Punjab

by Rajmohan Gandhi

In the heart of Amritsar was a ground called Jallianwala Bagh, enclosed on three sides by walls or buildings. On the afternoon of Sunday, 13 April—a day when Hindus and Sikhs were celebrating Baisakhi—around 10,000 people, Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs gathered there. They were responding to a call from city leaders; if some were defying a ban on meetings that Dyer had imposed, others were unaware of it. The gathering was listening to a speaker when, at about 4.30 p.m., Dyer arrived with (according to his own report written the next day) fifty rifle-carrying troops (Gurkhas, Sikhs and Muslims) and forty additional Gurkhas armed with khukris. The soldiers occupied the entrance to the ground, which was also its sole exit, and Dyer immediately ordered fire, without demanding dispersal. For ten minutes or so, the Empire’s Indian soldiers obediently pulled their triggers, stopping only when their ammunition ran out. Almost every bullet found a man. Going by Dyer’s report, 1,650 rounds were fired. Curfew was imposed as soon as the firing ended. The city became (in Dyer’s words) ‘absolutely quiet’ with ‘not a soul to be seen’.24 Jallianwala Bagh’s dead and dying spent the 13th night with dogs and vultures.