Remembering Jalianwala Bagh's cold blooded murder ..

The gory Baisakhi day of 1919 ..  Courtesy News18

General Dyre, the young British Brigadier General posted in Amritsar, Punjab committed a grave act that would be remembered for generations on the evening of April 13, 1919. The soldiers led by Gen Dyre surrounded a crowd of 1600 people gathered and in 10 minutes committed one of the most brutal and heinous crimes ever on the people of India.

It was a very audacious and bold move in British eyes but a very agonising, excruciating and heart wrenching moment for Indians. In a matter of 10 minutes from 17.37 hrs to 17.47 hours,  on 13 April 1919, 1600 bullets were fired on the people who had gathered at Jalianwala Bagh. 376 innocent villagers who had gathered to celebrate Baisakhi and to protest against the British high handedness, were brought down in cold blood, fell dead, with about 1100 injured, many of them grievously.

A British newspaper even went to the extent of complimenting Gen Dyre and organised a fund collection drive for him and collected 26,000 British Pounds for him as a reward for the atrocities on the Indians. 

The British envoy who visited the site yesterday expressed deep remorse at the act committed a hundred years ago, by a loyal British subject employing Indian policemen on the people of India. 

The memorial erected at the site during the 50s .. Forever a dark blot on
British imperialism .

Great Empires come and great Empires go, they get mired in their own inconsistencies and sinful, remorseful acts. The burden is carried over for generations and centuries, even after the complete annihilation of the empire or its divided and fallen subjects. The great Romans fell like a pack of cards, Alexander of Greece went down defeated, bruised and obliterated, the Egyptians were annihilated and extirpated, the people from the Mesopotamia basin were removed and erased out of human history. Only civilizations that preached peace, harmony and love have survived and thrived.

An apology is but the civilised way to say sorry, that it will never be repeated, never again in human history of planet Earth. More dastardly events were to come after this massacre in the killing fields of Auschwitz during the second world war, Khmer Rouge killing fields at Pnom Penh Cambodia in the mid-seventies and Rwanda in Africa in the mid-nineties and more .. It is a great humbling lesson now for the British government and their learned but uncivilised subjects.

Click here for a video of the event attended by British officials on 13 April 2019 in Jalianwala Bagh .. India's great leader Shashi Tharoor speaking in the Indian Parliament, two months back .. (click here) asking an apology from the British... And apology did Britain do for one of the darkest blots on British imperialism ..

To the honoured people who lost their lives - your death was not in vain, we gratefully remember your sacrifice and contribution to our freedom movement . Rest in peace !!

George..