Pandurang Khankhoje

In News: Speaker Om Birla will unveil a statue of the freedom fighter and agricultural scientist during his visit to Mexico.

Who was Pandurang Khankhoje?

• He was born in Wardha, Maharashtra. As a student, Khankhoje was an ardent admirer of the French Revolution and of the American War of Independence
• The Hindu reformer Swami Dayanand and his Arya Samaj movement, which called for a spirit of reform and social change, became the hero to a young student group led by Khankhoje.
• He was inspired by Bala Gangadhara Tilak.
• After spending time with nationalists from Japan and China, Khankhoje eventually moved to Mount Tamalpais Military Academy in California as a student of agriculture.

What was his association with the Indian independence movement?

• Khankhoje was one of the founding members of the Ghadar Party, established by Indians living abroad in 1914, mostly belonging to Punjab.
• While in the US, Khankhoje met Lala Har Dayal, an Indian intellectual teaching at Stanford University.
• “Har Dayal had begun a propaganda campaign, publishing a newspaper that featured patriotic songs and articles in the vernacular languages of India. This was the seed from which the Ghadar Party would emerge”.

How did Khankhoje reach Mexico?

• The Mexican Revolution of 1910 had led to the overthrow of the dictatorial regime, and this inspired Khankhoje.
• Along with the Indian workers, militant action was planned by Khankhoje in India, but the outbreak of the First World War halted these plans.
• He then reached out to Bhikaji Cama in Paris, and met with Vladimir Lenin in Russia among other leaders, seeking support for the Indian cause.
• However, as he was facing possible deportation from Europe and could not go to India, he sought shelter in Mexico.
• He was appointed a professor at the National School of Agriculture in Chapingo, near Mexico City.
• He researched corn, wheat, pulses, and rubber, developing frost and drought-resistant varieties, and was part of efforts to bring in the Green Revolution in Mexico.

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Source: Indian Express

Previous Year Question

Q.1) Consider the following freedom fighters: (2022)

1. Barindra Kumar Ghosh
2. Jogesh Chandra Chatterjee
3. Rash Behari Bose

Who of the above was/were actively associated with the Ghadar Party?

1. 1 and 2
2. 2 only
3. 1 and 3
4. 3 only

Q.2) He wrote biographies of Mazzini, Garibaldi, Shivaji and Shrikrishna; stayed in America for some time; and was also elected to the Central Assembly. He was? (2018)

1. Aurobindo Ghosh
2. Bipin Chandra Pal
3. Lala Lajpat Rai
4. Motilal Nehru