Flash Back

Shyamji Krishna Verma and India House

History determines political events, which in turn, demand an institutional expression. So it was with the India House in London, the rendezvous of the revolutionaries abroad. Behind it, we find the indefatigable endeavour of one Shyamji Krishna Verma. He was a Kathiawari by birth, Arya Samajist by earlier faith, turned a revolutionary by the changing events around him. Ultimately, he died, only in the physical frame, on the 31st March 1930. His wife, Bhanumati, followed her husband, also in Geneva, on the 22nd August 1923. They had no children. Though a patriot to the core of his heart, he was not happy with the Congress. He did not join the British Committee of the Indian National Congress. It was in 1899 that one could detect his political inclination. The anti-British war had started in South Africa. Suddenly people found the name of one Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (not yet a Mahatma) practising as a Barrister in Natal. He chose to organise a pro-British Volunteer Corps. The Boer leaders were pained at it and Shyamji was ashamed because he was an Indian and both were Gujaratis. He was already an admirer of Herbert Spencer and his inspiring words; "Resistance to aggression is not only justifiable but also imperative." This became Krishna Verma's Jap-Mantra (Motto). In September 1904, standing before the grave of Spencer at his first death anniversary, he announced a few scholarships to outstanding students but on one condition that they would not accept any service under the government, which was exploiting and suppressing Indians. To facilitate his activities the India House was formally founded on a freehold land at High Gate, a healthy suburb close to tram and easily accessible to three railway stations. A galaxy of luminaries was present on the occasion, from Dadabhai Naoroji, Lala Lajpat Rai, and Madame Cama. Hyndman of the Social Democratic Federation presided and declared the House open. Hyndman told in his stirring words; "Unfortunately, Indians have failed to see the ruinous effect of the drain from India They have hugged their chains. They have been too content to be patronized. East India Association itself was captured by Anglo-Indians. All this will be the high privilege of the India House to largely remedy. From England herself nothing to be hoped for."