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Jallian Wala Bagh Massacre and the Birth of Revolutionary Terrorism in the Indian Freedom Struggle

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Jallian Wala Bagh Massacre and the Birth of Revolutionary Terrorism in the Indian Freedom Struggle International Journal of Management and Humanities (IJMH) ISSN: 2394-0913, Volume-2 Issue-10, April 2017 Jallian Wala Bagh Massacre and the Birth of Revolutionary Terrorism in the Indian Freedom Struggle Shanmathi. R 2. To trace the role of revolutionary terrorism towards Abstract : The Jallianwala Bagh Massacre provoked a violent Indian Nationalism. current of horror and dismay all over the country. The scale of destruction caused by the massacre agitated the people to revolt B. Hypothesis against the British in a more rigid manner. They were prepared in The Jallian Wala Bagh Massacre was instrumental in sphere mind and body to pass through the severest ordeals. The large heading the success of the revolutionary terrorism movement band of revolutionaries of the freedom struggle who chose a life of exile for many years- some for their life far away from their during Independence. mother land- yeoman’s service to the cause of India’s freedom by C. Sources of Study propagating true facts about the nature of British Rule in India to people hitherto kept an ignorance or misled by the false The research entirely depends on Secondary Sources. propaganda of the British and succeeded in evoking the sympathy Secondary Source include books related to Jallianwala Bagh of the British. It is they who set an example before the Indians by Massacre and the Rise of Nationalism. Ample websites and sacrificing their own life. This paper is an attempt to bring out the blogs have also been referred. hardships underwent by the Indians at the time of massacre and how it ignited them to fight for the nation’s freedom. II. JALLIANWALA BAGH MASSACRE AND ITS Index Terms : Violent current of horror, revolutionaries, IMPACTS national movement, Independence. The 1919 Amritsar Massacre, known alternatively as the I. INTRODUCTION Jallianwala Bagh massacre after the Jallianwala Bagh (Garden) in the northern Indian city of Amritsar, was odered The Indian Freedom Struggle is contemporary world by General R.E.H. Dyer. On Sunday April 13, 1919 which history’s much talked about and in fact an inspiring people’s happened to be ‘Baisakhi’, one of Punjab’s largest religious movement for colonialisation and evils of imperialism. As festivals, fifty British Indian Army soldiers, commanded by India surges the path of progress, it is important to keep in Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer, began shooting at an mind of how it emerged as a nation. The freedom movement unarmed gathering of men, women, and children without that stemmed from the autocratic and despotic nature of rule warning. Dyer marched his fifty riflemen to a raised bank and by the Britishers swept the minds of the commoners in India ordered to kneel and fire. Dyer ordered soldiers to reload their who for so long were subjected to heinous torture and rifles several times and they were ordered to shoot to kill. brutalism in the hands of those who arrived in India as traders Official British Raj sources estimated the fatalities at 379, and in 1600’s. with 1,100 wounded. Civil Surgeon Dr. Williams Dee Meddy The freedom movement although led by the Moderate indicated that were 1,526 casualities. However the causality leaders of the Indian National Congress, nonetheless also had number quoted by the Indian National Congress was more than 1,500, with roughly 1,000 killed. many leaders with revolutionary thoughts and ideas inspired th from the history of their ancestors and even of those leaders On April 13 , the holiday of Baisakhi, thousands of from other nations to rise vehemently against oppression. The Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims gathered in the Jallianwala Bagh people were passing through a sense of frustration and (garden) near the Harmandir Sahib in Amritsar. Baisakthi is a pessimism after agitation and demonstration, against the Sikh festival, commemorating the day that Guru Gobind Rowlatt Bills, the Non-cooperation and the Khilafat Singh founded the Khalsa Panth in 1699, and also known as Movement had not borne the desired results. So there was a the ‘Birth of Khalsa’. During this time people celebrate by revival of the revolutionary and the terrorist movement in the congregating in religious and community affairs, and there country, which succeeded the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre. may have been a large number who were unaware of the political meeting. A. Objectives A. Commencement of Violence 1. To analyze the impact of Jallian Wala Bagh Massacre in the rise of Revolutionary Freedom Struggle. An hour after the meeting began as scheduled at 4:30 pm, General Dyer marched a group of sixty-five Gurkha and twenty-five Baluchi soldiers into the Bagh, fifty of whom were armed with rifles. Dyer had also brought two armored Revised