Monthly Archives: August 2018

New Delhi, April 30

Months ahead of the India-Pakistan war broke out in 1971, it was just another day at work for the five young pilots at IAF’s 22 squadron in Kalaikunda as they moved around camouflaged nets and concrete blast pens in their black overalls and bikes, preserving themselves for the action.

Realising the similarities in their appearances and the Jawa bikes, they decided to capture the moment in the camera. The five Gnat pilots happily posed for a photograph with one hand on the petrol tank and a cigarette casually dangling from the lips of one of them.

None of them had a clue that the picture clicked nearly 50 years ago will go viral in the social media in 2019.  

IANS spoke to Wing Commander Sunith Soares, Air Vice Marshal A.K. Shyam, group captains P.M. Velankar and Ashok Bhagwat (all retired)— who were traced by Jawa Motorcycles and were made to recreate the photograph with only one difference, the missing fifth man in the 1971 picture—group captain V. Pashupati who is no more.

A fifth bike was placed with only a helmet in a missing man formation, an Air Force way of honouring a fallen pilot.

“It was in 1971, we knew war would come up, there was little flying and most of the day we would just sit around trying to waste time as we were preserving for the hour,” recalled Sunith Soares.

“There was a big shot coming to visit us so we decided to stay in our overalls which was jet black. We did not even have a squadron crest so we called ourselves Hell’s Angels inspired by the US group of bikers wearing black jackets and riding Harley Davidsons, and wore the patch on the sleeve,” he said explaining how they related to the gang of brave bikers who he said was “just like us”.

The Hells’s Angels became Sabre Slayers by the time the war ended as the formation in which Soares was flying shot down three Sabre jets of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) in what came to be known as one of the top five battles of modern jet era. The squadron was later officially crested as “Swifts”.

Air Vice Marhal Shyam recalled that he was only 21-year-old when the picture was taken.

“I used to drive around in my Jawa in the squadron as did all other pilots. I bought the bike from Jamshedpur. On that day (when the picture was taken), it just occurred to us that all of us had same bikes so we decided to take a picture.

“It was spontaneous. We did not plan it,” said Shyam who went on to form IAF’s first aerobatic team Thunderbolt flying Hunters in Hashimara in 1981 and was later posted at the Indian High Commission in Sri Lanka before retiring as Senior Air Staff Officer (SASO) of Nagpur-based maintenance command.

“I bought the bike for around Rs 5,000 and after using it for 13 years I sold it in Siliguri for around the same amount,” he said.

“In those days, every fighter pilot aspired to have a Jawa or an Enfield. Majority had Jawa. I also bought a bike for around Rs 5,000 which stayed with me for 13 years and I took it around wherver I went,” said group captain Ashok Bhagwat.

P.M. Velankar, the fourth man in the picutre, said that there was nothing special about the photograph as it was just another day and it was spontaneous action.

“We were sitting on the bikes and somebody clicked it,” he said expressing surprise about how it has gone viral.

Ashish Joshi, Chief Executive Officer of Classic Legends of Jawa Motorcycles told IANS it was heartening to just listen to them sharing their experiences.

The starting point for bringing them together was the old picture of them sitting on the bikes. Jawa invited them for the fund raiser event where Rs 1.49 crore collected by auctioning of 13 motorcycles was handed over to Kendriya Sainik Board and recreated the image. — IANS

The fear and terror unleashed by General Dyer still stalks the people living in Khoo Korian. Stories of his vengeful punishment are passed on to generations as tales of woe and suffering permanently etched upon the collective psyche

Nonica Datta

Jeevan Lata is a woman who worked as a mid-wife all her life. She lives in utter poverty on Khoo Korian, a mohalla close to the historic site of Jallianwala Bagh. The 13th of April is a significant date for her for two reasons. First, General Reginald Dyer shot dead innocent people in her city of Amritsar. Second, Dyer also made the people of her lane crawl on the street before he had their bodies lashed. In her mind, the massacre and the crawling episode fall on the same date.

