Jallianwala Bagh Remembered - A Heinous Racist Act
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The Jallianwala Bagh Massacre, also known as the Amritsar Massacre, was named after the Jallianwala Bagh (Garden) in the northern Indian city of Amritsar, where, on April 13,1919, British Indian Army soldiers under the command of Brigadier Reginald Dyer opened fire on an unarmed gathering of men, women and children. The firing lasted about 10 minutes and 1650 rounds were fired, or 33 rounds per soldier. Official (Raj) sources placed the casualties at 379. According to private sources, the number was over 1000, with more than 2000 wounded, [1] and Civil Surgeon Dr. Smith indicated that they were over 1800.[2]
After World War I had ended in 1918 Britain and other imperial powers were weakened. The costs of the protracted war in both money and manpower were staggering. In India, long the jewel in the crown of the British Empire, Indians were restless for independence, having contributed heavily to the war efforts in both money and men. Over 74,000 Indian soldiers had died, more than the men lost from either Australia or Canada; both former colonies enjoying greater rights. Indians were expecting, if not freedom, at least more say in their governance, so the Indian Nationalist movement was marked by a clear domination of the more extreme rather than the moderate. In this charged atmosphere, Britain chose not to reward India for her service, but rather to demonstrate that they still commanded authority over India and that they were ready to use force to preserve their rule.
On April 10,1919, a protest was held at the residence of the Deputy Commissioner of Amritsar, a city in Punjab, a large province in the north-western part of the then undivided India. The demonstration was held to demand the release of two popular leaders of the Indian Independence Movement, Satya Pal and Saifuddin Kitchlew, who had been earlier arrested on account of their protests against the controversial Rowlatt Act that had been then imposed by the British government. The crowd was fired on by a military picket.
The firing set off a chain of violence. Later in the day, several banks and other government buildings, including the Town Hall and the railway station were attacked and set on fire. The violence continued to escalate, culminating in the deaths of at least 5 Europeans, including government employees and civilians. There was retaliatory firing on the crowd from the military several times during the day, and between 8 and 20 people were killed.
For the next two days the city of Amritsar was quiet, but violence continued in other parts of the Punjab. Railway lines were cut, telegraph posts destroyed, government buildings burnt, and three Europeans were killed. By April 13, the British government had decided to place most of the Punjab under martial law. The legislation placed restrictions on a number of freedoms, including freedom of assembly, banning gatherings of more than four people [3]
On April 13, thousands of people gathered in the Jallianwala Bagh near Golden Temple in Amritsar, on Baisakhi, both a harvest and Sikh religious new year. It was in 1699 during this festival that the last Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh created the Khalsa adding the name Singh or Kaur to every Sikh's name. So for more than two hundred years this annual festival had drawn thousands from all over India. People had traveled for days, before the ban on assembly.
A group of 90 Indian Army soldiers marched to the park accompanied by two armoured cars. The vehicles were unable to enter the Bagh through the narrow entrance.
The Jallianwala Bagh, or garden, was bounded on all sides by houses and buildings and had few narrow entrances, most of which were kept permanently locked. Since there was only one open exit except for the one already blocked by the troops, people desperately tried to climb the walls of the park. Many jumped into a well inside the compound to escape from the bullets. A plaque in the monument says that 120 bodies were plucked out of the well.
As a result of the firing, hundreds of people were killed and thousands were injured. Official records put the figures at 379 killed (337 men,41 boys and a six week old baby) and 200 injured, though the actual figure is hotly disputed to this day. The wounded could not be moved from where they had fallen, as a curfew had been declared.
Back in his headquarters Dyer reported to his superiors that he had been 'confronted by a revolutionary army, ' and had been obliged 'to teach a moral lesson to the Punjab.'
In a telegram sent to Dyer, British Lieutenant-Governor of Punjab, Sir Michael O'Dwyer wrote: 'Your action is correct. Lieutenant Governor approves.'[4] Many Englishmen in India, as well as the British press, defended Dyer as the man who had saved British pride and honour. The Morning Post opened a fund for Dyer, and contributions poured in. An American woman donated 100 pounds, adding 'I fear for the British women there now that Dyer has been dismissed.'
