Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the renovated complex of Jallianwala Bagh memorial today, August 28 via video conference. The Prime Minister’s Office said Modi will also inaugurate museum galleries developed at the memorial in Amritsar. The event will showcase multiple development initiatives taken by the government to upgrade the complex, it added. The PMO noted that four museum galleries have been created through adaptive reuse of redundant and underutilised buildings.
The galleries showcase the historical value of events that unfolded in Punjab during that period, with the fusion of audio-visual technology, including projection mapping and 3D representation, as well as art and sculptural installations. A sound and light show has been set up to display the events that happened on April 13, 1919 when the British forces fired indiscriminately on a large and peaceful gathering of protesters, killing over 1,000 people and wounding hundreds of them.
HERE’S ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE APRIL 13, 1919 MASSACRE
The Jallianwala Bagh Massacre took place on April 13, 1919.
People were not made aware of the Martian Law imposition that prohibited public gatherings. As a result, thousands gathered to celebrate the festival of Baisakhi, which is marked on April 13 in the year 1919.
The killings took place on the orders of colonel Reginald Dyer, the Acting Brigadier. Colonel Dyer ordered the firing without warning or asking the crowd to disperse.
There were two armoured cars with machine guns that were used in the shooting, besides Gurkha and Baluchi soldiers using Scinde rifles.
That day witnessed incessant firing for 10 to 15 minutes, which included 1,650 rounds of bullets being fired on the spot; which resulted in the death of over 1,000 people. However, the official reports stated 379 people as deceased and 1,200 as wounded.
The site of the brutal, unfortunate incident was an enclosed garden in Amritsar, Punjab, known as the Jallianwala Bagh. The event is also addressed as Amritsar Massacre.
The place was closed on three sides as there were houses built around it with their back walls enclosing the area. Barring the main entrance, there was no way for the people gathered to flee.
Rabindranath Tagore refused to accept his knighthood as a protest to the heinous Jallianwala Bagh massacre.
Owing to the same reason, Mahatma Gandhi returned his ‘Kaiser-i-Hind’ award. He was honoured for his role in the Boer War in South Africa by the British government.
Udham Singh, a member of the revolutionist Ghadar party, shot Colonel Reginald Dyer on March 13, 1940. He took revenge for the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre.
Shingara Singh, the last known survivor of the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre, passed away in Amritsar on June 29, 2009, at the age of 113.
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