Jallianwala Bagh Massacre: Quick Recap Of Unfair Slaughter Drive

Popularly known as the Amritsar Massacre, this incident took place on April 13, 1919, at Jallianwala Bagh, Amritsar, Punjab. It marks one of the major heinous political crimes committed by the Britishers during the twentieth century. It is named after the famous Jallianwala Bagh, which is a public garden stretched over an area of 7 acres, with walls covering all of its sides.

Before understanding the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre(JBM) one needs to understand the series of events in Indian nationalism in chronology to get a better idea:

Rowlatt act→→JBM→→Non cooperation movement

Rowlatt act:

The Act is passed in Central legislative assembly, despite every Indian member is against the act. Drafted by Sidney Rowlatt.

The Act gave the power of imprisoning anyone without proof of conviction and there would be no trial on arrested person.
Thus it gagged the Habeas corpus right which is the basic right of civil liberties in Britain.
As an protest to act, Gandhiji started Rowlatt satyagraha.
Infact, Rowlatt satyagraha is the first mass movement of Gandhiji in India.

As Rowlatt satyagraha caused a wide dissent to British rule,they widely misused the provisions of sedition, muzzling of press and arrest of popular leaders. Some of the places became violent especially Punjab.

Jallianwala Bagh Massacre(JBM):

Due to Rowlatt satyagraha, government introduced wide prohibitionary orders on free movements of people.
But people of Punjab(who are unaware of such government orders) assembled peacefully to protest against the arrest of Saifuddin Kitchlew and Satyapal on Baisakhi day.
Taking advantage of situation, to release the discontent from Rowlatt satyagraha, government committed JBM.
Probably government wanted to teach a lesson who protest against it.

General Dyer ruthlessly shot down more than 1000 unarmed people in Jallianwala Bagh, closing its only door.
Overwhelmed by the massive violence, Gandhiji withdrawn the Rowlatt satyagraha and Rabindranath Tagore renounced Knighthood.

Non-cooperation movement(NCM) :

Government setup Hunter commission tolook in to Punjab wrongs.Hunter commission proved only to be a eyewash and non satisfactory.

Generosity to General Dyer and praising him in Morning postnewspaper, infuriated our Nationalists.
In a move to address the Punjab wrongs, Gandhiji started Non cooperation movement in cooperation with Khilafet movement.

But problem of postwar miseries and failure of Dyarchy given in Montague-Chelmsford reforms are other reasons in addition to JBM for NCM.

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