Chandigarh: With the election model code of conduct in place, the centenary commemoration of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre Saturday were muted in Amritsar, but political bickering over it didn’t stop.
Courtesy the Election Commission’s order prohibiting any political speeches around the event, no high-profile visits took place save for the ones by Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu. Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave the event a miss. However, Modi will be in Punjab Sunday, from where he’s set to go to Kathua to address a rally.
The Jallianwala Bagh massacre is considered to be a turning point in the history of India’s freedom struggle, after over hundreds of civilians were killed when troops under the command of British officer Reginald Dyer opened fire on the crowd.
Also read: British media woke up to Jallianwala Bagh massacre eight months after it happened
War of words
Even on the sombre occasion, the commemoration wasn’t free of political bickering with parties engaging in ugly battles over several issues.
On Saturday, the Congress and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) engaged in a bitter war of words over Rahul Gandhi’s visit to the Golden Temple in Amritsar, with the latter demanding an apology from the party president for the 1984 ‘Operation Blue Star’ and the former accusing Akalis of indulging in “shallow” politics, reported news agency PTI.
Accompanied by Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh, Gandhi visited the Golden Temple late Friday night, soon after his arrival in the city.
“Rahul’s visit is just to gain political mileage. He should have tendered an apology for Operation Blue Star of 1984,” Akali leader and Union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal said in Bathinda.
The comment was in reference to the 1984 operation to eliminate militants from the Golden Temple complex. The Congress was the ruling party at the time under then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
The Union minister’s comments drew sharp reactions from the Congress.
“Did you, your husband @officeofssbadal or his father, Parkash Singh Badal, ever apologise for your great grandfather, Sardar Sunder Singh Majithia’s lavish dinner to Gen Dyer on the day of Jallianwala Bagh massacre? He was later knighted in 1926 for his loyalty and his deeds,” the Punjab chief minister tweeted.
Not to be left behind, the other major player in Punjab, Aam Aadmi Party, sent out an insensitive tweet, linking the horrific massacre to a clash between central police forces and Delhi residents earlier Saturday.
Horrifying!!!
General Dyer Modi's police brutally pelting stones on the citizens in Mayapuri, Delhi. #GeneralDyerModi pic.twitter.com/vIFP3RUb1Y
— AAP (@AamAadmiParty) April 13, 2019
Tributes by Naidu and Gandhi
While paying a visit to an exhibition at the Jallianwala Bagh memorial, Naidu wrote in the visitor’s book that it evoked “a deep sense of sadness” in him and “also a profound sense of legitimate pride at the lasting legacy of conviction and courage that these brave soldiers of India’s freedom movement have bequeathed to us”.
On his part, Gandhi also left a message in the memorial visitor’s book at the memorial and later tweeted out the same, saying it was “a day of infamy that stunned the entire world” and “the cost of our freedom must never be forgotten”.
Gandhi’s visit came months after he was removed as a trustee of the memorial. The memorial, which was established in 1951 by the Government of India and is managed by the Jallianwala Bagh National Memorial Trust, has the prime minister as its chairman.
The Congress president was a trustee till December when the Centre approved an amendment to the Jallianwala Bagh National Memorial Act, 1951 to remove him.
Also read: This is why Mahatma Gandhi forgave General Dyer even after Jallianwala Bagh massacre
The British High Commissioner laid a wreath, expressed a deep sense of sadness. On the hundredth anniversary of this immense human tragedy, a formal apology would have brought a sense of closure.