The well of history

As bullets roared in the confines of 6.27 acres of open space in close proximity to the Golden Temple in Amritsar on April 13, 1919, snuffing out over a thousand lives of unarmed innocent Indians, the resolve to throw out the English rulers grew stronger and snowballed into a persistent demand for freedom until it was finally attained on August 15, 1947. On that fateful April evening, 50 Indian soldiers fired 1,650 rounds on the orders of Brigadier-General Reginald Edward Harry Dyer, who stood on a platform near the entrance. With the lone entrance to the ground blocked, 120 jumped into the well nearby.

The official figure of total deaths was kept low at 379. The genesis of the massacre was the passing of the Rowlett Act in March 1919 under which anyone revolting against the Government could be tried without juries and even incarcerated indefinitely without trial. Outraged by the enactment of this absurd law, Mahatma Gandhi called for a countrywide strike. Though the strike passed off peacefully on April 6, 1919, Dr Satyapal and Dr Saifuddin Kitchlew were arrested. Debarring Mahatma Gandhi’s entry into Punjab led to a massive upheaval. A crowd of over 20,000 advancing towards the Deputy Commissioner’s residence in Amritsar on April 10, 1919, to protest against the arrest of its leaders, was fired upon, killing 20. Provoked by such senseless killing, the crowd went on a rampage and killed five British citizens. With the Army called in, prohibitory orders were promulgated.

April 13 being a day of the Baisakhi festival, over 15,000 people congregated at the Jallianwala ground when General Dyer ordered firing. Pronounced guilty of a mistaken notion of duty by the Hunter Committee, General Dyer was prematurely retired from the Army. Son of an English brewer in Shimla, General Dyer was an alumnus of Bishop Cotton School there. The efforts of the British rulers to erase the memory of the massacre by attempting to buy the land from its owner and then sell it at throw-away prices to cloth merchants to set up shops there was thwarted by Dr S C Mukherji, a Bengali freedom fighter.

He initiated a draft for a Trust to be formed which was duly ratified by the Indian National Congress. The Trust came into existence in 1920. Three years later, with the funds that he raised, he purchased the land for Rs 5.65 lakhs — a huge amount those days, from its owner Sardar Himmat Singh who hailed from village Jalla, now in Fatehgarh Sahib district of Punjab. Since the owners were commonly known as Jallawale, the place subsequently came to be known as Jallianwala Bagh.

Designed by an American architect Benjamin Polk, the tall structure in the shape of a flame was inaugurated by the first Indian President Dr Rajendra Prasad in the presence of the first Indian Prime Minister Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru and other eminent leaders of the yore days. The four-sided tapering structure stands majestically in the centre of a shallow tank with the Ashok Chakra prominently carved on it, proclaiming the sacrifice of the martyrs for the freedom of our country.

The grandson of Dr S C Mukherji, Sukumar Mukherji who is presently the secretary of the Jallianwala Bagh Memorial Trust laments that the funds from the Ministry of Culture under which the Trust functions had not received much support from the Government for the last several years. Only last year, Rs 20 crores were allotted for the renovation of the memorial. Amidst opposition to give a new look to the martyrs well, the canopy-shaped fiberglass has replaced the wire mesh that covered the opening of the well.

With over 50,000 visitors entering the Jallianwala Bagh every day, Mukherji’s suggestion to have entry tickets has not been accepted by the Trust. Over 80 percent of the visitors to the monument are pilgrims who pay obeisance at the nearby Golden Temple. The light and sound show with a voiceover of film actor Amitabh Bachchan, which was inaugurated in 2010 by the then Defence Minister A K Anthony has been lying defunct since 2014.

A 10-minute light and sound show is now envisaged for which Rs 3 crores has been set aside. A 50-seat auditorium and four museum galleries are to come up soon. The work, which had started in February was scheduled to be completed by April 12. It had to be stalled in view of the Covid-19 restrictions.

Though the British Government has not formally apologised for the massacre, their gestures and words speak of their contrition. That the compensation ranging from a few thousands to over a lakh was paid to the victims of the massacre in 1921-22 was some consolation. But a formal apology for the brutal killings will go a long way to assuage the feelings of our countrymen.

Former Prime Minister Theresa May had recently regretted the “shameful scar” of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre on British Indian history during the Prime Minister’s Questions in the Parliament. A month earlier, the Minister of State at Foreign Office stated in a debate: “There are concerns that any Government department has to make about any apology given there may well be financial implications to making an apology.” Evidently, the financial implication is restraining the British Government from tendering a formal apology.

In September last year, the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Portal Welby literally lay prostrate in front of the memorial paying tributes to the martyrs of the massacre and said that it was “a deeply humbling “ experience and provoked “feelings of profound shame.” Since he does not represent the Government, he regretted that he cannot apologise on behalf of the Government.

A formal apology, bereft of a financial tag will, however, settle the issue which has been lingering for long.