On April 13, 1919, in Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar, more than 400 died and over 1,100 were injured after Colonel Reginald Dyer open fired at innocent Indians. Some even jumped into the well in the bagh to flight dying by the Britishers’bullets.
It has been a hundred years since this tragic incident, and not once has Britain apologized for its actions.
Only now, after a century, Britain’s current Prime Minister Theresa May said, “The tragedy of Jallianwala Bagh of 1919 is a shameful scar on British Indian history. As Her Majesty the Queen (Elizabeth II) said before visiting Jallianwala Bagh in 1997, it is a distressing example of our past history with India.”
As per France24.com, she said so as she addressed the British Parliament, after Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the main opposition Labour Party called for “a full, clear and unequivocal apology.”
In what appears to be a smartly-worded face-saving statement, the word ‘apology’ is nowhere to be found. The incident is still considered one of the most ghastly and bloody incidents in the history of British India.
The bullet marks that still remain on walls of the bagh remind people of the horror of that gloomy day.
At the Jallianwala Bagh, which is a garden spread across 6 to 7 acres in Amritsar in Punjab, a large gathering of 15,000-20,000 people with a majority of Sikhs, had gathered to celebrate Baisakhi, the Punjabi harvest festival.
Around 50 troops of the British Indian Army marched into the garden space, commanded by Colonel Reginald Dyer. On his orders, the troops indiscriminately fired on the group of gathered civilians for about 10 minutes till the ammunition ran short. 1,650 rounds of bullets were used in the attack.
By Sowmya Sangam
