Jallianwala Bagh watershed moment in freedom struggle: Vohra

Tribune News Service
New Delhi, August 22

The massacre at Jallianwala Bagh was a watershed moment that gave a fillip to India’s freedom struggle. It led to the emergence of Mahatma Gandhi as a tall leader while Punjab’s Hindus and Muslims shed their loyalty towards the British rule, paving the way for a revolutionary movement, observed NN Vohra, President of The Tribune Trust, during a discussion on the book, ‘Martyrdom to Freedom: 100 Years of Jallianwala Bagh’, here today.

The book, brought out by The Tribune Trust to mark the centenary of the event, sources material from the archives of The Tribune, which was then published at Lahore, 50 km west of Amritsar. “The book can be used as a foundation to further research on the freedom movement,” was the consensus among the panelists at the discussion.

Vohra said the Trust took a decision on the book as “we were in the middle of events, and hold the archival material”. The second reason is the paucity of knowledge on the long freedom struggle and the dramatis personae.

The then Editor of The Tribune, Kalinath Ray, was put behind bars for four months and newspaper publication suspended for its ‘role’ in being critical of the British rule, Vohra said.

Rajesh Ramachandran, Editor of The Tribune and also the Editor of the book, recalled how a 1967 book by historian VN Dutta was the only source of information other than a pamphlet produced by a pro-British publication, ‘Civil and Military Gazette’. “It took us 100 years to bring out a book,” he said. The book has contributions from Navtej Sarna and Ramchandra Guha, among others. It carries Dutta’s interview.

“Nobody had chronicled the Jallianwala Bagh incident (April 13, 1919) as The Tribune did. Kalinath Ray wrote three unsigned editorials ahead of the incident. He was jailed, but continued to write in the same vein after his release,” Ramachandran noted.

The book is the story of Jallianwala Bagh, story of The Tribune and story of Ray, he added.

YP Anand, a former Director, National Gandhi Museum and Library, said: “Opposition to Rowlatt Act was the first major protest against the British.” He noted that Brig Reginald Dyer was retired prematurely, but was given sword of honour and also a cash award of 26,000 pounds in Britain. The Hunter Commission gave a clean chit to not just Dyer but also Michael O’Dwyer, the then Lieutenant Governor of Punjab.

It was after the incident that the Congress came into its own and started the Non-Cooperation Movement in 1920. Anand pointed to the role of Hans Raj, about whom VN Dutta talks about as a conspirator. HK Dua, a former Editor of The Tribune and a former MP, said: “Hans Raj was a railway employee who was working for the police. He had disappeared and was later given a job in Mesopotamia. Bullets cannot be fired without sanction of the Deputy Commissioner. We need to find out more about the events of that time.”

Salil Misra, Dean, School of Liberal Studies, Ambedkar University, said the British hoped Punjab would help them in case of rebellion, as in 1857. “The British were shocked that Punjab protested and joined Gandhi’s call against the Rowlatt Act. The British idea was to eliminate any form of protest.”