The Jallianwala Bagh massacre caused excruciating suffering to people in India then and it’s not forgotten even today, after 100 years; people commemorate the day with a peaceful candle march and honour the lost lives.
It was on 13 April 1919, that a tragedy befell people gathered for the celebration of Baisakhi (Punjabi New Year) in Jallianwala Bagh, Amritsar, Punjab.
The gathering was also a peaceful protest to condemn the arrest and deportation of Satya Pal and Saifuddin Kitchlew; both of them were Indian Freedom fighters and advocates of the Satyagraha movement led by Mahatma Gandhi.
100 years from today, under the command of Colonel Reginald Dyer, the troops of the British Indian Army fired rifles into a crowd gathered in Jallianwala Bagh for about ten minutes; the crowd included unarmed men, women and children.
The Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims were gathered together to seek justice fair and honour, as written by the Punjabi poet, songwriter and novelist Nanak Singh (who survived the massacre) in his poem Khomeini Visayans – Bloody Baisakhi.
British Prime Minister Theresa May, according to reports, has said about Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar as a “shameful scar on British Indian History” on 10th April 2019. But a formal apology from Britain is still awaited.