Sardar Mewa Singh Lopoke, alias “Bhai Mewa Singh Lopoke”, was born in 1881 at Lopoke village in Amritsar into a AulakhJat family. He was the son of SardarNand Singh Aulakh, and had one brother who was named Dewa Singh Aulakh , he migrated to Canada in 1906 in pursuit of better job opportunities. He obtained a job in a lumber company in New Westminster.
Mewa Singh became a close associate of Bhag Singh, Balwant Singh and other nationalistic Sikhs in Vancouver. He raised funding for the construction of Vancouver’s first community gurdwara. He was baptised as a Sikh on June 21, 1908. The anti-Sikh immigration policies of the Canadian government, together with the prejudiced attitude of the press, the public, and politicians, created animosity among the Sikh community. The passengers of the KomagataMaru (Guru Nanak Jahaz) ship were denied admission to Canada as a result of this discriminatory policy. A British Columbia court ordered the government to send the ship back on July 6, 1914. The Ghadar Party in Vancouver planned to utilise the ship to transport revolutionary literature and weapons to India. For this reason, Mewa Singh and a group of other ghadarites travelled to Sumas, a city on the Canadian-US border. Mewa Singh was arrested and detained by police while returning home. He was forced to deliver testimony against Bhag Singh and other Ghadar Party members by British intelligence officer William Hopkinson, but he refused. He was fined $50 and released by the court.
With the outbreak of World War I, immigrant political activities picked up steam. Bela Singh, a Hopkinson tipster, assassinated Bhag Singh and Badhan Singh. Hopkinson attempted to sway the jury in the case against Bela Singh. He also threatened Mewa Singh, saying that if he did not testify in court in Bela Singh’s favour, he and his accomplices would be killed.
Hopkinson, according to Mewa Singh, was responsible for the deaths of Bhag Singh and Badhan Singh. Hopkinson appeared in court on October 21, 1914, to depose in favour of Bela Singh. Hopkinson was shot four times by Mewa Singh at point-blank range. He died on the spot. Mewa Singh surrendered himself to police officials. Authorities in Canada tried to prove that Mewa Singh was insane and that he murdered Hopkinson under the influence of Ghadar Party members. A large number of ghadarites were rounded off. Mewa Singh, on the other hand, admitted to being solely responsible for the murder. Court proceedings began on October 30, 1914, and finished on January 11, 1915. Mewa Singh made unequivocal remarks regarding racial prejudice, British slavery, and the harsh treatment of immigrants by Canadian immigration authorities in his statement before the judges. He said:-
“My religion prohibits me from harbouring ill will towards anyone, and I had no animosity towards Mr Hopkinson. He was a ruthless oppressor of the poor. As a devout Sikh, I couldn’t bear witnessing wrongdoing against my countrymen and the Dominion of Canada. This is what drove me to murder Hopkinson and endanger my own life. And I will approach the scaffold with the same eagerness as a hungry infant approaches his mother.”
On January 11, 1915, approximately 400 Sikhs gathered outside the New Westminster Jail, where Mewa Singh was executed. After he was hanged, Mewa Singh’s body was turned over to the crowd of Sikhs in attendance. From there, the procession of nearly 400 carried the body for three kilometres until they arrived at Fraser Mills, where they had received permission to cremate Mewa Singh’s body.
The Khalsa Diwan Society of Vancouver built the community kitchen in Mewa Singh’s honour and named it ‘Shaheed Mewa Singh Hall’.Also In 2015, the 100th anniversary of Mewa Singh’s martyrdom was commemorated by the Prof. Mohan Singh Memorial Foundation. Taking place at the old British Columbia jail site in New Westminster at 7:45 AM – the same location and time of Mewa Singh’s execution – members of the Sikh community paid tribute and respect to Mewa Singh for his sacrifice and contributions to the Ghadar Party.
References :-
- Johnston, Hugh (Summer 1988). “The Surveillance of Indian Nationalists in North America”. BC Studies. 78: 18.
- Pooni, Sohan Singh (2009). Canada De GadriYodhe (in Punjabi). Amritsar: Singh Brothers. p. 71.
- Johnston, Hugh (1998). “SINGH, MEWA”. Dictionary of Canadian Biography. 14. University of Toronto/Université Laval.
- MEWA SINGH, LOPOKE (C. 1881-1915)”. Komagata Journey: Continuing the Journey. SFU Library. 2012