The Komagata Maru, a Japanese ship carrying Indian passengers (mostly Sikhs) who were denied permission to land in Canada, reached Vancouver in:

The Komagata Maru, a Japanese steamship carrying 376 Indian passengers (mostly Sikhs from Punjab), arrived at Vancouver, Canada, on 23 May 1914, but the Canadian authorities refused to allow the passengers to land.

Background:

Canada had introduced laws to restrict Asian immigration.

One law, the "continuous journey" regulation, required immigrants to come to Canada by a continuous journey from their country of birth; since there were no direct ships from India to Canada, this effectively excluded Indians.

The voyage:

• Gurdit Singh, a Sikh businessman from Singapore, chartered the ship Komagata Maru to challenge this law.
• The ship sailed from Hong Kong in April 1914, picking up passengers from Shanghai, Moji and Yokohama.

At Vancouver:

• The passengers were kept on board the ship in Vancouver harbour for about two months.
• They suffered from shortages of food and water.
• Only about 20 passengers, who were returning residents, and the ship's doctor were allowed to land.
• In July 1914, the ship was forced to leave Vancouver and return to Asia.

The Budge Budge incident:

• When the ship reached Budge Budge, near Calcutta, in September 1914, the British authorities tried to send the passengers directly to Punjab by train, as they were considered dangerous.
• The passengers resisted, and the police opened fire, killing about 20 people.
• Gurdit Singh escaped and remained in hiding for several years.

Significance:

• The incident caused great anger among Indians, and strengthened the Ghadar movement.
• It exposed the racial discrimination faced by Indians in the British Empire.

Apology:

In 2016, the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, formally apologised in the Canadian Parliament for the incident.

Why not the other options?

• ✗1905, 1919 and 1928 were the years of other events.