13/04/2021
April 13 marks the 102nd anniversary of the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre. The incident transpired in 1919 at Amritsar’s Jallianwala Bagh, in which British troops opened fire against thousands of people who had gathered to mark the occasion of Baisakhi. In the massacre, several hundreds were killed and numerous more were injured. The incident is seen as a major turning point in the national freedom movement of India. The colonial rulers had imposed the Rowlatt Act on March 10, 1919, as per which the government could imprison or confine any person who was associated with any seditious activity without any trial. The passing of this Act led to widespread protests across the country, with Mahatma Gandhi initiating a Satyagraha to oppose the Act. The British authorities in Punjab were seeking to suppress all opposition against this Act. Amidst this, Brigadier-General Dyer issued orders prohibiting unlawful assembly of people. On April 13, 1919, however, people gathered at the Jallianwala Bagh to celebrate the festival of Baisakhi, but the British authorities deemed it as a political gathering.
The Jallianwala Bagh only had one exit, and General Dyer ordered his troops to block it, effectively trapping all the people, including women and children, at the Bagh itself.
The troops retreated from the location as soon as the firing ended, leaving the dead and the wounded untended, something that General Dyer also admitted, unapologetically, in his interrogation by the Hunter Commission.
As news about the massacre spread across the country, people across the country became outraged, and Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore renounced his knighthood. Subsequently, Mahatma Gandhi also launched a large-scale satyagraha, the non-cooperation movement, which made him prominent in the freedom struggle.
While Sir Winston Churchill, the Secretary of War, condemned General Dyer’s action in the House of Commons in 1920. However, Dyer was praised by the House of Lords, which gave him a sword which had the motto ‘Saviour of the Punjab’. Since Dyer was told to resign from the military after the Hunter Commission censured his actions, a large number of sympathisers of Dyer raised a huge fund and presented it to him. Meanwhile, the Jallianwala Bagh became a key point in the history of India’s struggle for independence and it is now an important monument in the country. The monument still contains the holes that the bullets had made during the open fire, and they have manifested for years to highlight the severity of the situation.
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