O'Dwyer requested that martial law be imposed upon Amritsar and other areas; this was granted by the Viceroy, Lord Chelmsford, after the massacre.
Dyer was called to appear before the Hunter Commission, a commission of inquiry into the massacre that was ordered to convene by Secretary of State for India Edwin Montagu, in late 1919. Dyer admitted before the commission that he came to know about the meeting at the Jallianwala Bagh at 12: 40 hours that day but took no steps to prevent it. He stated that he had gone to the Bagh with the deliberate intention of opening fire if he found a crowd assembled there.
'I think it quite possible that I could have dispersed the crowd without firing but they would have come back again and laughed, and I would have made, what I consider, a fool of myself.' — Dyer's response to the Hunter Commission Enquiry.
Dyer said he would have used his machine guns if he could have got them into the enclosure, but these were mounted on armoured cars. He said he did not stop firing when the crowd began to disperse because he thought it was his duty to keep firing until the crowd dispersed, and that a little firing would do no good.
He confessed that he did not take any steps to tend to the wounded after the firing. 'Certainly not. It was not my job. Hospitals were open and they could have gone there, ' was his response.
In the storm of outrage which followed the release of the Hunter Report in 1920, Dyer was placed on the inactive list and his rank reverted to Colonel since he was no longer in command of a Brigade. The then Commander-in-Chief stated that Dyer would no longer be offered employment in India. Dyer was also in very poor health, and so he was sent home to England on a hospital ship.
Some senior British officers applauded his suppression of 'another Indian Mutiny'. The House of Lords passed a measure commending him. The House of Commons, however, censured him; in the debate Winston Churchill claimed: 'The incident in Jallian Wala Bagh was an extraordinary event, a monstrous event, an event which stands in singular and sinister isolation'. Dyer's action was condemned worldwide. He was officially censured by the British Government and resigned in 1920.
However, many in Britain did not condemn Dyer's actions, some labelling him the 'Saviour of the Punjab'. The Morning Post started a sympathy fund for Dyer and received over £26,000. Dyer was presented with a memorial book inscribed with the names of well-wishers. Jawaharlal Nehru, in his autobiography, said he overheard, from his curtained sleeping booth on a night train from Amritsar to Delhi, a military officer in loud voice to another 'pointing out how he had the whole town at his mercy and he had felt like reducing the rebellious city to a heap of ashes, but he took pity on it and refrained.' It turned out to be Dyer on his way to Delhi after the Hunter Committee meeting. In Delhi, Dyer descended from the train in pyjamas with bright pink stripes and a dressing gown.[5] Nehru also remarked he heard soldiers discussing how the actions taken were a good thing because they would 'teach the bloody browns a lesson.'
In India the massacre evoked feelings of deep anguish and anger. It catalysed the freedom movement in the Punjab against British rule and paved the way for Mahatma Gandhi's Non-Cooperation Movement against the British in 1920. It was also motivation for a number of other revolutionaries, including Bhagat Singh. The Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore returned his knighthood to the King-Emperor in protest. The massacre ultimately became an important catalyst of the Indian independence movement.
http: //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jallianwala_Bagh_Massacre
History of hate
The hapless victims remember
The cruel oppressors and their genealogy
Born and unborn tend to forget
The Butcher of Amritsar
Of the British Empire
Its evil silhouette
Spawned a generation
Of racists without any regret
Divide and rule
Was their policy
Causing a rift
Between the mandir
And the minaret
Racism is alive and kicking
Not just in history books
But on poetry sites on the internet
To freedom of human values
It is a great threat
Assassinating characters
From the living room into the kitchenette
The British if you remind
Them of their sordid
Imperialistic butt kicking past
They do get upset
Unapologetic
Their forefathers
Who traded in
Blood tears and sweat
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