Question

Write a short note on the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.

Answer 1

On 10th April 1919, two nationalist leaders- Dr Saifuddin Kitchlew and Dr Satya Pal were arrested in Punjab under the infamous Rowlatt Act. On 13th April 1919, people gathered in a small park in Amritsar which was called the Jalllianwala Bagh, to protest against these arrests. The peaceful gathering was attended by men, women and children. General Dyer, a British military officer, stationed a regiment of soldiers at the only entrance of the park, declared the meeting illegal and without warning ordered his soldiers to fire. The firing lasted for ten minutes, till all the ammunition was exhausted. More than a thousand people were killed and over twice that number wounded. The massacre was worth calling genocide and it stunned the entire country. On 30th May 1919, Rabindranath Tagore renounced his knighthood. Gandhi returned the Kaiser-i-Hind Gold medal given to him for his work during Boer War.