The greatest Indian conspiracy against British Raj which not only funked britishers with fear but inspired generations of revolutionaries to carry on the freedom struggle was The Hindu-German Conspiracy also called The German Plot of India.
The Hindu German conspiracy was a series of plans by Indian nationalist groups to attempt Pan-Indian rebellion against the British Raj during World War I, formulated between the underground revolutionaries and exiled or self-exiled nationalists in America and various European countries. The Ghadar party in US and The Indian Independence commitee in Germany.
Germans supported the conspiracy financially and militarily, so it was named after it. The original plan consist of 3 major parts-
1. Simultaneous revolution in other British colonies like Burma and Singapore along with India.
2. Multiple revolt activities in the Northern India under Gadar Party, which later came to be known as The Gadar conspiracy. Similar activities to be hosted in Eastern India all across Bihar, Bengal and Odisha under a secret underground society Jugantar. The last series of attack would be taken up by Indian soldiers of British army from within under leadership of Jugantar’s Commander in cheif Bagha Jatin.
3. German navy ships’s direct attack over Andaman Islands and Madras, which will be supported by Indian freedom fighters jailed in prisions.
All this was to be undertaken simultaneously, coordinated by Indian Independence commitee formed in Berlin. The conspiracy was planned to trigger a national mutiny on lines of 1857 mutiny.
The information on the plans was implemented by the Berlin Committee headed by Virendranath Chattopadhyaya and the German military attaché Franz Von purchased a huge consignment arms to be sent to India by sea. $200,000 worth of small arms and ammunition were arranged for its shipment to India on port of Karachi,Balasore, Chittagong through San Diego, Java, and Burma.
The arsenal included 8,080 Springfield rifles, 2,400 Springfield carbines, 410 Hotchkiss repeating rifles, 4,000,000 cartridges, 500 Colt revolvers with 100,000 cartridges, and 250 Mauser pistols along with ammunition.
The mutiny was planned to take place on 21 st Feb 1915 but eventually spying of the information to Punjab CID led to arrest of prominent leaders of Gadhar Party.
Sensing leadership failure, Reshbehari Bose, Sachin Sanyal along with other Gadharites brought the D-day to 19th. Mutiny in Punjab was crushed on the 19th, followed by suppression of smaller revolts throughout North India.
According to the plan of 21st, the Singapore garrison managed to revolt openly and held out for some time before it was crushed six days later.The Burma plan too eventually failed. Mass arrests followed as the Ghadarites were rounded up in Punjab and the Central Provinces.
Key leaders of the conspiracy, including Kartar Singh Sarabha, V.G Pingle, Kanshi Ram, Bhai Bhagwan Singh, Ajit singh (Bhagat singh’s uncle) and others were arrested. While other leaders fled outside India. This failed attempt came to be known as The Gadhar Conspiracy.
After failed mutiny, there were number of trails held at in Lahore which came to known as Lahore conspiracy trails. Out of a total of 291 convicted conspirators, 42 were executed, 114 got life sentences and 93 got varying terms of imprisonment. 42 defendants in the trial were acquitted. The uncovering of the conspiracy also saw the initiation of the Hindu German Conspiracy trial in the United States.
On the other side Jatindra Nath muhkerjee and Jugantor cell of Bengal went underground to escape further damage of plan and decided to struggle further in August 15. To provide the Bengal group enough time so as to capture Calcutta with help of mutiny in Rajputana Regiment and Jat Regiment of Calcutta.
To prevent reinforcements from being rushed in, mutiny was planned for Burma with arms smuggled in from Neutral Thailand.This came to be known as Siam-Burma plan.
As the August approached, Bagha Jatin’s team was ready to attack Calcutta as soon as consignment of weapons arrived on different ports of western India. Jatin himself took the charge to recieve the bulkiest consignment arriving on Balasore port.
At the same time, German raid was planned at Andaman Islands and Madras port. The German officer Vincent Kraft was chief artitect of the plan turned out to be a double agent who leaked the whole plot to British Intelligence. As soon as the information reached British authorities, Police was dispatched to Balasore, Noakhali, Chittagong to arrest Bagha Jatin and his companions. The Burma revolt was brutally supressed.
At calcutta, Indian soldiers who participated in mutiny were shot in masses by British firing squad. Jatin and his companions continued to hide in forest of Mayurbhanj. A team of top British police officers were behind them chasing them all the way to Balasore. Police declared them as Bandits and kept a reward of 10,000 Rupees in order to get help of localities.
The contingent of Government forces sieged them from all sides. A gunfight ensued, lasting seventy-five minutes, between the five revolutionaries armed with pistols and a large number of police and army armed with modern rifles. The clash of arms ended with death of Chittapriya Ray Chaudhuri while Bagha Jatin was seriously wounded. Manoranjan Sengupta and Niren were captured after their ammunition ran out.
Jatin was seriously wounded. Manoranjan Sengupta and Niren were captured after their ammunition ran out. Jatindra Nath Mukherjee martyred due to heavy bleeding in Balasore hospital, Odisha on 10 September 1915 at the age of 36.
The failure of the revolution was a monumental tragedy for India in that she lost her best and the bravest in the process: Rash Behari Bose, Sufi Amba Prasad, Bagha Jatin, Raja Mahendra Pratap, Kartar Singh, Pingle, Sachin Sanyal, Harnam Singh, Maulavi Hafiz Abdullah and many others passed into oblivion as a result of this failure.
They were substituted by Mohandas Gandhi and his coterie who repeatedly collaborated with the British on one hand and left the revolutionaries on the otherside.