GOPIO welcomes Prime Minister move to convert Gadar Memorial into Museum

The recent announcement by the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that the Gadar Memorial in San Francisco will be upgraded into a "functional museum and library with a sculpture to honour the heroes of the great movement," has been welcomed by Indian Americans here. "This is a great welcome news," said California-based Inder Singh who is chairman of the Global Organisation of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO). Singh said the Gadar Memorial Hall in san Francisco, California is now the living symbol of the glorious sacrifices of the Gadarites who in the words of former President K R Narayanan, "faced untold misery and hardships in pursuit of their objective and even made the supreme sacrifice of laying down their lives."

Several organisations and individuals and descendants of Gadari Babas have been relentlessly pursuing with various agencies of the government and are overjoyed to hear the acknowledgement of Gadar Movement by the Prime Minister of India at the just concluded Pravasi Bharatiya Divas. "This year, we are celebrating the centenary of the Gadar Movement, which was a luminous spark of support in distant California for the struggle for independence being waged at home in our country. "Apart from commemorating it by the issue of a special postage stamp, we will also upgrade the Gadar Memorial in San Francisco into a functional museum and library with a sculpture to honour the Gadari Babas, the heroes of the great movement," Manmohan Singh said in his Pravasi Bharatiya Divas address on January 8 in New Delhi.

The Hindustan Association of the Pacific Coast known as the Gadar Party was founded in 1913 to free India from British slavery he said, adding the headquarters of the association was established initially at 436 Hill Street, San Francisco and named as "Yugantar Ashram." After India became independent, Gadar building was handed over to the Indian Consulate in San Francisco in 1949. The building was in a dilapidated condition and was not fit for use.

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