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GNDU holds lecture on Manto’s short story, social uprising in 1919

“When it comes to death and grief, even dancing girls and prostitutes are mothers and sisters...” The lines from Saadat Hasan Manto’s short story San 1919 Ki Ek Baat, written in 1951, pierce through your heart as one is exposed...
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“When it comes to death and grief, even dancing girls and prostitutes are mothers and sisters...” The lines from Saadat Hasan Manto’s short story San 1919 Ki Ek Baat, written in 1951, pierce through your heart as one is exposed to the brutal history leading to the Jallianwala Bagh massacre and its larger implications on the national independence movement.

Critically analysing Manto’s stories, chronicling the political and social uprising in 1919, violent public outcry against the Rowlatt Act and Jallianwala Bagh massacre, the Jallianwala Bagh Chair, Guru Nanak Dev University, invited Prof Parminder Singh, former Head, Department of English, to speak on the theme, “Rowlatt Act Agitation, Partition Violence and Manto’s San 1919 Ki Ek Baat.”

The lecture was part of the Jallianwala Bagh series with a new focus on events associated with the massacre on April 13, 1919. Prof Amandeep Bal, chairperson, introduced the objective while Prof Sukhdev Singh Sohal, former head and Gaddar Chair, presided over the lecture.

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“Since literature deals with humane and inhumane aspects of society, it provides a greater meaning to the stories of Saadat Hasan Manto. Manto’s story San 1919 Ki Ek Baat narrates the events revolving around the police firing upon the unarmed protesters on April 10, 1919, in Amritsar as they held protests against the illegal arrests of Dr Saifuddin Kichlew and Dr Satyapal. Through the existentially significant praxis of Thaila Kanjar, one of the story’s central characters, Manto underlines the fact that during nationalist movement, ordinary flawed men turned heroes, martyrs. The story is also about the heroic anti-colonial struggle of the people against the Rowlatt Bill. Manto wrote this story at a time when he was living in Pakistan, but was lamenting the Partition,” said Dr Parminder Singh.

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