A debate over how the Jallianwala Bagh massacre should be remembered was sparked off last week after the government unveiled the renovated look of the site, leading some historians to say history was being distorted.
Should the site of the brutal killing of Indians by British forces on April 13, 1919 be restored to the state it was in on that day, a largely barren ground at the end of a narrow entrance where victims became trapped, or should it be spruced up for visitors today and in the future? For the Culture Ministry, which supervised the renovation work carried out by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and NBCC India, a government-owned construction company, the changes were required to preserve the site and make it more visitor-friendly. Some historians, however, argued that turning the site into a well-manicured garden and covering the entrance corridor with bright metallic murals was an attempt at changing history.
Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar was closed for renovations for about a year-and-a-half till Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated it to the nation on August 28. Four new galleries were also inaugurated by the Prime Minister that day. The well in which victims jumped to their deaths trying to escape the bullets has been cleaned and cordoned off with glass. A lily pond, a sound and light show and new amenities for visitors have been created.
The project was designed by a Gujarat-based company, Vama Communications, which has in the past developed museums on Mahatma Gandhi in Gujarat as well as the National Police Museum in Delhi. While inaugurating the renovated memorial, Mr. Modi said the new look of Jallianwala Bagh would inspire Indians for years to come. “It is the responsibility of every nation to preserve its history,” he said.
A site of protests
Before Independence, Jallianwala Bagh was one of a site of protests and meetings. Professor Amandeep Bal, head of the history department at Amritsar’s Guru Nanak Dev University, said the site may have been a “bagh” [garden] earlier, but was a barren ground with a few trees in 1919. Surrounded by the back walls of houses in the cramped Walled City, the bagh remained a site for protests and meetings till 1947. On the day of what became the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, it was the festival of Baisakhi. People had gathered at the site to protest against the arrest of freedom fighters Dr. Saifuddin Kitchlew and Dr. Satyapal a few days earlier.
Forces under the command of General Reginald Dyer opened fire on the unarmed crowd. The exact number of deaths that day remains unclear. Prof. Bal said that while the government had a list of 379 victims, another list of 492 names was found at the DC’s office and committees headed by Madan Mohan Malviya and the Congress estimated the figure to be around 1,500 and 1,200, respectively. Guru Nanak Dev University has been tasked with researching the exact number of martyrs by the Punjab Government, a task, Prof. Bal said, is a tough one given that many families did not come forward in the aftermath of the massacre. Among the documents, she said, are mentions of a large number of unidentified bodies. While the exact number of martyrs, hundreds or thousands, is unknown, Prof. Bal says one thing is clear. “Massacres should be remembered, not celebrated. When visitors enter the place, they should automatically bow their heads. The atmosphere should be very sombre”.
Over the years, starting with the creation of a trust after 1947 and landscaping in 1974, Prof. Bal said there have been changes to the site. The latest round of changes, some say, have gone too far. Retired Jawaharlal Nehru University professor Chaman Lal said renovations of heritage sites should be limited to strengthening the structures to increase longevity, not changing the appearance. London-based historian Kim A. Wagner, whose book Amritsar 1919: An Empire of Fear and the Making of a Massacre tells the story of the events leading up to massacre and its aftermath, went as far as saying the last traces of the event had effectively been erased.
Responding to some of the criticism, Culture Secretary Raghvendra Singh said the “conservation was carried out under direct supervision of the ASI” and that “there was nothing factually incorrect”.
