JALLIANWALA BAGH REMEMBRANCE

| CADET SASWAT KUMAR SWAIN of MUNICIPAL COLLEGE, 9 ’O’ BN ROURKELA participated in JALLIANWALA BAGH Event.

Jallianwala Bagh is a historic garden and ‘memorial of national importance’ in Amritsar, India, preserved in the memory of those wounded and killed in the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre that occurred on the site on the festival of Baisakhi, 13 April 1919. It houses a museum, gallery and a number of memorial structures.

The Jallianwala Bagh massacre, also known as the Amritsar massacre, took place on 13 April 1919, when Acting Brigadier- General Reginald Dyer ordered troops of the British Army to fire their rifles into a crowd of unarmed Indian civilians in Jallianwala Bagh, Amritsar, Punjab, killing at least 379 people and injuring over 1,200 other people.

On 13 April 1919, people gathered at Jallianwala Bagh (Amritsar) to protest against the arrest of the two nationalist leaders, Satya Pal and Dr Saifuddin Kitchlew. Suddenly, a British military officer, General Dyer, entered the park with his troops. Without even giving a warning to the people to disperse, he ordered his troops fired at the unarmed crowd for ten minutes and when their ammunition was exhausted, they left. In those ten minutes, according to the estimates of the congress, about a thousand persons were killed and about 2000 wounded. The bullet marks can be still seen on the walls of the Jallianwala Bagh which is now a national memorial. There were no official data on the number of deaths during the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre. But on the official enquiry of the British revealed that there were 379 deaths and the Congress quoted more than 1000 people died in the massacre.

The massacre had been a calculated act and Dyer declared with pride that he had done it to produce ‘moral effect’ on the people and that he had made up his mind that he would shoot down all men if they were going to continue the meeting. He had no regrets. He went to England and some Englishmen collected money to honour him. Others were shocked at this act of brutality and demanded an enquiry. A British newspaper called it as one of the bloody massacres of modern history.

Name : Saswat Kumar Swain

Regt No: OD19SDA668015

MUNICIPAL COLLEEGE, RKL

9(O) BN NCC, ROURKELA

ODISHA DIRECTORATE