Jallianwala Bagh Massacre (13 April 1919) Study Material
The Jallianwala Bagh massacre took place on 13 April 1919, when Acting Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer ordered British Indian Army soldiers to mobilize unarmed Indian civilians. Shoot with your rifles. 400 people, including men and women, were killed in Amritsar, Punjab. More than a thousand people were injured.
Dyer banned all meetings on Sunday, April 13, 1919, when he was convinced there was a big riot. The notice was not widely circulated, and many villagers gathered in Bagh to celebrate the important Sikh festival in Baisakhi, peacefully protesting the arrest of two national leaders, Satyapal and Saifuddin Kitchenan. Dyer and his soldiers, entering the garden, blocking the main entrance behind them, took a raised bank position and opened the crowd on their tablets for the week, leading to open gates where people were trying to escape until the ammunition supply was nearly exhausted for ten minutes. Dyer said in a report the next day, “I hear about 200 to 300 people have been killed. My party fired 1,650 rounds.”
The following year, the Hunter Commission published its report, quoting the 379 Service Council (Social Services Society) presented by the deceased, criticizing the Indian government, the Dyer and the Punjab government for failing to meet the accident numbers. About 11,000 people were injured, of which 192 were seriously injured. More than 1,500 people were injured, and the Indian National Congress wounded more than 1,000.
General Dyer was initially praised for his work in Britain and became a hero among many, benefiting directly from the British Raj, such as the House of Lords. However, he was widely criticized in the House of Commons, which was suspended by the inquiry committee in July 1920. Being a soldier following orders, he could not be tried for murder. The army decided not to appear before the court, removed him from his current assignment, refused a promotion, and was barred from working in India. Dyer retired from the army and returned to England, where he died in 1927.
Reactions polarized the British and Indian people. Noted writer Rudyard Kipling declared that Dyer “performed his duty as he saw it” at the time. The incident left Rabindranath Tagore (the first Asian Nobel laureate) a knighthood and said “such mass murderers deserve no privilege.”
The British Army reassessed its military role against the massacre, and the historian Hu Bennett regarded the British actions of the Maoist rebels in Kenya as a means of exerting minimal force against the civilians whenever possible. The new policy does not last forever. . The army responded well to the mob control and developed aggressive tactics.
The scale of casual cruelty and lack of accountability “puzzled the whole country”, are resulting in the public’s lack of confidence in the UK’s intentions. The ineffective inquiries, along with praising Diar, infuriated the British in the Indian people, leading some historians to the civil disobedience movement of 1920–22, a crucial step towards the end of British rule.
WHY JALLIANWALA BAGH MASSACRE?In
1919, months before the Jallianwala Bagh incident, with the disruption of rail, telegraph and communication systems, the situation in Punjab is rapidly worsening. The movement was at its peak before the end of the first week of April, and there were some recordings that “practically all the streets of Lahore, many of the people passing through Anarkali would be around 20,000”. Many officers of the Indian Army believed that the rebellion was possible and prepared for the worst. Michael L Dwyer, British Lieutenant Governor of the Punjab, is said to be the initiator and badass of the conspiracy to unite in May following the 1857 riots. British troops would return to the hills in the summer.
Some historians have described the Amritsar massacre and other events that took place at the same time as the end result of the Punjab regime’s powerful plan to suppress such a conspiracy. Given the growing tensions in the Punjab and the British response to the massacre, James Houssmen du Bohl is said to have a direct link between the fears of Gatherer.
Causes Of Jallianwala Bagh Massacre – On April 10, 1919, protests broke out in the home of Miles Irving’s deputy commissioner of Amritsar. The protests demanded the arrest of two popular leaders of the Indian independence movement, Satyapal and Saifuddin Kichlu, who were arrested by the government and released in a secret location. Both were advocates of the Gandhi-led Satyagraha movement. A military picket fired into the crowd, killing many protesters and launching a number of violent incidents. The rebels set British banks on fire, killing many British men and attacking two British women.
On April 11, Marcella Sherwood, an English missionary, panicked at student safety, shutting down schools and sending more than 600 Indian children home. As he walked down the narrow street of Kuch Kurachan, a crowd seized him, dragging his hair to the ground, naked, beaten, and left dead. He was rescued by some native Indians, including the father of one of his disciples. He was hidden from the crowd and escorted to the safety of Gobindgarh Fort. On 19 April, after Sherwood’s visit, Raj’s local commander, Colonel Dyer, issued an order, requiring every Indian man to crawl on that road, arm and knee is required. Later, Colonel Dyer explained to a British inspector: “Some Indians crawl in front of their gods. I wanted a British woman to know that she was as holy as a Hindu god. You have to crawl in front of them.” He acknowledged the whip of the public police. Marcella Shaw Rvud held later defended the Colonel; he was called as the “guardian of the Punjab.”
Amritsar remained calm for the next two days, but violence continued in other parts of Punjab. Railway lines were cut, wire posts destroyed, government buildings burned, and three Europeans killed. By April 13, the British government had decided to keep most of Punjab under martial law. Legislature restricted many civil liberties, including freedom of assembly; The assembly of more than four people was banned. On the evening of April 12, the hartal leaders of Amritsar held a meeting at the Hindu College – Dhab Khatikan. Mohammed Basheer will organize a public protest rally at Jallianwala Bagh at 18:30 am and will be chaired by senior party leader Lal. Kanhayalal Bhatia. Several resolutions opposed the Rowlatt Act; the recent actions of British officials and the acceptance of the detention of Satyapal and Kichloo were subsequently postponed.
