Revolutionary overlap

When Ireland and India were searching for the same prize: freedom

- KEVIN KELLY

THE HILL STATION of Dagshai sits camouflaged in the subalpine belt of the lower Himalayas, far from the hustle and bustle and at this time of the year, the toxic pollution of Delhi. It is hard to imagine in this quiet stillness that a mutiny against the mighty British Empire took place.

In June 1920, word of harsh measures being imposed by the Crown's forces in Ireland reached all the way to soldiers stationed in north India. In protest, troops in Jalandhar refused orders from their officers. News of their action travelled to nearby Solan, where Private James Daly from Ballymoe, County Galway, led 70 fellow soldiers from the Irish Connaught Rangers regiment in an attempt to seize the armoury.

The action was quickly halted, the men were brought to Dagshai, and Daly was sentenced to death. Their stand, though short-lived, sent shockwaves through Ireland and it echoed here in India, too.

There are reports that Mahatma Gandhi travelled to Dagshai to meet Daly before he faced execution.