Historian Prof Sukhdev Singh Sohal delivers lecture on Jallianwala Bagh massacre

The Jallianwala Bagh Chair of Guru Nanak Dev University started a lecture series on the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, under which a second lecture was delivered by Prof Sukhdev Singh Sohal, former professor and head, Department of History, and Chairperson Ghadar Chair, Guru Nanak Dev University. Professor Amandeep Bal, Chairperson of the Jallianwala Bagh Chair, said the series aims to focus on the events associated with the massacre that took place on April 13, 1919.

Professor Sukhdev Singh Sohal spoke on the theme “Other Western Historical Gaze into the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre (1919)”. Professor Sohal said liberal British contemporary historians condemned the barbarity of the massacre. “They included BG Horniman, Alfred Nundy, Edward J Thompson, Valentine Chirol and JE Woolacott. All of them had faith in the fair play and justice of the British administration. They were shocked that Michael O’ Dwyer and General Dyer resorted to terror and frightfulness of the worst kind. Both were held responsible for the massacre.

They asked for the Royal Commission to probe the Massacre. EJ Thompson, who was an eminent British novelist, historian and scholar with a strong connection to Rabindranath Tagore, advocated ‘atonement’ on behalf of the British,” said Professor Sohal.

He said this led to BG Horniman, a British Indian journalist and editor of The Bombay Chronicle, being forced out of India as he published articles condemning the massacre and crackdown on the Press in its aftermath. More than 100 students and researchers attended the lecture.