Books on Ghadar Movement & Founder of 'Punjab & Sind Bank'

The early 20^th century Ghadar movement remains one of the most remarkable yet underexplored chapters of India’s struggle for independence. Spanning continents and languages, from San Francisco to Singapore, Vancouver to Panjab, it was an audacious attempt by early Indian migrants to ignite a global anti-colonial uprising. And yet, despite its scale and sacrifice, it has largely faded from public memory—overshadowed by later events, miscast as a Panjabi affair, or confined to commemorative clichés. In this context, a new book The Ghadar Movement: A Forgotten Struggle by Rana Preet Gill is an engaging effort to bring the movement back into national conversation. In his review, Harish Jain says Gill's narrative begins with the Battle of Plassey in 1757 and races through India’s revolutionary ferment across regions and decades. From Sohan Singh Bhakna and Kartar Singh Sarabha to lesser-known names like Darisi Chenchiah, she tracks a range of actors and regions who gave the Ghadar its truly pan-South Asian character. Gill’s writing is crisp and accessible, with short chapters that read like newspaper columns—snappy, self-contained, and often illuminating. She covers wide ground, connecting Bengal to Panjab, Andhra to Maharashtra, without falling into regional pigeonholes. This breadth is a significant achievement for a subject so often misrepresented. Another coffee-table book on the life of one of modern India’s most illustrious bankers, Sardar Dr. Inderjit Singh, takes note of some of the foundational aspects of banking as an industry, but it will be remembered above all for the transformation of this vital industry into a service, or sewa, which can be said to be the credo of the Sikh faith. The protagonist helmed the Punjab & Sind Bank for more than two decades. The coffee table book is a tribute to the many aspects of this most unusual personality who has also been looked upon as the ‘banker saint’. Written by his youngest son, Sardar Tejbir Singh, the book is a son’s homage at one level, at another it takes the reader into realms to which his father truly belonged.