership officially began.” Jointly, the two publications declared that “…resistance to tyranny is service to humanity and a necessity of civilization.”