Jallianwala Bagh massacre: Here’s what happened 102 years ago
The Jallianwala Bagh massacre, in which several hundreds of people were killed on this day in 1919 as a result of indiscriminate firing by the colonial forces, completed 102 years on Tuesday. The Britishers had banned gatherings at the time and to punish civilians for their ‘disobedience’, Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer ordered the army to fire into a crowd of thousands of unarmed Indians who had come together to celebrate the festival of Baisakhi, unaware of the order.
The colonial troops entered Jallianwala Bagh in Punjab’s Amritsar and blocked the main entrance behind them to ensure nobody could flee before opening fire on the crowd for about 10 minutes. Many jumped into a well in a desperate attempt to save themselves as the soldiers showered bullets at them.
While the official figure released by the British claimed that a little over 350 people were killed in the massacre, the Congress party claimed that the number was as high as 1,000.
The only punishment that Dyer, who was lauded for his actions by some in Britain but criticized by the others, had to face was being removed from his post and denied promotion. He was also barred from being deployed in India further.
Jallianwala Bagh Massacre, Jallianwala also spelled Jallianwalla, also called Massacre of Amritsar, incident on April 13, 1919, in which British troops fired on a large crowd of unarmed Indians in an open space known as the Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar in the Punjab region (now in Punjab state) of India, killing several hundred people and wounding many hundreds more. It marked a turning point in India’s modern history, in that it left a permanent scar on Indo-British relations and was the prelude to Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi’s full commitment to the cause of Indian nationalism and independence from Britain.
During world war1 (1914–18) the British government of India enacted a series of repressive emergency powers that were intended to combat subversive activities. By the war’s end, expectations were high among the Indian populace that those measures would be eased and that India would be given more political autonomy. The Montagu-Chelmsford Report, presented to the British Parliament in 1918, did recommend limited local self-government. Instead, however, the government of India passed what became known as the Rowlatt Act in early 1919, which essentially extended the repressive wartime measures.
The acts were met by widespread anger and discontent among Indians, notably in the Punjab region. Gandhi in early April called for a one-day general strike throughout the country. In Amritsar the news that prominent Indian leaders had been arrested and banished from that city sparked violent protests on April 10, in which soldiers fired upon civilians, buildings were looted and burned, and angry mobs killed several foreign nationals and severely beat a Christian missionary. A force of several dozen troops commanded by Brig. Gen. Reginald Edward Harry Dyer was given the task of restoring order. Among the measures taken was a ban on public gatherings.
On the afternoon of April 13, a crowd of at least 10,000 men, women, and children gathered in the Jallianwala Bagh, which was nearly completely enclosed by walls and had only one exit. It is not clear how many people some protesters were defying the ban on public meetings and how many had come to the city from the surrounding region to celebrate Baisakhi, a spring festival. Dyer and his soldiers arrived and sealed off the exit. Without warning, the troops opened fire on the crowd, reportedly shooting hundreds of rounds until they ran out of ammunition. It is not certain how many died in the bloodbath, but, according to one official report, an estimated 379 people were killed, and about 1,200 more were wounded. After they ceased firing, the troops immediately withdrew from the place, leaving behind the dead and wounded.
The shooting was followed by the proclamation of material law in the Punjab that included public floggings and other humiliations. Indian outrage grew as news of the shooting and subsequent British actions spread throughout the subcontinent. The Bengali poet and Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore renounced the knighthood that he had received in 1915. Gandhi was initially hesitant to act, but he soon began organizing his first large-scale and sustained nonviolent protest (satyagraha) campaign, the noncooperation moment (1920–22), which thrust him to prominence in the Indian nationalist struggle.
The government of India ordered an investigation of the incident (the Hunter Commission), which in 1920 censured Dyer for his actions and ordered him to resign from the military. Reaction in Britain to the massacre was mixed, however. Many condemned Dyer’s actions — including sir Winston Churchill , then secretary of war, in a speech to the house of commons in 1920 — but the house of lords praised Dyer and gave him a sword inscribed with the motto “Saviour of Punjab.” In addition, a large fund was raised by Dyer’s sympathizers and presented to him. The Jallianwala Bagh site in Amritsar is now a national moment
Jallianwala Bagh Massacre, Jallianwala also spelled Jallianwalla, also called Massacre of Amritsar, incident on April 13, 1919, in which British troops fired on a large crowd of unarmed Indians in an open space known as the Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar in the Punjab region (now in Punjab state) of India, killing … Udham Singh (26 December 1899–31 July 1940) was an Indian revolutionary belonging to the Ghadar Party, best known for his assassination in London of Michael O’Dwyer, the former lieutenant governor of Punjab in India on 13 March 1940. The assassination was done in revenge for the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar in 1919, for which O’Dwyer was responsible. Singh was subsequently tried and convicted of murder and hanged in July 1940. While in custody, he used the name Ram Mohammad Singh Azad, which represents the three major religions of Punjab and his anti-colonial sentiment.
who was udham Singh?
Udham Singh is a well-known figure of the Indian independence movement. He is also referred to as Shaheed-i-Azam Sardar Udham Singh (the expression “Shaheed-i-Azam”, means “the great martyr”). A district (Udham Singh Nagar) of Uttarakhand was named after him to pay homage in October 1995 by the Mayawati government
Who was reginald Edward harry dyer?
Colonel Reginald Edward Harry Dyer, CB(9 October 1864–23 July 1927) was an officer of the Bengal army and later the newly constituted Indian army. His military career began serving briefly in the regular British Army before transferring to serve with the Presidency armies of India. As a temporary brigadier -general he was responsible for the jalinwalla bagh mascllier that took place on 13 April 1919 in Amritsar in the province of Punjab He has been called “the Butcher of Amritsar” because of his order to fire on a peaceful crowd. The official report stated that this resulted in the killing of at least 379 people and the injuring of over a thousand more. Some submissions to the official inquiry suggested a higher number of deaths.
Subsequently, Dyer was removed from duty and widely condemned both in Britain and India, but he became a celebrated hero among some with connections to the British raj Some historians argue the episode was a decisive step towards the end of British rule in India.
