Thursday, April 13, marks 104 years since the horrific massacre at Amritsar’s Jallianwala Bagh shook India and the world. On this day in 1919, non-violent protesters demonstrating against the Rowlatt Act that gave the British the power to arrest anyone without any trial, were subjected to unprovoked firing by the British Indian Army troops, commanded by Colonel Reginald Dyer. Several hundreds died and many more were injured, with the victims also including Baisakhi pilgrims. The incident was a turning point in India’s struggle for freedom.
Post-Independence, the place located right next to the Golden Temple premises was turned into a memorial, inaugurated by first President Dr Rajendra Prasad. The monument preserved the spots on the walls where bullets fired by British soldiers punctured holes. The dry well where people jumped into to escape the bullets and still died was preserved too. Several pictorial and written representations came up with time to explain how the massacre unfolded.
The memorial has from the beginning attracted thousands of people every day. The Government of India renovated the premises in 2021, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is also the chairman of the Jallianwala Bagh National Memorial Trust, virtually inaugurating the renovated complex of Jallianwala Bagh Smarak on August 28.
The renovation, however, was met with a lot of criticism, with many complaining the original look was not retained.
Gurjeet Singh Aujla, the Lok Sabha MP from Amritsar, said the revamp of the historical place by the Modi government should have taken care that it did not lose the original look.
“Historic monuments and memorials shouldn’t be given a new look. Yes, there is a need for restoration. We support renovation that aims to preserve the structure. But unfortunately, in this case, they opted to give it a completely new look. They should have maintained the memorial’s original look,” the Congress leader told ABP Live.
He said renovation should not be done at the cost of heritage. “New buildings have come up in the area. But this memorial should have been renovated to maintain its historic look. I support renovation. We want the memorial to be preserved but not modify it.”
Citing the examples of restoration done to monuments worldwide, the MP added: “When they restore monuments abroad, the restoration work takes several years and those structures are able to withstand unfavourable conditions. Here, they completely changed the look.”
He pointed out: “It’s not like the preservation work didn’t happen at the memorial in the previous years. Earlier, the bricks were changed and even the ground was changed which was originally quite lower. The groundwork was done to bring it on the same level as other buildings at the place.”
ABP Live also spoke to Ludhiana MP and Aam Aadmi Party leader Sanjeev Arora about the massacre, the row over the revamp, and how the state government will observe the day. Read Here: Lighting Of Candles To Mark 104 Years Of Jallianwala Bagh Massacre At Memorial
In 2021, the then-Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh, who is now in the BJP, had defended the revamp saying: “I don’t know what has been removed. To me, it looks very nice.”
Previously, senior Congress leader Manish Tewari demanded in the Parliament that the Archaeological Survey of India send a team of experts to Jallianwala Bagh to rectify the shortcomings in the restoration work at the memorial.
He had raised the issue during Zero Hour in December last year and said the murals at Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar did not depict the Punjabi population of the era when the horrific massacre of innocents took place. He claimed that the signboards in and around the memorial were riddled with errors.
According to the Anandpur Sahib MP, the spot from where General Reginald Dyer had ordered indiscriminate fire on the people gathered at Jallianwala Bagh on April 13, 1919, has also not been marked properly.
A newly designed structure was raised around the ‘martyrs well’ and new murals were installed on both sides of the narrow doorway. The changes were met with mixed reactions as a section of people, including politicians and historians, criticised them by calling the revamp a case of “erasing history”.
In 2021, the then-Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh, who is now in the BJP, had defended the revamp saying: “I don’t know what has been removed. To me, it looks very nice.”