HVK Archives: British aristocracy went out to defend Jallianwala carnage
British aristocracy went out to defend Jallianwala carnage - The Times of India
Vidyadhar Date
()
21 August 1997
Title: British aristocracy went out of its way to defend Jallianwala carnage
Author: Vidyadhar Date
Publication: The Times of India
Date: August 21, 1997
While controversy rages over whether Queen Elizabeth should apologise or
not for the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, the fact remains that a large
section of the British aristocracy went out of its way during the 1920s to
defend and even lionise Brig-Gen Reginald Dyer who was responsible for the
killing, sources point out.
British daily Morning Post had launched a fund to raise money in support of
Gen Dyer, who was hailed as the man who saved India for the British. A
large number of aristocrats heartily contributed a substantial amount in
support of the general.
Gen Dyer himself remained unrepentant till the end and was quoted as
saying, "I thought I would be doing a jolly good job. I could have
dispersed the crowd but I wanted to make a wide impression and so the
firing. I had made up my mind. I would put all men to death."
Alfred Draper, author of the book Massacre that Ended the Raj, wrote in
1981 that even 60 years after the incident, he found official sources in
Britain determined to suppress information and some official files still
closed for scrutiny.
A prominent Congress leader of the period from Mumbai, M. R. Jaykar, played
a leading role in revealing the facts of the massacre which the British
authorities tried to suppress. He was a prominent member of the Congress
committee which inquired into the massacre as the official Hunter inquiry
committee report was thought to be unacceptable and mild.
A leading member of the Bombay Bar then told Mr Jaykar after reading the
report, "I should like to put a bullet through your head for writing such a
report. It is a damaging document largely due to the very careful way in
which you have drawn your conclusions. The restraint makes the report all
the more damaging from the British point of view. When this report is read
in England, It will produce a far greater effect than in India."
Mr Jaykar mentions in his autobiography that the note of restraint was
introduced by Mahatma Gandhi, who was a member of the committee, along with
Madan Mohan Malaviya, Motilal Nehru, C. R. Das, Abbas Tyabji and K.
Santanam. Gandhiji noted that the success of the effort depended on
accuracy and restraint.
While the Hunter committee put the number of people killed at 379, the
Congress committee felt that the figure could not be less than 1,000.
Jawaharlal Nehru observed after the incident, "I realised how brutal and
immoral imperialism was and had eaten into the souls of the British upper
classes." The massacre also hastened Gandhiji's entry into politics.
The killing took place at the height of discontent against the British in
Punjab and growing Hindu-Muslim unity. Muslims joined Hindus in the Ram
Navami festival and Hindus were even all owed to address meetings from
mosques.
The Sikh priests of the Golden Temple did not cover themselves with glory.
They felicitated Gen Dyer with a saropa and kirpan and it was left to
Gandhiji to form a body of nationalist Sikhs, the Central Sikh League, in
place of the officials loyal to the British.
Apart from Gen Dyer, another top Englishman responsible for the massacre
was Sir Michael O'Dwyer, the It-governor of Punjab under whose influence
the harsh Defence of India Act was passed. He wanted to protect province
from the "contagion of advanced political ideas".
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