Version Manuscript Received on March 20, 2017. cars armed with machine guns, however the vehicles were Shanmathi. R , B.A.LLB (Hons), 2nd Year, Saveetha School of Law, Saveetha University, Chennai, India. E-mail: [email protected] Published By: Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering 8 & Sciences Publication Pvt. Ltd. Jallian Wala Bagh Massacre and the Birth of Revolutionary Terrorism in the Indian Freedom Struggle Stationed outside the main gate as they were unable to enter In a telegram sent to Dyer, British Lieutenant-Governor of the Bagh through the narrow entrance. Punjab, Sir Michael O’Dyer wrote: “Your action is correct. The Jallianwala Bagh was bounded on all the sides by Lieutenant Governor approves.” houses and buildings and had a few narrow entrances, most of O’Dyer requested that martial law be imposed upon which were kept permanently locked. The main entrance was Amritsar and other areas; this was granted by the Viceroy, relatively wider, but was guarded y the troops backed by the Lord Chelmsford, after the massacre. The “crawling order” armoured vehicles. General.O.Dyer ordered troops to begin was posted on August 19 under the auspices of martial law. shooting without warning or any order to disperse, and to Dyer was messaged to appear before the Hunter direct shooting towards the densest sections of the crowd. He Commission, a commission of inquiry into the massacre that continued the shooting approximately 1,650 rounds in all, was ordered to convene by Secretary of State for India, Edwin until ammunition was almost exhausted. Montagu, during late 1919. Dyer said before the commission that he came to know about the meeting at the Jallianwala B. The Uncountable Deaths Bagh at 12:40 hours that day but did not attempt to prevent it. Apart from the many deaths directly from shooting, a He stated that he had gone to the Bagh with the deliberate number of people died in stampedes at the narrow gates or by intention of opening fire if he found a crowd assembled there. jumping into the solitary well on the compound to escape the He stated that he did not make any effort to tend to the shooting. A plaque in the monument at the site, set up after wounded after the shooting: “Certainly not. It was not my job. independence, says that 120 bodies were pulled out of the Hospitals were open and they could have gone there.” well. The wounded could not be moved from where they have The Hunter Commission did not award any penal nor had fallen, as a curfew had been declared- many more died disciplinary action because Dyer’s actions were concluded by during the night. various superiors (later upheld by the Army Council). The number of deaths caused by the shooting is disputed. However, he was finally found guilty of a mistaken notion of While the official figure given by the British inquiry into the duty and relieved of his command. massacre is 379 deaths, the method used by the inquiry has been subject to criticism. Officials were tasked with finding E. Impact of the Massacre who had been killed during July1919, three months after the Mass riots erupted in Punjab and the govermnet had to place massacre, by inviting inhabitants of the city to volunteer five of the districts under martial law. Eventually an enquiry information about those who participated would be identified committee after its Chairman, Lord Hunter, held General as having been present at the meeting, and some of the dead Dyer guilty of a mistaken notion of duty, and he was relieved may not have had close relations in the area. Additionally, a of his command and prematurely retired from the army. The senior civil servant in the Punjab interviewed by the members Indian National Congress held its annual session in December of the committee admitted that the actual figure could be 1919 at Amritsar and called upon the British Government to higher. “take early steps to establish a fully responsible government in India in accordance with the principle of C. Steps Taken by INC self-determination.” Since the official figures were likely flawed considering the The Jallianwala Bagh massacre provoked s violent current size of the crowd (15,000- 20,000), number of rounds shot of horror and dismay all over the country. The scale of and period of shooting, the politically interested Indian destruction caused by the massacre agitated the people to National Congress instituted a separate inquiry of its own, revolt against the British in a more rigid manner. The freedom with conclusions that differed considerably from the movement although led by the Moderate Leaders of the INC, Government’s. The causality number quoted by the INC was nonetheless also had many leaders with revolutionary more than 1,500, with approximately 1,000 killed. Despite the thoughts and ideas inspired from the history of their ancestors Government’s best efforts to suppress information of the and even of those leaders from other nations to rise massacre, news spread elsewhere in India and widespread vehemently against oppression.
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