Jallianwala Bagh renovations face flak, Renovations accomplished what the British could not do
Historian Kim Ati Wagner has expressed shock over the revamp of the Jallianwala Bagh, calling it an effort to effectively erase the traces of the horrifying event.
The Jalianwalla Bagh massacre remains unparalleled in the history of mankind as one of the most brutal and horrific massacres of all time. Once again the BJP government is trying to rewrite history and trying to impose its brand of nationalism.
The Jallianwala Bagh Massacre Shocked The World
When the Jallianwala Massacre ended and the news was received by a horrified world, the British tried its best to erase its satanic deeds by renovating the site. However national leaders were apprehensive about the move and to preempt it started a campaign to acquire the land. An amount of Rs 5,60,472 was collected in a year, and the 6.5-acre Baugh was acquired from its owner Himmat Singh on August 1, 1920. Sashti Charan Mukherjee, a homoeopath who was present at the Bagh on the day of the massacre has been the caretakers of the memorial. Sukumar Mukherjee is the present caretaker. He quit his bank job to take up the mantle from his father in 1988.
British Historian Expresses Shock About The Revamp of Jallianwala Bagh
Kim Ati Wagner, a British historian of colonial India and the British Empire who has authored several books on Indian history including ‘Jallianwala Bagh: An Empire of Fear and the Making of the Amritsar Massacre’ has expressed shock over the revamp of the Jallianwala Bagh. He believes the revamp is an effort to effectively erase the traces of the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre.
He took to Twitter to say, “Devastated to hear that Jallianwala Bagh, site of the Amritsar Massacre of 1919, has been revamped – which means that the last traces of the event have effectively been erased. This is what I wrote of the memorial in my book, describing a space that has now itself become history.“
The Jallianwala Bagh Massacre – A Brief
The narrow by-lanes of the site had been preserved and so were the bullet marks on the walls. The British army led by General Dyer had placed his machine gun-mounted armoured personal carrier at the narrow entrance of Jallianwala Bagh to prevent people from escaping. In all 1,650 rounds had been fired by the soldiers. The well in which numerous desperate people had jumped has been preserved exactly as it was on a fateful day.
100 Years after the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre, the British government issued a public statement of deep regret for the slaughter of 379 Indian civilians by British troops in 1919’s bloody Amritsar massacre. Ex-prime minister David Cameron previously called the atrocity ‘a deeply shameful event in British history’.
One would stand in the narrow lane and imagine the horrors of the fateful day. However, what the British could not do, the renovation has achieved. Twitter users have called out the government for modifying the narrow lane and replacing it with murals.
