‘Disneyfication Of Amritsar’: How Jallianwala Bagh Book Author, Others Are Criticising Its Renovation

Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually inaugurated the revamped Jallianwala Bagh complex in Amritsar on August 28.

File Photo: PTI

New Delhi: The renovation of Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar, which was witness to one of the darkest chapters of India’s freedom struggle, has not gone down well with many. People are taking to social media to outrage against the government, complaining that the renovation will erase the memories of the horrific day in the history of British rule.

On April 13, 1919, on the day of Baisakhi, Brigadier General Reginald Dyer opened fire on a group of peacefully protesting men and women, leading to the death of nearly 1,000 of them. 

Virtually inaugurating the renovated complex Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said it is the country's duty to protect its history.

He said horrors like the Jallianwala Bagh massacre and Partition should not be forgotten, noting that August 14 is now being observed as Partition Horrors Remembrance Day.  

"It is not right for any country to ignore such horrors of its past," he said, 

He had also posted a preview of the lights installed at the renovated complex of Jallianwala Bagh Smarak that now holds a sound and light show narrating the horrific massacre.

In 2019, the central government had allocated approximately Rs 20 crore to commemorate the 100 years of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. Since February 2019, the memorial had been shut for the public as it underwent the makeover, implemented by the NBCC Ltd, government-owned entity.

The Union Ministry of Culture undertook the restoration and conservation work.

‘Insulting Our Martyrs’

While many have now accused the government of destroying history in the name of revamp, some are specifically angered over the hi-tech galleries replacing the passage through which Dyer had led his men to the park where people were protesting against the Rowlatt Act that let the British arrest people without any warrant or trial.

“Devastated to hear that Jallianwala Bagh, site of the Amritsar Massacre of 1919, has been revamped - which means that the last traces of the event have effectively been erased,” historian Kim A. Wagner tweeted. 

He also shared two pages from his book, Jallianwala Bagh, where he had described the place, and rued that the space “has now itself become history”.

In a subsequent tweet, he called the move “just part of the general Disneyfication of the old city of Amritsar…”

Indian historian S Irfan Habib also aired his resentment on Twitter. 

"This is corporatisation of monuments, where they end up as modern structures, losing the heritage value. Look after them without meddling with the flavours of the period these memorials represent," he posted.

“Every brick here permeated the horror of British rule,” tweeted CPM's Sitaram Yechury. "Only those who stayed away from the epic freedom struggle can scandalise thus."

History After Jallianwala Bagh Massacre   

The massacre that stunned India had invited widespread criticism. Even the then British parliamentarian Winston Churchill had described it as a “monstrous event” that “stands in singular and sinister isolation”.

Mahatma Gandhi soon started his non-cooperation movement and Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore had returned his knighthood, calling the incident “without parallel in the history of civilised governments”.

After India gained Independence, the then Congress government set up the Jallianwala Bagh National Memorial Trust on May 1, 1951. Ten years later, First President Dr Rajendra Prasad inaugurated the memorial, complete with the flame of liberty designed by American sculptor Benjamin Polk and built at a cost of Rs 9.25 lakh, on April 13, 1961. Then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was also present on the occasion. 

The trust still exists, with the incumbent PM serving as its chairman. Permanent members of the trust include the Congress president, the governor and the chief minister of Punjab, the Union culture minister, and the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha.