This massacre is one of the darkest episodes in the history of humankind. It can only be described as a senseless act of violence that was calculated to cause as much murder, massacre and mayhem upon innocent people.
Portrayal in Films
There was a movie made recently and over the years, the incident has been the subject of many movies. It was also featured in the recent 2021 film, ‘Sardar Udham,’ starring Vicky Kaushal and in the 1982 multiple Oscar winning film, ‘Gandhi,’ starring Ben Kingsley. The British government recently expressed deep regret for this senseless and unprovoked massacre.
History
On April 13, 1919, residents of the region of Jallianwala Bagh, near the Harmandir Sahib in Amritsar, were organizing a peaceful protest on the occasion of Baisakhi and most of them were not aware that a state of martial law had been imposed in Punjab a few days earlier.
General Reginald Dyer had been appointed to administer the Punjab under the martial law act.
Upon learning of the meeting and peaceful protest taking place, he arrived at the site of Jallianwala Bagh and gave orders to his soldiers who had Enfield rifles to fire at will, thereby causing a massacre of most of the peaceful protester, which were more than 1,500 as reports indicated.
This was done just to prove the authority and superiority of the British government in General Dyer’s mind. He claimed that there was an uprising and revolt being planned and it could happen anytime soon. He justified that this was necessary in light of the circumstances.
After this grave incident which can only be termed as remorseless mass murder, the British Raj lost every single shred of its moral and intellectual authority to continue ruling over India. All of India and the international community as well did not condone British imperialism in India from this point onwards. It led to the further strengthening of the Indian independence movement led by the moderate and extreme freedom fighters of India.
This incident also made the Indian public completely lose faith in the British government and it for sure, triggered the beginning of the downfall of the British Raj. Prior to this, the Brits had successfully pillaged and plundered the jewel in its crown, India, for about 150 years.
The Conscience of Reginald Dyer
General Dwyer himself showed no remorse for his crimes against humanity at the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. He justified the massacre by claiming that he was saving the British Raj and that the Indians in Punjab and Amritsar were on the verge of a bloody revolution similar to the 1857 mutiny that had almost shattered the myth of British superiority on Indian soil.
Consequences
An enquiry was ordered of General Reginald Dyer and he was eventually pardoned and made to retire from the British army at the time. Though it appeared that he had got away with his crimes, the truth was that the Karmic consequences of his crimes were so severe that it caused him grave illness and he never lived a happy day thereafter. He suffered from several strokes, paralysis, speech impediments in the years following the massacre and even on his deathbed, the Jallianwala Bagh massacre was on his mind as he made the statement, “So many people who knew the condition of Amritsar say I did right...but so many others say I did wrong. I only want to die and know from my Maker whether I did right or wrong.” He died on 23rd July 1927.
The era of O'Dwyer, his general at that time and Dyer has been deemed "an era of misdeeds of British administration in India." Eventually, the Lieutenant Governor of Punjab, British India, between 1913 and 1919 was also assassinated on 13th March 1940, by Sardar Udham Singh, an Indian freedom fighter who traveled all the way to England to enact retribution for all the Indians who were mercilessly massacred on 13th April 1919.
What makes the tragedy so poignant and emotionally moving was the fact that this Bagh, in close proximity to Amritsar’s Golden Temple could only be accessed by a narrow entrance, which was surrounded by the soldiers who carried out the shooting while taking orders from Colonel Reginald Dyer. Surely, this shows that some of the most despicable crimes in history have been committed under the guise of merely taking orders.
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