Table Of Contents For 'Jallianwala Bagh' Book By Gursharan Singh

FOREWORD To Book 'Jallianwala Bagh' Book By Gursharan Singh

Although seventy five years have passed since that sanguinary Sun-day ( April 13, 1919), the very name of Jallianwala Bagh brings before our eyes the details of the gory tragedy that tormented the Indian psyche and became the part of it in the times to come. The chroniclers and analists, as we know, have recorded it as an important event in the history of India's struggle for freedom. They event ask, what would have been the nature of Indian politics if the Jallianwala Bagh massacre had not taken place ? Would Gandhi have emerged as a leader of millions ? Would Jawahar Nehru have described the Amritsar Congress Session of 1919 as the Gandhi Congress ? Would Gandhi have incorporated the Khilafat agitation in his non-cooperation movement ?

The massacre of innocent people in Jallianwala Bagh evoked unprecedented resentment among the masses. The National anger was voiced by India's greatest poet, Rabindra Nath Tagore, through his famous letter renouncing his knighthood, He wrote :

                  The time has come when badges of honour make our shame glaring in their incongruous context by humiliation and I, for my part, wish to stand shorn of all special distinction by the side of those of my countrymen who for their so called insignificance are liable to suffer degradation not fit for human beings and these are the reasons which have painfully compelled me to ask your Excellency, with due difference and regret to release me of my title of knighthood.

The immediate impact of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Punjab became more pronounced when the Sikhs launched the Gurdwara Reform movement in 1920 in order to safeguard the sancity of their religious places. They could not tolerate that their shrines be used by the Government appointed managers of the Gurdwaras to promote and justify the role of Imperial Government. Though apparently the stir assumed a religious form and had a religious end to achieve but in reality it was a revolt of the community against the system perpetuated by the Government. This was duly endorsed and supported by the Nationalist. The Akalis adopted the method of non-violence and non-cooperation as their creed.

It will not be an exageration to suggest that the National Movement throught India received tremendous impetus after the 1919 tragedy. The growing popular participation of people in the National Movement with the aim of obtaining freedom, grew wider and wider in scope. It projected variegated ideological currents ranging form reformation to revolution, from peasent revolt and religious fervour to glorious national sentiments with a singular aim of making the country free from the imperial yoke.

The present volume covering different aspects of Jallianwala Bagh massacre would provide the readers some fresh insight and help in understanding the very nature of India's struggle for freedom.

J. S. Puar

Preface To Book 'Jallianwala Bagh' Book By Gursharan Singh

                                                      Plassey laid the foundation of the British Empire,

                                                     Amritsar has shaken it.                                -Gandhi

General Dyer by his action in Jallianwala Bagh tried to impress upon the people that he has saved the Punjab from bloody revolt and India from second Mutiny. He had ordered firing of 1650 rounds of ammunition without warning at a peaceful gathering. This was considered by him as a great opportunity to show people the might of the British empire. He had imagined that "the Lord had delivered them into my hands."

But the Indian masses saw in it more vividly than ever before, the ugly face of British imperialism, its brutality, its callousness and its resolve to crush all aspirations for freedom.

The Jallianwala Bagh happening turned Gandhi into a rebel. The Punjab wrongs particularly the public flogging, lathi charges, crawling orders and shootings started the people.

It can be surmised that in the history of the freedom struggle, the Jallianwala Bagh massacre shook Indians faith in the bonafides of the British Government. Subash Chander Bose has aptly described :

                           Thus on the rock of Jallianwala Bagh was wrecked the ship of cooperation built by the secretary of State for India. Mr.Montagu through his sympathetic gestures and his elaborate intrigues during his visit to India in 1917-1918 

I will be falling in my duty if i do not record my sense of indebtedness for the help received in the preparation of this volume. I am grateful to Prof. J.S. Puar, Vice-Chancellor of our University without whose personal interest the publication of this volume would not have materialised. He very kindly agreed to write the foreword also.

My thanks are also due to Prof. V.N. Datta for his very generous help, guidance and for writing introduction. I am equally grateful to Derek Sayer the author of the article 'British Reaction to the Amritsar Massacre, 1919-1920' and to Mr. Charles Philpin, Associate Editor of 'Past and present' for their permission to reprint the article in this volume.

I also gratefully acknowledge the help of Shri. S. Mukerji, Secretary Jallianwala Bagh Trust, Amritsar and Sardar Manmohan Singh photo-artist for their cooperation to get the photographs from the Museum.

My thanks are also due to Dr Hazara Singh, Head, Publication Bureau for taking personal interest to get this volume published.

Gursharan Singh