13th April, The Jallianwala Bagh Massacre & the Savagery of the beast - General, Reginald Dyer

Certain incidents from the annals of history, remain etched in the collective memory of nations and one such event for India is the Jallianwala Bagh massacre and the savagery perpetrated by the British General, Brigadier General, Reginald Dyer, on the 13th of April, 1919. Dyer, the newly appointed British General, marched along with his chosen soldiers, Gurkhas and Baluchis, to the Jallianwala Bagh on that day, and without any warning ordered his men to fire on the unarmed crowd some 20,000 of them - peasants from nearby villages who had come for the cattle fair, domestic workers, craftsmen, artisans and young boys - who had gathered at the Jallianwala Bagh grounds to celebrate Baisakhi, the harvest festival season celebrated with great fervour across Punjab. The unprovoked firing continued for more than 10 minutes and 1650 rounds were fired during this dastardly inhuman act. As per the official records of the British, 379 people were shot dead and some 1200 wounded. But as per the the Indian Congress Enquiry Committee report, nearly 2,000 people were either killed or seriously wounded and mimed for life. General Dyer left the Jallianwala Bagh site leaving behind a pool of blood of Indians and a history which continues to haunt us.

The criminality of the massacre of innocent lives by General Dyer can only be mirrored in such other equally heinous crimes that were committed at the Auschwitz by the Nazis during the WW II and perhaps to the more recent Tiananmen Square, China, in 1989. The Jallianwala Bagh quintessentially symbolises crime against humanity and this incident should have placed General Reginald Dyer in the infamous company of villains of World Wars, but most unfortunately that has not happened and justice has permanently been denied to the victims of General Dyer. The Jallianwala Bagh National Memorial now stands testimony to the atrocities committed by the Britishers in general and General Dyer in particular to the Indians and will continue to remind us of the martyrs who were brutally and mercilessly gunned down at this historic site.

On the centenary of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre - 13, April, 2019, the Parliament (both Rajya Sabha and Loksabha) had discussed with passion, the Jallianwala Bagh National Memorial (Amendment) Bill 2019 and unanimously passed bill. Participating in the debate, leaders, cutting across party lines, paid rich tributes to the Jallianwala Bagh martyrs - innocent lives including women and children. One of the significant point, which came to light during this parliament debate was the extraordinary solidarity that  Nobelist, Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore had lent to the martyrs of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. Rabindranath Tagore was the first Indian and Asian to have  received the prestigious Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913 and he was also knighted by the British in 1915. When Tagore received the tragic news of the loss of tens of hundreds of innocent lives at the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, he was deeply pained and expressed his solidarity with his countrymen. In one of his writings, Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis, famous Indian scientist, statistician and a fellow Bengali of Tagore, has said that Tagore tried his best to move towards Punjab to be with the people who had faced the worst of brutality at the hands of General Dyer. He further added that Tagore had also sent a message to Mahatma Gandhi ji  suggesting that both of them together should travel to Delhi and from there to Punjab to show solidarity with the people of Punjab. But then Gandhi ji was not in favour of Gurudev’s idea, which he feared may lead to further violence in Punjab, which was already very tense. Therefore Tagore, agonised by the unprecedented Jallianwala Bagh massacre, decided to denounce his knighthood as a mark of his protest against the British brutality perpetrated against his countrymen. Tagore denounced his knighthood with a repudiation letter that he wrote to the Viceroy Lord Chelmsford, dated May 30, 1919.

Part of this historic letter reads “The time has come when badges of honour make our shame glaring in the incongruous context of humiliation, and I for my part, wish to stand, shorn, of all special distinctions, by the side of those of my countrymen who, for their so called insignificance, are liable to suffer degradation not fit for human beings. ..  And these are the reasons, which have compelled me to ask Your Excellency, with due reference and regret, to relieve me of my title of knighthood, which I had the honour to accept from His Majesty the King at the hands of your predecessor, for whose nobleness of heart,  I still entertain great admiration”. 

