Today is the 102nd anniversary of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre that took place on April 13 in 1919. Hundreds of people were killed as a result of indiscriminate firing by the British troops in Jallianwala Bagh at Punjab’s Amritsar.

Jallianwala Bagh Massacre, Jallianwala also spelled Jallianwalla, also called Massacre of Amritsar, incident on April 13, 1919, in which British troops fired on a large crowd of unarmed Indians in an open space known as the Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar in the Punjab region (now in Punjab state) of India, killing …

WHAT LED TO THE JALLIANWALA BAGH MASSACRE. The Rowlatt Act (Black Act) was passed on March 10, 1919, authorizing the government to imprison or confine, without a trial, any person associated with seditious activities. This led to nationwide unrest.

Jallianwala BaghAmritsar

9-General Dyer was a british Indian army officer who was made a temporary brigadier-general for controlling Amritsar. He ordered his army to attack to a crowd in the jallianwalla bagh on unarmed civilians who were gathered for peaceful demonstration. Due to this he was investigated by hunter committee in England.

According to British government, 379 people died and 1,200 were wounded in the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. Some records say, nearly a thousand were killed. The Jallianwalah Bagh massacre angered the Indian people and Mahatma Gandhi called the Noncooperation Movement.

The Sewa Samiti society independently carried out an investigation and reported 379 deaths, and 192 seriously wounded. The Hunter Commission based their figures of 379 deaths, and approximately 3 times this injured on this, suggesting 1500 casualties.

The Jallianwala Bagh has one exit gate. Then acting Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer gheraoed the park and blocked the exit gate. He then ordered troops of the British Army to fire, killing hundreds of innocent Indians and injuring more than 1,200 at the venue.

1919

British

The Anarchical and Revolutionary Crimes Act of 1919, popularly known as the Rowlatt Act, was a legislative council act passed by the Imperial Legislative Council in Delhi on 18 March 1919, indefinitely extending the emergency measures of preventive indefinite detention, incarceration without trial and judicial review …

The Rowlatt Act

The Rowlatt Act, referred to as the “black act” was passed by the British government in 1919, during the First World War. It was named after the Rowlatt Committee’s president Sir Sidney Rowlatt. The aim of enforcing this act was to abolish revolt and uproot conspiracy against the British from India.

Rowlatt Act 1919 was called Black Act because it was enforced by Imperial Legislative Council despite opposition of Indians..

Mahatma gandhi opposed this act because it was too unfair on the part of indians as they were getting arrested without even knowing cause for indefinite period. Also britishers were using this act to suppress people who were fighting for freedom.

Mahatma Gandhi

Annie Besant

Gandhiji admitted to having committed a Himalayan blunder by offering the weapon of satyagraha to a people insufficiently trained in the discipline of non-violence. Gandhiji was overwhelmed by the atmosphere of total violence and withdrew the movement on April 18, 1919.

Conditions of Rowlatt act was that they allowed detention of political prisoners without trial for two years . Government officers has enormous power according to this act. Reaction of mahatma gandhi was he went on hartal and wanted non violence civil disobedience against it.

The Rowlatt Act was an act which allowed the British government the authority and the power to arrest people and keep them in prison for up to two years, without any trial if they were suspected with the charge of terrorism.

Answer : Rowlatt Act was a law passed by the Imperial Legislative Council in February 1919. It allowed certain political cases to be tried without juries and permitted internment of suspects without trial. Rowlatt Satyagraha was a non-violent opposition to this Act.

The father of the nation, Mahatma Gandhi opposed this Act by starting a peaceful Satyagraha. He suggested civil disobedience beginning with a strike on 6th April 1919.

Gandhi organised Rowlatt Satyagrah against the Rowlatt Act which gave enormous power to the government to suppress the political activities of Indian leaders.

It was the Rowlatt satyagraha that made Gandhiji a truly national leader. Emboldened by its success, Gandhiji called for a campaign of “non-cooperation” with British rule.

NON-VIOLENCE AND SATYAGRAHA Satyagraha implies the force which is born of truth and love or non-violence…”[17] As a moral weapon it raises political warfare to a higher plane. During the struggle against independence “Satyagraha” took many forms: Marches, hartals, fasts, boycotts, civil disobedience.

It was the Rowlatt Satyagraha that made Gandhiji a truly national leader. In 1920, after Jalianwala Bagh Massacre he called for a campaign of non-cooperation with British Rule and joined hands with the Khilafat movement.

(i) According to Gandhiji, woman is companion of man and gifted with equal rights of freedom and liberty. (ii) Woman is more fit than man to take exploration and bolder action in non-violence. (iii) Woman is the better half of humanity, not the weaker sex.

Mahatma Gandhi is perhaps the most widely recognized figure of the Indian Nationalist Movement for his role in leading non-violent civil uprisings. He first employed the non-violent approach in South Africa where he was serving as an expatriate lawyer.

Gandhiji converted the National Movement into a Mass Movement by: (i) His simple and saintly life and style of convincing the masses made him popular. (ii) His undisputed leadership and magnetic personality. (iii) His policy of non-violent Satyagraha.