The Jallianwala Bagh massacre is a name that I’ve rarely heard in schools, a name that is ignored in our history lessons as it doesn’t compare to the industry and infrastructure that the British brought along with them to India. Thus the death of hundreds of people goes unmentioned compared to the technology that was newly introduced.
The Jallianwala Bagh massacre, more commonly referred to as the Amritsar massacre or degraded completely to be considered an ‘incident’, took place on 13th of April 1919, on Baisakhi day for Sikhs living in Punjab at the time, in the gardens surrounding the golden temple. In which British troops, who were occupying Punjab at the time, fired at a large group of unarmed Indians, who had gathered in the gardens to peacefully protest against the British rule, their main focus being the Rowlatt act. Hundreds of people were killed and many more were wounded, thus leaving a permanent scar on Indian history, but simply remaining a footnote in the pages of British history.
This massacre was a result of the Rowlatt act (more famously known as the Black act) that was passed by the British government in March 1919. This act gave the British an enormous amount of power, allowing them to detain any suspected person without a warrant, and to keep them detained for up to two years without a trial. It also gave the British the right to search any private place without a warrant. The Act also halted free press while also registering an indefinite ban on public gatherings of any nature.
This sparked a nationwide outrage, as it ensured a dictatorship for the British while denying basic rights for Indian citizens, as it eradicated their right to free speech. As this act further alienated Indians from the British, even though many men from Punjab had fought alongside the British in World War one. This angered Indian citizens, and they took to peaceful protest, using satyagraha (peaceful civil disobedience) to their advantage.
They gathered in the gardens of Jallianwala Bagh, unaware of the martial law in 1919 stating “that no more than two people can form a group and meet at a place”. Therefore, allowing the British to take authoritative action against the Indians and fire on them for ten minutes straight, while they were protesting for their right to have a just trial within a court of law.
The massacre resulted in Indians abandoning their loyalty to the British, as they had understood how they were viewed as something wild, that the British needed to control and instil fear within. These Indians later became nationalists, that were heavily against the British Rule. Leading to further outage and protests in order to secure the freedom of their nation. These protests included the assassination of Michael O’Dwyer, who was one of the men responsible for these acts of violence against Indians, by Udham Singh (one of Bhagat Singh’s associates) in 1940.
If the British were the cause of this massacre, why don’t we learn about this topic in schools? If this ‘incident’ led to revolutionists like Bhagat Singh, why don’t we learn about this?
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