It was a peaceful congregation of 20,000 people on that Sunday morning that was callously fired upon by Gen. Dyer's orders. No less than 1650 rounds of ammunition were let off without the slightest warning, let alone provocation. Dyer's troops were merciless, ruthless and indiscriminate; men and women, young and old, all fell under that deadly fusillage.

The ghastly carnage sent shock waves throughout the country, arousing unrestrained anger and unbounded indignation against British rule. The people once again saw the brutal face of British imperialism. An outraged Rabindranath Tagore without hesitation renounced his knighthood, and in stinging words, 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 deference and regret, to release me of my title of knighthood."

Among the 381 martyred on that day (according to the Punjab government records) there were people of all communities, Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs, of whom a sizeable number were Muslims. People had come not only from Amritsar City, but also from the entire district, from Ajnala, Gurdaspur, Taran Taran, Rupawali, Rawalpindi, Sultanwind, Lopoke, Montgomery, Batala, Sialkot, etc.

THE BACKGROUND

Why this ferocious brutality in Jalianwala particularly? In the struggle for independence at that time, Punjab was playing a foremost role. Punjabis who had gone abroad earlier to America and Canada, had formed the Gadhar party in 1913 in which Lala Hardayal had played an important role, and thousands of workers, mostly Punjabis, had offered their lives in the cause of national independence. Altogether some 8,000 volunteers had come to operate in different areas. Many of them were caught, some put behind bars, others hanged, and many interned in their villages. Though the Ghadar Party could not succeed in carrying out its plans, it contributed substantially in creating a new awakening among the people.

Punjab was also an important centre for recruitment to the British army. During the course of the First World War also a large number of Punjabis had enlisted into the British army, with the promise of a better future once the war was over. These promises remained unredeemed after the war and led to growing discontent.

Secondly, a large section of Muslims had been drawn into the Khilafat movement at that time, with the British becoming a party supporting the abolishment of the Khalifa in Turkey. This led to a pan-Islamic movement throughout the world, and was supported by the Congress party and Mahatma Gandhi in India. This strengthened the unity of the Hindus and Muslims and not only did they join hands calling for the restoration of the Khalifa, but also for the liberation of the country.

Side by side discontent was brewing amongst the Sikhs, including retired soldiers, about the management of their religious institutions which had been taken over by the British and were being used to subserve the purpose of the British imperialists and their stooges.

All this was taking place in the background of a bad economic situation at the time. The war had proved very costly for the country; prices of essential commodities had shot up and the real income of the people drastically fallen. All these factors combined had given rise to unrest and discontent throughout the country. Sensing the popular mood the British rulers in December 1917, had set up a `Sedition Committee' more popularly known by the name of its President as the Rowlatt Committee, to suggest ways and means for containing and putting down the growing discontent.

THE INFAMOUS ROWLATT REPORT

The Rowlatt Report seemed to be a thesis written to prove that Indian nationalists were anarchists and emphasised the necessity of curbing their activities. It noted that the existing laws were inadequate for dealing with the situation and hence draconian powers needed to be vested with the authorities to tackle the situation. On January 18, 1919 the government published in the India Gazette the Criminal Law (Emergency Powers) Bill. The emergency powers provided for expeditious trial of revolutionaries by the courts, with no right of appeal. The local government was also given powers to arrest persons believed to be connected with such offences. Despite vehement public resentment and protests the Government introduced and passed the bill.

Punjab found itself in the vortex of the movement against the Rowlatt Act because it was the most affected province at the time, due to the several reasons mentioned earlier. The catchwords at that time were "No Vakil, no Dalil, no Appeal" (no lawyer, no argument, no appeal). The name of Rowlatt became synonymous with the Punjabi word rowla sahib, meaning troubleshooter.

Lt. Governor O'Dwyer, faced with the tide of the national movement sweeping over the Punjab belt, and trying his best to stem it, felt betrayed. He was thinking of meting out exemplary punishment to the Punjabis, in the hope that the people would learn from them.

Dr. Saiffudin Kitchlew and Satyapal, popular Congress leaders of Punjab had requested the Congress to hold its next session at Amritsar. In the meantime they had led successful agitation against the ban on the issue of railway platform tickets to Indians. They also organised a powerful agitation against the Rowlatt Act.

