Ashvini Agrawal

The memorial at Amritsar shall forever remind an indebted nation of the martyrs who laid down their lives for the motherland

The inauguration of the renovated Jallianwala Bagh Memorial at Amritsar by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 28 may raise the question of its enduring relevance to the nationafter more than a century of the gruesome massacre by the British.

India has seen just too many invasions resulting in the wanton killing of thousands of innocent people but each time life carried on with the attitude reflected in the popular Punjabi proverb, ‘Khada peetalahe da, baaki Ahmad Shahe da' (Consume whatever is available, the rest shall be plundered by Ahmad Shah Abdali), making light of the tragedy.

This has not happened in the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in which an estimated one thousand innocent persons, gathered to celebrate the joyous festival of Baisakhi on April 13, 1919, were mercilessly gunned down by the British Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer. The episode has left an indelible mark on the memory of the wounded nation.

Volumes have been written to record the horrid experience. Events like the enactment of the Rowlatt Act in March 1919, the promulgation of martial law in Punjab, the role of Michael O'Dwyer, the then Lieutenant-Governor of Punjab, the massacre by Reginald Dyer followed by the setting up of the Hunter Committee absolving the culprits of all charges are too well-known to deserve any repetition here. It was a well-planned deep-rooted British conspiracy to crush Indians by letting loose a reign of terror through inhuman acts that by any standards would be unthinkably shameful for any civilized country.

Ever since India's first war of independence in 1857, the British were badly shaken. Any prospect of revolutionary activities against their rule deeply scared them. At the beginning of the 20th century, leaders like Lala Hardayal, Lala Lajpat Rai and Ajit Singh were deported but it did little to assuage the British fears.

The sinister designs of the British were reflected in the actions of Michael O'Dwyer, the then Lieutenant-Governor of Punjab. The educated class was heaped with insults, hundreds were put behind the bars and the press gagged. Peaceful hartals in Lahore and Amritsar were forcibly broken and peaceful protesters were fired upon. Local leaders were arrested and deported. Places like Kasur and Gujaranwala bore the brunt of atrocities along with Lahore and Amritsar.

The situation became tense when as a result of unprovoked firing five Europeans were killed in Amritsar and a lady missionary named Sherwood was beaten up on a street. This bruised the British pride as it led to the brutal flogging of innocent people by the police and the crawling orders in Khuh Korian waliGali (street with flogging well).

Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer was shifted from Jalandhar to Amritsar just a day before the episode. On his arrival, he promulgated restrictions on public gatherings which remained unknown to common people. A large number of them, mostly peasants, had already gathered in Amritsar to celebrate Baisakhi on April 13. Dyer reached the main entrance of Jallianwala Bagh with his soldiers, none of whom was British, in the afternoon and ordered firing without any warning. Nearly 1650 rounds were fired within minutes, killing and wounding a large number of people. The exact number has never become known; there is a vast difference between the official and unofficial figures. To rub salt into the wounds, Dyer imposed curfew with a complete ban on movement so that the wounded could not be attended to and the dead could not be removed.

The replies given by Dyer to the Hunter Committee are not only a reflection of the perpetuator's state of mind but that of the entire setup. He told the Committee that his actions were the result of a fully conscious and pre-planned strategy. The only action taken against Dyer by the then government was relieving him of his active duties, whereas Michael O'Dwyer and Chelmsford were completely absolved of all guilt.

The British failed to judge the mood of Indiansand the far-reaching consequences of the tragic episode. Young Indians were out to avenge these acts of brutality. The great revolutionary Udham Singh took the task upon himself and shot dead Michael O'Dwyer on March 13, 1940, in London.Patriotic revolutionaries like Bhagat Singh and Chandrashekhar Azad were the direct result of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. We owe our independence to theirsupreme sacrifices. The memorial at Amritsar shall forever remind an indebted nation of the martyrs who laid down their lives for the motherland, a monument of national pride and an inspiration for the cause of freedom for all times to come.

(The writer is whole-time Member, National Monuments Authority. The views expressed are personal.)