In the history of the country’s independence, there are many such stories of slave India, which no one can forget. There is an incident in that on April 13. Which we know as Jallianwala Bagh Massacre. On this day (April 13) in the year 1919, thousands of Indians who had gathered for a peaceful meeting at Jallianwala Bagh were indiscriminately fired by the British rulers. The people sitting in protest against the Rowlatt Act were fired upon on the orders of General Dyer. More than 350 people were killed and hundreds were injured, including many innocent people. Today, 103 years have been completed since the incident of this massacre.
In this garden named Jallianwala Bagh near the historic Golden Temple in the Amritsar district of Punjab, many women terrified of British firing jumped into the well to save their lives with their children. Many people were crushed in the stampede as the exit route was narrow and thousands were hit by bullets.
Rowlatt Act
The Rowlatt Act (Black Act) was passed by the British Government on March 10, 1919. In which the government was authorized to imprison any person associated with seditious activities without trial. This caused nationwide unrest. Gandhi started Satyagraha in protest against the Rowlatt Act. Orders were issued to prevent Gandhi from entering Punjab and arrest him for disobeying orders by the British authorities.
Sir Michael O’Dwyer (1912–1919), the lieutenant governor of Punjab, suggested that Gandhi be exiled to Burma, but his fellow officers opposed this as they felt it might provoke the masses. Dr. Saifuddin Kitchlu and Dr. Satyapal were two prominent leaders who were symbols of Hindu-Muslim unity. They held a peaceful protest against the Rowlatt Act in Amritsar. On April 9, 1919, O’Dwyer issued an order to arrest him.
Why were people murdered?
There is a place called Jallianwala Bagh a short distance from the Golden Temple in Amritsar, Punjab. On this very day, thousands of Sikhs came together to protest against the Rowlatt Act against British rule. People are said to have united in this meeting against the repressive policy of the British, and also against the arrest of Satyapal and Saifuddin. There was a curfew in the city and thousands of people attended the meeting. In the meeting going on in the garden, General Reginald Dyer arrived and ordered the soldiers to fire.
It is said that 5 thousand people were present at this place. Here General Dyer with 90 of his British soldiers besieged and committed this massacre. The crime that General Dyer committed to suppressing this demonstration, may have given the British Empire the power to rule India for a few years, but the people of India could not forget this wound. The bloodshed in the Jallianwala Bagh massacre gave a new direction to India’s freedom movement.
Revenge took from the guilty of Jallianwala Bagh
General Dyer, convicted of this murder case, was also murdered after 21 years at the hands of an Indian. Who is known as Sardar Udham Singh? The lion of India, Sardar Udham Singh had reached London to avenge this massacre at Jallianwala Bagh. After many years of planning, he finally gunned down Dyer on 13 March 1940 while giving a speech at a meeting. Even though Sardar Udham Singh was punished after this but he took his revenge.