Incidentally to commemorate the centenary of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, an interesting exhibition was organised in Kolkata. The exhibition ‘Ways of Remembering Jallianwala Bagh & Rabindranath Tagore’s Response to the Massacre’, was quite unique because of its distinctive connect and linkage to Punjab and Bengal, the two major states, which were central to the freedom struggle. More over, this was the first time ever that the Victoria Memorial Hall (VMH), a symbol of British Colonial Raj in India, in almost its hundred years of existence, was hosting an exhibition to commemorate the centenary of Jallianwala Bagh. This unique exhibition, curated by Ms. Dutta Gupta, included historic and archival information on not just what happened on that fateful day - April 13, 1919 - but it also placed the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in context. One of the significant object on display at the exhibition was the letter, which Tagore wrote to Viceroy Chelmsford, while denouncing his knighthood. Tagore continued his efforts in highlighting the atrocities committed at Jallianwala Bagh till this matter was taken up and discussed in the British Parliament.

There are two different accounts of the human casualties that happened at the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. The British account puts the dead at some 379 people with an additional 1200 wounded, while the Indian account, which  is based on the Congress Enquiry Committee report, puts the number of deaths in excess of 1000 and nearly 2,000 others grievously wounded. The actual or perhaps realistic number of casualties in the Jallianwala Bagh massacre can be seen in the recently republished 1969 classic book ‘Jallianwala Bagh’, by Mr V.N. Datta, which comes with a preface by his daughter and distinguished historian, Nonica Datta. Mr Datta puts the number of deaths to around 700 people. This data is based on his well researched material.

The barbarian Jallianwala Bagh massacre became a symbol and a metaphor for racial brutality and inhumanity and this event fundamentally changed the coarse and direction of India’s freedom struggle with Gandhi ji taking centre stage of this movement. Gandhi ji, who, until this savage incident, believed that the larger good of the people of India was to cooperate with the colonial government, soon after this indescribable cruelty and inhumanity - almost unparalleled in modern times, changed his motto from cooperation to non cooperation. This incident paved the way for Gandhi ji’s famous ‘satyagrah’ - noncooperation movement against the tyrannical rulers and that too following his dharma of ahimsa - non violence. Jallianwala Bagh was an important turning point in the Indo-England relations, which completely destroyed whatever little faith that Indians had in the British rulers. Alongside Gandhi’s non-violent struggle, the Jallianwala Bagh massacre resulted in the emergence of a movement of political resistance in Punjab that also led to the emergence of revolutionaries like the legendary Bhagat Singh and Udham Singh. 

Gandhi ji called Dyer, ‘the chief perpetrator of the Jallianwala Bagh, blood thirsty and warned people against ‘Dyerism’. Yet Gandhi ji asked the ‘Jallianwala Bagh Congress Inquiry Committee’ not to prosecute him. Most tragically, the apostle of peace that Gandhi ji was, Gandhi ji kind of a pardoned Dyer’s unpardonable sin. This was one of the reasons why Dyer got away with almost no punishment after a kangaroo type trial, which was conducted by the British that was quite farcical to say the least. The Jallianwala Bagh outrage provided a new momentum to the renewed Indian national movement and it helped in inspiring a variety of national leaders and freedom fighters to unitedly fight for the cause of the liberty and independence for Mother India. Gandhi ji who had pledged his support and cooperation to the British during First World War, became a non co-operator. 

To understand the reasons that ultimately led to the dastardly act of Jallianwala Bagh massacre, it is necessary to go back to the World War 1 period. Gandhi ji had pledged his support to the British during the WW I with a belief that the British will reward India with Independence post the war, which did not happen. The people of Punjab were incensed by the backtracking of the promise made by the British to the Indian National Congress and other leaders of the Indian Independence movement, to accord Dominion Status to India, involving some amount of self-governance. In return, the British had sought India’s support in fighting World War I. While Indians including the Mahatma and particularly the Punjabis  and Sikhs, uncompromisingly supported the British in their War and so also made payment of millions of pounds in taxes, and provided food grains, arms and ammunition for the British Army to fight the War and so also the sacrifice of hundreds of thousands of Punjabi men during the war, what they expected post the WW1 was a promise of self rule. But after the War the British reneged on their promise, which resulted in some violent and more peaceful protests across nations including the one at the Jallianwala Bagh.

