In memory of martyrs
DEEPA ALEXANDER
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The massacre at Jallianwala killed innocent people. The Bagh today is a memorial to them.
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Winston Churchill said: "an extraordinary event, a monstrous event, an event which stands in singular and sinister isolation".
A MEMORIAL: A landmark in our struggle for Independence.
The Jallianwala Bagh lies in the heart of the walled city of Amritsar and at the heart of our struggle for independence. Just around the corner from the Harmandir Sahib, in a narrow, congested street wedged between a crumbling house and a restaurant is a signboard — "Jallianwala Bagh Memorial - A landmark in our struggle for Independence". At the narrow entrance to the garden is a plaque that reads, "People were fired at from here", standing near which one can see unfolding what Winston Churchill called "an extraordinary event, a monstrous event, an event which stands in singular and sinister isolation".
For it was here, in the holiest city of the Sikhs, on a day sacred to them as the birth anniversary of the Khalsa — April 13, 1919, that a massacre involving the killing of hundreds of unarmed, defenceless Indians was ordered by Brigadier-General R.E.H. Dyer.
Turning point
This was a turning point in the history of Anglo-Indian relations, more decisive than even the first war of independence. A committee was formed with Pt. Madan Mohan Malaviya as president to raise a memorial to perpetuate the memory of the martyrs.
The bagh was acquired from the Jallewala sardars on August 1, 1920 but the actual construction of the memorial had to wait until after Independence. The monument, befittingly named the Flame of Liberty, was inaugurated by Dr. Rajendra Prasad, India's first President on April 13, 1961. The central 30-foot high pylon, a four-sided tapering structure of red stone standing in the midst of a shallow tank, is built with 300 slabs with the Ashoka Chakra, the national emblem, cast on them. A stone lantern stands at each corner of the tank. On all four sides of the pylon the words, "In memory of martyrs, 13 April 1919", is inscribed in Hindi, Punjabi, Urdu and English. Bullet holes are carefully preserved under thick glass frames. The well, now enclosed holds no water, only coins tossed by those who come to pay homage. At the adjoining martyrs' gallery the Jallianwala Trust files have recorded details of condemnation that followed the massacre.
Dyer was unrepentant when the British Parliament passed strictures against him. The Lt. Governor of Punjab, Michael O'Dwyer was shot dead 21 years later in London by Udham Singh, who was executed within months. Udham Singh's portrait rests in the gallery with the famous lines from his trial inscribed below, "What greater honour can be bestowed on me than death for the sake of my motherland?"
Bloodbath in the garden
The debris-laden garden was the venue of a peaceful public meeting held to protest the martial law imposed by the Lt. Governor of Punjab, Michael O' Dwyer. Just after the meeting had begun, Dyer marched in at the head of 50 soldiers. He stationed his men on either side of the entry and without a word of warning opened fire with machine guns on the people. For ten full minutes while the trapped Indians screamed for mercy the soldiers fired 1,650 rounds. The result was a stampede. Many jumped into a well in the garden while others tried to scale the walls to get out. Convinced that he had done a "jolly good thing" Dyer withdrew leaving the wounded and the dying to fend for themselves.
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