PM Modi to inaugurate renovated Jallianwala Bagh Smarak tomorrow

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is slated to inaugurate the renovated complex of the Jallianwala Bagh Smarak in Amritsar on Saturday. PM Modi will dedicate the historic renovated complex to the country tomorrow via video conferencing and also inaugurate a host of other museum galleries at the historic site in Punjab’s Amritsar, according to a press statement issued from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).

The four museum galleries PM Modi is going to dedicate have been built at the redundant and under-utilised buildings at the site and will showcase the series of events that unfolded at the time of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. The museums have not only deployed the state of the art technology including projection mapping, 3D representation but also installed magnificent art and sculpture installations at the museums. A special sound and light show has also been designed to showcase the tragic events that unfolded on April 13, 1919 when the British forces under the command of General Dyer shot dead hundreds of protestors at the site protesting the arrest of freedom fighters.

Other major changes brought during the renovation of the site include the repaired Shaheedi well, rejuvenation of the nearby water pond, broader pathways for convenient passage of the visitors and illumination of strategic places at the site. While PM Modi will inaugurate the event virtually from New Delhi, the site will witness the presence of Chief Ministers of Punjab, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Union Minister of Culture and other dignitaries.

Jallianwala Massacre
Within a few years of his return from South Africa, Mahatma Gandhi had become the true leader of masses by fighting for the rights of farmers, workers and mill workers in a series of small scale non-violent ‘Satyagraha’ events at Champaran, Kheda and Ahmedabad. At a time when the Indian National Congress was recuperating from the losses suffered after the Surat split in 1907, Gandhiji brought new spirit to the movement against the British by launching his first widespread mass movement in India against the passage of the Rowlatt Act in the year 1919. The movement against the suppressive rule of the British was the biggest since the revolution of 1857 and awakened the common masses against the ruthless policies of the British.

During the same 1919 movement, a large congregation of Indians was protesting against the unlawful arrest of freedom fighters Saifuddin Kitchlu and Satya Pal when the British forces under the command of General Dyer opened fire against the unarmed, peaceful protestors. The event shook the nerves of the nation and exposed the cruel face of the British regime. Overwhelmed by the deaths of scores of people and violence, Gandhiji had immediately called off the movement only to launch the Non-Cooperation movement a year later in 1920 with greater vigour.