The World War I, had cost India dearly in men and materials. The WW I had also resulted in rising prices of essential goods, new taxes. Adding to this misery the British had introduced harsh recruitment policies, which had added to the tribulations of famines, failing harvests and plague outbreaks that followed. In all this, Punjab was the hardest hit: with just one-thirteenth of the country’s population, Punjab had contributed 60% of the recruits for the British army. During this turbulent times, Punjab was ruled by the Lieutenant Governor, Sir Michael O’Dwyer ( later assassinated by Udham Singh in 1940). O’Dwyer, an arch-imperialist, ruled the Punjab province with an iron hand for six years, stifling all dissent and opposition. This was also the time when the infamous Rowlatt Act was introduced by the British. The iniquitous Rowlatt Act became a spark thrown on the tinderbox, which Punjab and India had turned into. There were agitations across the country against this Act and the strikes in Punjab were most prominent among all the strikes in India. To add further fuel to the fire O’Dwyer had ordered deportation, on April 10, 1919, of the two most popular leaders of Punjab - Saifuddin Kitchlew and Satyapal. This became a flash point that resulted in direct clashes between the people of Punjab and the British authorities. During the ensuing violence, five Europeans and about 20 Indians were killed and one of the British missionary, Marcella Sherwood, was assaulted. All these incidents had set the stage for the arrival of Brigadier General, Dyer and the events that unfolded at Jallianwala Bagh.

General Dyer was incensed by the incidents that happened on the 10th April, which included the killing of 5 Europeans and a brutal attack on the British missionary - Marcella Sherwood. It is believed that his action was triggered by feelings of revenge shaped by a visceral racial hostility towards the people of Punjab, particularly those from the city of Amritsar. Above all Dyer has stated that he feared a mutiny-like situation, a repeat of 1857. Moreover, General Dyer was informed by Miles Irving, the deputy commissioner of Amritsar, that the civil control of the city was almost at an end. In one of his deposition to the enquiry committee commissioned to enquire into the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, Dyer said that he feared that the city had been seized by the people of Amritsar and that it was his duty to recapture it from a hostile population of 1,60,000 people. With all these arguments, Dyer was successful is justifying his unjustifiable acts of the massacre, which he perpetrated on the innocent people on that black day - 13th April 1919. 

While the Jallianwala Bagh tragedy cannot be reversed, an unconditional apology from the British government, which was long overdue, could have demonstrated their remorse for this dastardly act. But most unfortunately even that has not happened till day - 102 years later. The British Government, true to their tyrannical past refused to render any apology, let alone compensate through reparation begging atonement for their inexcusable crime. Contrary to their condemnable behaviour, we Indians, true to our culture and philosophy of ahimsa, have moved on and have not even asked for an official apology not to talk of any reparation - the articulations for which was so exemplarily adduced by Dr. Shashi Tharoor in a debate before the August gathering at the Oxford, which subsequently led to his writing his famous book - The Inglorious Empire : What the British did to India, published by Penguin. 

The cruelty and inhuman act of Jallianwala Bagh massacre ensured that Amritsar became India, an India that was outraged, bloodied and the ensuing trauma was so deep as to have altered the very composition of India’s political psyche. The Jallianwala Bagh massacre became a symbol of the tyrannical rule by the British that changed the political history of our country and accentuated the way forward for our focussed and sustained freedom struggle. On the occasion of the 102nd anniversary of this dastardly act - an unpardonable tragedy of humongous proportions, it is pertinent to question the British on what authority did they have to impose their so called higher ideas of morality. The 102 years post the Jallianwala Bagh has been a long time in the Indian political history and from being a subservient nation to the colonial masters, we have come a long way. And in this long journey India has witnessed moments of great happiness of our independence, the trauma of partition, growing from utter hunger to self-sufficiency in food, achieving an incredible success in the field of IT, education, Space and Atomic energy and so also the improvement in the overall socio economic conditions of our citizens. Notwithstanding the Covid pandemic, which is now at its peak of the second wave, India has made substantial progress and all these of these developments have tried to erase the trauma of the Jallianwala Bagh, which continues to remain etched as a permanent scar in our collective memory. 

Although more than 100 years have passed since the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, it is necessary that we perpetuate this information to the young generation, in whose minds this memory is gradually fading into the sepia of fading memory. The Jallianwala Bagh National Memorial hopefully will ensure that we as a nation don’t forget this incident.  On the occasion of the 102nd year of the Jallianwala Bagh, let us all join hands in praying for all those martyrs who sacrificed their life for the freedom of our country and pledge that we remain united as one nation, whose foundations were built on the sacrifice of innumerable martyrs.

Images - courtesy Wiki Commons and Alamy and Amazon. 

Jai Hind.