Illustrator : Ram Waeerkar 

ISBN : 81-7508-421-9 

Vol. No : 704 

The incident which occurred at Jallianwalla Bagh on 13th April, 1919 will ever remain in the memory of all Indians as an eloquent symbol of British tyranny in India. The massacre of unarmed Indians, which left four hundred dead and twelve hundred wounded, aroused a universal surge of indignation against the British rulers. The tragedy prompted poet Rabindranath Tagore to refuse the knighthood conferred upon him by the British Government.

Indians hated Major General Dyer, the chief perpetrator of the crime. Under mounting pressure the British Government was forced to censure him. But for many Britons, Dyer was a hero who had saved the British Empire. The House of Lords justified his heinous act as “preventive massacre”, Sir Michael O’Dwyer urged “The Morning Post” to launch a fund collection drive for Dyer in which the British ladies took a keen interest. The British-owned “The Times of India” contributed Rs. 20,000 to this fund. The total fund collected amounted to 26,317 pounds. In 1940, Udham Singh shot Sir Michael O’Dwyer to avenge the Jallianwalla Bagh Massacre. 

The sacrifice of the martyrs of Jallianwalla Bagh resulted in further intensification of the struggle for independence. It turned millions of loyal supporters of the British Raj into nationalists. The Jallianwalla Bagh massacre thus became an important landmark in India’s struggle for freedom.