What happened at Jallianwala Bagh in 1919?
The martyrs of Jallianwala Bagh according to the inscription, 120 bodies were recovered.
Traditional festival of Baisakhi held on April 13, 1919 at 9 am. Military Commander Reginald Dyer, who worked for Amritsar and his messengers, entered the city with a number of city officials, announcing that at 20:00 that night a pass would be made to enter or leave Amritsar. Curfew is prohibited and prohibited for all processions beginning at noon, Public meetings of four or more persons. The announcement was read and explained in English, Urdu, Hindi and Punjabi, but some people paid for it or later disclosed it. Since then, local police have been informed about the planned meeting in the Jallianwala Bagh, and by Planescloth detectives in the crowd. At 12:40, Dyer was notified of the meeting and returned to his base at 13:30 to decide how to deal with it.
In the afternoon, thousands of Indians gathered at the Jallianwala Bagh garden) near the Harmandir Sahib in Amritsar. Those in attendance had previously worshiped at the Golden Temple, passing through the garden on their way home. The garden is six to seven acres in size and is 200 yards to 200 yards in size and is surrounded by 10-foot walls. The balcony of the three or four storey houses overlooks the garden, with five narrow entrances opening into it, many of which are locked. During the rainy season, crops were planted but most of the year was a local meeting and recreation area. In the center of the garden was a tomb (burial ground) and partly a large well, about 20 feet in diameter.
Apart from the pilgrims, Amritsar also participated in the previous Baisakhi horse and cattle fair with farmers, merchants and traders. The city police closed the fair at around 14 pm that day, resulting in a large number of people moving to the Jallianwala Bagh.
Dyer arranged an airplane to gauge the size of the crowd, his report being 6,000, and the Hunter Commission estimated that by the time Dyer arrived, there would be 10,000 to 20,000 people. It did. The Senior Citizens’ Authority of Colonel Dyer and Deputy Commissioner Irving Amritsar did not take any action to stop the mob or disperse the crowd peacefully. This would later criticize Dyer and Irving.
One hour after the scheduled meeting at 18:30, Colonel Dyer arrived in the bag with ninety soldiers of the Gurkha Rifles, the 54th Sikh and the 59th Sindh Rifle. Fifty of them had 303 Lee-Enfield bolt-action rifles. It is not clear whether Dyer recruited soldiers from that clan or was it just Sikh and non-Sikh units because of his loyalty to the British. He also brought two armored cars fitted with machine guns. However, vehicles were left outside as they were unable to access the garden through the narrow entrance. There were houses and buildings around Jallianwala Bagh, there were only five narrow entrances, most of which were permanently closed. The main gate was relatively spacious, but there was heavy guarding by soldiers supporting the armored vehicles.
Dyer blocked the main exit route without warning to disperse the crowd. He later stated that the act was not to propagate the meeting but to punish Indians for disobedience. Dyer asked his soldiers to shoot into crowded areas in front of the narrow exits where the panicked crowd was trying. The firing continued for about ten minutes before leaving the garden. The ceasefire was ordered when the supply of ammunition was exhausted after 1,650 turns
In addition to the deaths of many people who were directly involved in the shooting, many died by jumping on a narrow gate or jumping into a lonely well in the complex to avoid firing. A post-independence plaque on the site recovered 120 bodies from the well. After the curfew was announced, they were unable to take the injured to the spot where they fell, and the injured died overnight.
How many people died in the massacre?
There is no official information on the death toll in the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. But the British official investigation revealed that there were 379 deaths and more than 1,000 were killed in the massacre.
Rabindranath Tagore, a British knight, left his knighthood. In his letter to the Viceroy, he declared: “It is time for the badges of honor to be embarrassed in our humiliating context. My countrymen, for their so-called dullness, are responsible for a fall that is not fit for humans. ” The massacre marked a turning point in the history of the freedom struggle.
In December 1919, a congress meeting was held in Amritsar. Many farmers, including farmers, participated in the event. It was evident that the brutality ignited the fire, strengthened the determination of the freedom of the people, and fought against repression.
Here are 10 lesser known facts about the Jallianwala Bagh Incident:
In addition to the main entrance, there is no way for people to escape from the garden as it is the area around the building. This is a major reason for many people. Before the Jallianwala Baghincident angry mobs took to the streets in protest against the arrest of two popular leaders of the Indian independence movement, Satyapal and Saeedeen Kichlu, an English missionary named Markala. It was.
On 12 April 1919, after an outraged mob and riot incident, Colonel Dyer announced a ban on public ceremonies. However, the public was unaware of this, leading to the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.
This meeting was a positive meeting to celebrate the festival of Baisakhi, one of the biggest festivals in Punjab.
In addition to Gorkha and Baluchi soldiers who used Sindhi rifles, two armored cars with machine guns were also used in the shooting.
According to records, Colonel Dyer was not warned or ordered to dismiss before ordering him to fire.
The shelling was stopped only when the soldiers fled ammunition.
In addition to those killed and wounded by bullets, many people fell into the well in an attempt to escape the gunfire.
On 13 March 1940, Colonel Reginald Dyer was shot dead by Revolutionary Ghadar Party member Udam Singh, who was on a mission to avenge the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.
Shingara Singh, the last survivor of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, died in Amritsar on June 29, 2009 at the age of 113.
References
2. Jallianwala Bagh: An Empire of Fear and the Making of the Amritsar Massacre
