Salute to The Jallianwala Bagh Martyrs

On this day, on 13^th April in 1919, the Jallianwala Bagh (in Amritsar, Punjab) massacre took place. After the World War 1, inflation compounded by heavy taxation and disruption of trade escalated the suffering of the Indian people. The cost of the war was imposed on the people by the British rulers. More than 43000 Indian soldiers died in the first world war fighting for the British Empire. This resulted in dissatisfaction and unrest in the people. Tthe urge for independence from the British rule was increased due to this.

The British Officials in India, ever since the first independence war in 1857, lived in the fear of conspiracy and revolt from the people of India. The unrest and struggles for independence were more in Bengal and Punjab. There was an attempt in Lahore to organise a revolt against the British rule. But this attempt failed. But the fear among the British rulers increased. The Russian revolution which took place in 1917 overthrowing the emperor Czar and establishing the first Socialist State influenced the Indians to struggle for independence. The British rulers announced Rowlatt Act in 1919 extending the war like emergency conditions giving the powers to the Government to imprison any body without trial for two years. Satyagrraha was organised on April 6, 1919 against this Act through out the country as per the call given by Mahatma Gandhi.But the movement turned violent in some places and Mahatma Gandhi  suspended the resistance.

 In Punjab the protest movement was very strong. On 10^th April 1919, two outstanding leaders of the Congress , Dr Satya Pal and Dr. Saifuddin Kitchlew were arrested and taken to an unknown place. A protest meeting was held in Amritsar on the same day at the residence of the Deputy Commissioner of the City demanding the release of the two leaders. The crowd was shot at by a military picket, killing several protestors. This set off several protests and violent incidents. Government buildings were attacked and set fire. Five Europeans died in these events. In other parts of Punjab also the violent incidents occurred protesting against the British rulers. By April 13^th, 1919 the Government decided to put most of the Punjab under Martial Law. Meetings were prohibited. On April 13^th 1919, on the occasion of Baisakhi, a large number of people gathered at Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar. Most of them were unaware that it was a political meeting. The meeting began at 4-30 pm. After one hour, Brigadier General Reginald Dyer marched to the park with a group of military along with two armoured cars armed with machine guns. Fifty of the military men were armed with rifles. Due to the narrow entrance, the vehicles could not enter the park. The main entrance of the park was blocked by the army. Other gates were mostly permanently locked. Hence there was no way for the people in the gathering to escape. General Dyer ordered his troops to fire at the people in the meeting. No warning was given to disperse. The people tried to flee but could not do so in view of there being no escape route. As per the report of the Congress Party at that time, about 1500 people were killed. This news spread throughout India and there were wide spread protests. But the British Government did not punish General Dyer for this massacre.

A monument was built at the Jallianwala Bagh Park in memory of those who died in this firing by the troops of General Dyer. Jallianwala Bagh massacre was a part of the glorious struggle for independence by the people of India.

Let us salute to the martyrs of Jallianwalabagh and pledge ourselves to continue the fight against imperialism, since even though we got political independence, our economy is still looted by the foreign capitalists in several ways and the economic sovereignity achieved after independence is now under serious attack due to the increasing collaboration of the big capitalists of India with the international finance capital.