It was in protest against the Rowlatt Act that Gandhiji gave a call for hartal initially on March 30, 1919, but later postponed it to April 6. However, the information of the postponement reached Punjab too late. A complete hartal was observed in Punjab on the 30th and again on the April 6, Punjab and especially Amritsar observed complete hartal.

On April 13, the Baikashi festival was due to be celebrated. But Amritsar was in political turmoil with the city observing continuous hartal for four consecutive days. And each day had seen the funerals of martyrs who had succumbed to their injuries sustained in the police firing on the 10th..

On April 13, a large public meeting was called in the Jalianwala Bagh, an open ground in the midst of the city enclosed by walls formed by the houses backing on to the bagh. With only a single entrance, forming a bottleneck, and so narrow that a carriage could not pass along it, 20,000 people, men, women and children, gathered for the meeting. General Dyer entered the place at the head of a force composed of 100 Indian and 50 British troops while one Hansraj was addressing the audience, and gave orders forthwith, to open fire. His own version as given before the Hunter Commission, was that he first ordered the people to disperse and then opened the firing, but admitted that the firing came within two or three minutes of the order.

In any case, it was obvious that 20,000 people could not disperse within two or three minutes. No less than 1600 rounds were fired and firing stopped only when the ammunition had run out. The casualties, even according to the Government's version were about 400 dead with an estimated wounded of between one to two thousand. Without doubt one can well say that the casualties were indeed very much higher. The firing took place from an elevated platform in the Bagh. The dead and dying were left to suffer the whole night without water to drink, or medical attendance, or aid of any kind. Dyer's contention, as it came out later was that,

"The city having passed under the Military, he had tomtomed in the morning that no gatherings would be permitted and as the people openly defied him, he wanted to teach them a lesson so that they might not laugh at him. He would have fired, and fired longer, he said, if he had had the required ammunition... He had only fired 1,600 rounds because his ammunition had run out. As a matter of fact", he said, "he had taken an armoured car but found that the passage to the Bagh would not admit it, and so he had left it behind".

According to Pattabhi Sitaramayya, in his "History of the Congress", General Dyer's regime witnessed some unthinkable punishments. The water and electric supply of Amritsar were cut off. Public flogging was common.

The approach of the British rulers becomes clear from Dyer's disposition before the Hunter Commission. When asked by a member of the committee "Was it not a form of frightfulness?, Dyer replied:

"No, it was not. It was a horrible duty I had to perform. I think it was a merciful thing. I thought that I should shoot well and shoot strong, so that I or anybody else, should not have to shoot again. I think it is quite possible I could have dispersed the crowd without firing, but they would have come back again and laughed, and I should have made what I consider to be a fool of myself". This statement of his was approved immediately by Lt. Governor Michal O'Dwyer in a telegram sent to him.

UNEXPECTED CONSEQUENCES

The message of Jalianwala had spread throughout the country. Contrary to Dyer's and the British rulers' expectations, it gave a new tempo and turn to the national liberation struggle. The British did not want the Congress session to be held in Amritsar, but after facing many condemnations even in Britain itself, they could not stop it. The session became significant providing the basis for the first civil disobedience movement launched by Gandhi. After this, not only in Punjab, but in the country as a whole, the freedom movement picked up faster. In Punjab, where different communities resided, Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Christians, a solid unity emerged inspite of the effort of the British to keep them divided.

The Khilafat movement was taking shape. It merged into the Congress movement itself, with Sikhs being widely mobilised in the struggle for independence, and even the armed personnel who had come from the war began joining it. The shooting down of Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs in Jalianwala in a protest meeting against the arrest of their leaders, gave the right signal - forge national unity to achieve complete independence!

The Jalianwala Bagh massacre became a source of inspiration for the revolutionaries throughout the country. There was no dearth of revolutionaries in various states taking the pledge to dedicate their lives in the cause of freedom. Though other events played a big role, Jalianwala will go down in history as providing a big advance in the struggle for freedom. The story of the massacre reached every home and the young wanted to avenge it. It was not accidental that the tyrannical Dyer was shot dead years later in England by a youth, Udham Singh, who went from Sangrur to avenge this massacre. Shahid Udham Singh was well aware what would be the consequences of his action - death. But his action was a reminder to the British that the people of India had not forgotten Jalianwala.