Explain Jalianwala Bagh Massacre?
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Answers
Explanation:
On 13th April 1919, the infamous Jallianwala Bagh incident took place.
. On that day, a crowd of villagers who had come to Amritsar to attend a fair gathered in the enclosed ground of Jallianwala Bagh.
. Being from outside the city, they were unaware of the martial law that had been imposed.
. General Dyer entered the area, blocked the only exit point, and opened fire on the crowd, killing and wounding hundreds of people.
. His objective was to ‘produce a moral effect’ to create in the minds of satyagrahis, a feeling of terror and awe.
. As the news spread, crowds took to the streets. There were strikes, clashes with police and attacks on government buildings. The government responded with brutal repression. Seeing violence spread, Mahatma Gandhi called off the movement.
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 Indian Army to fire their rifles into a crowd of unarmed Indian civilians[3] in Jallianwala Bagh, Amritsar, Punjab, killing at least 379 people and injuring over 1,200 other people.
Jallianwala Bagh massacre
Image of narrow passage between tall walls which leads to the entrance of Jallianwala Bagh
Narrow passage to the entrance of Jallianwala Bagh Garden where the massacre occurred
Jallianwala Bagh massacre is located in PunjabJallianwala Bagh massacre
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Location of Amritsar in India
Location
Amritsar, Punjab, British India
Coordinates
31°37′14″N 74°52′50″E
Date
13 April 1919; 101 years ago
05:37 p.m (IST)
Target
Crowd of nonviolent protesters, along with Baisakhi pilgrims, who had gathered in Jallianwala Bagh, Amritsar
Attack type
Massacre
Weapons
Lee-Enfield rifles
Deaths
379[1] – 1000+[2]
Injured
~ 1,500[2]
Perpetrators
Riflemen of the 9th Gurkha Rifles, the 54th Sikhs and the 59th Sind Rifles, British India Army
No. of participants
50
Mural Depicting 1919 Amritsar Massacre
On Sunday, 13 April 1919, Dyer, convinced a major insurrection could take place, banned all meetings. This notice was not widely disseminated, and many villagers gathered in the Bagh to celebrate the important Indian festival of Baisakhi, and peacefully protest the arrest and deportation of two national leaders, Satyapal and Saifuddin Kitchlew. Dyer and his troops entered the garden, blocking the main entrance behind them, took up position on a raised bank, and with no warning opened fire on the crowd for about ten minutes, directing their bullets largely towards the few open gates through which people were trying to flee, until the ammunition supply was almost exhausted. The following day Dyer stated in a report that "I have heard that between 200 and 300 of the crowd were killed. My party fired 1,650 rounds".[4][5]
The Hunter Commission report published the following year by the Government of India criticised both Dyer personally and also the Government of the Punjab for failing to compile a detailed casualty count, and quoted a figure offered by the Sewa Samati (a Social Services Society) of 379 identified dead,[1] and approximately 1,200 wounded, of whom 192 were seriously injured.[6][7] The casualty number estimated by the Indian National Congress was more than 1,500 injured, with approximately 1,000 dead.
Dyer was lauded for his actions by some in Britain, and indeed became a hero among many of those who were directly benefiting from the British Raj,[8] such as members of the House of Lords.[9] He was, however, widely denounced and criticised in the House of Commons, whose July 1920 committee of investigation censured him. Because he was a soldier acting on orders, he could not be tried for murder. The military chose not to bring him before a court-martial, and his only punishment was to be removed from his current appointment, turned down for a proposed promotion, and barred from further employment in India. Dyer subsequently retired from the army and returned to England, where he died, unrepentant about his actions, in 1927.[10][11][12]
Responses polarized both the British and Indian peoples. Eminent author Rudyard Kipling declared at the time that Dyer "did his duty as he saw it".[13] This incident shocked Rabindranath Tagore (the first Indian and Asian Nobel laureate) to such an extent that he renounced his knighthood and stated that "such mass murderers aren't worthy of giving any title to anyone".
The massacre caused a re-evaluation by the British Army of its military role against civilians to minimal force whenever possible, although later British actions during the Mau Mau insurgencies in Kenya have led historian Huw Bennett to note that the new policy was not always carried out.[14] The army was retrained and developed less violent tactics for crowd control.[15]
The level of casual brutality, and lack of any accountability, stunned the entire nation,[16] resulting in a wrenching loss of faith of the general Indian public in the intentions of the UK.[17] The ineffective inquiry, together with the initial accolades for Dyer, fuelled great widespread anger against the British among the Indian populace, leading to the Non-cooperation Movement of 1920–22.[18] Some historians consider the episode a decisive step towards the end of British rule in India.
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