Prime Minister Modi pays tribute to Jallianwala Bagh massacre victims

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday paid tributes to the victims of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre and said that their unparalleled courage and sacrifice will keep motivating the coming generations.

Sharing the speech at the inauguration of the renovated complex of Jallianwala Bagh Smarak last year, PM Modi tweeted, “Tributes to those martyred in Jallianwala Bagh on this day in 1919. Their unparalleled courage and sacrifice will keep motivating the coming generations.”

PM Modi unveiled the renovated Jallianwala Bagh memorial through video conferencing on August 28, last year, and stated that those 10 minutes of April 13, 1919, became the immortal story of our freedom struggle, due to which we can celebrate the Amrit Mahotsav of freedom today. Jallianwala Bagh is the place that inspired countless revolutionaries and fighters like Sardar Udham Singh, and Sardar Bhagat Singh to die for the freedom of India.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah also paid tributes to the victims of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre and tweeted, “I bow to the courage and valor of the immortal martyrs of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, which a symbol of the ruthlessness and brutal atrocities of foreign rule.”

Shah added, “Your sacrifice, dedication, and sacrifice for the freedom of Mother India will continue to inspire the coming generations to sacrifice for the unity and integrity of the country.”

The Jallianwala Bagh massacre took place on April 13, 1919, when troops of the British Indian Army, under the command of Colonel Reginald Dyer, fired machine guns into a crowd of unarmed protesters and pilgrims who had gathered in Jallianwala Bagh in Punjab’s Amritsar on the occasion of Baisakhi.

The crowd had assembled peacefully at the venue to condemn the arrest of two national leaders — Satya Pal and Saifuddin Kitchlew — when they were fired at indiscriminately by General Dyer and his men.

According to British government records, 379 people including men, women, and children were killed while 1,200 were wounded in the firing. Other sources place the number of dead at well over 1,000.