Khoo in Punjabi is a well and Korian means flogging. Thus, Khoo Korian is a reminder that Dyer’s rage did not end on 13th April 1919. He wanted to punish Amritsar more. On 19th April, he promulgated the ‘crawling order’, with reference to a street where Miss Sherwood, a lady missionary, had been assaulted. The order, which was strictly enforced, disallowed Indians to pass through the lane, and if they did, they had to crawl. They were also tied to tiktiki (flogging post) and flogged with several stripes. Dyer also ordered 11 ‘insolent’ inhabitants to crawl between the two pickets. According to Amritsar’s popular writer, Naresh Johar, among those who were made to crawl included a blind man, a few handicapped people and a pregnant woman.

Jeevan Lata has grown up with the memories of the horror of 1919. Though her father was a survivor of the massacre, she, too, indirectly became a witness to the trauma of the violence. She shared with me the brutality enacted on her street by Dyer. A master storyteller, she identified the main sites connected with Dyer’s savagery. For her and the people in her neighbourhood, Dyer is remembered as a living monster, a khooni Dyer, a paapi Dyer, a katil Dyer and a kasai Dyer. She showed me the ramshackle building where Miss Sherwood had gone to conduct the exams for girls. I was then led to the house of Lalu halwai, who had rescued the lady missionary, and along with other friends, hidden her in Badri Nath’s old haveli. Jeevan Lata said, ‘She [Sherwood] was saved, if she had been killed, the entire mohalla would have been wiped out [O bach gayi si, je mar jandi, te mohalla urh janda]’.

The fear and terror unleashed by Dyer still stalks the people living in Khoo Korian. Stories of his vengeful punishment are passed on to generations as tales of woe and suffering permanently etched upon the collective psyche. I notice a six-year-old girl correcting her grandmother by adding ‘General’ to Dyer’s name and saying that Dyer arrived with a kora (hunter) in his hand. Indeed, the cycle of collective torture associated with the crawling street becomes a reference point to remember and forget the trauma of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. The residents conflate the massacre in the Bagh with Miss Sherwood’s assault and Dyer’s inhuman crawling order. The violence at Khoo Korian remains the most powerful living memory, whilst that of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre recedes into the background. Many downplayed the significance of the Amritsar massacre: ‘It’s just a jalsa (community gathering) on the Baiskahi day which the sarkar (the ruling dispensation) organises for swtantrta senanis (freedom fighters).’ But, Khoo Korian, for these people, represents torture, humiliation and violation. The gaps in popular memory make the hidden histories of the Amritsar violence impenetrable in present times. I tried to find Punjabi folk songs around Amritsar district on the massacre, but to no avail. Communities do not remember. The irony, according to the local historian Madan Lal Vij, is ‘visitors go to Jallianwala Bagh, but never come to see Khoo Korian, which is just 10 minutes away.’

The locals remember the Jallianwala Bagh tragedy in varied ways. The shifting memories evoke unleashing of violence on a victimised collectivity. Some of those living in the vicinity of the Bagh, however, admit: ‘Shehr da sabto wadda hadsa si’ [it was the biggest tragedy of the city]. Different castes and communities, Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus, were present on 13th April. The city people feel that saadda (our) Amritsar was let down by the British Empire that they had devotedly served during World War I. Such memories are devoid of nationalist ideas and mainstream political meanings. Gandhiji’s name is absent from the scene. However, people remember the outstanding role of Punjabi leaders like Drs Saifuddin Kitchlew and Satyapal, Chaudhry Bugga Mal and Mahasha Rattan Chand. Hans Raj, the agent provocateur, who masterminded the Jallianwala Bagh meeting, has disappeared from public memory, almost the same way he vanished just before Dyer started shooting.

Sudarshan Kapoor, a well-known lawyer from the city, recalls that his father and grandfather saw the army entering the Bagh from the terrace. There were no women in the crowd, recalls Kapoor—a memory which challenges the dominant narrative that women were present in the Bagh. Kapoor tells me that an old man, Shankar Singh, munadiwala (public announcer), used to pass through the bazaar when he was growing up. He had publicly announced General Dyer’s infamous proclamation and order in the city, with the beating of the drum before the Jallianwala Bagh meeting. Kapoor’s father often asked him to repeat that pronouncement for the entertainment of his sons. Shankar Singh would declare in a loud voice: ‘Khalqat khuda di, mulaq Badshah da, Hukam General Dyer da’ [the public belongs to God, the country belongs to the King, the order is from General Dyer], implying that the gathering of more than four persons was prohibited and anyone disobeying the order, will be shot at sight. But people did not pay heed. Some did not even hear. They went to the Bagh and fell to Dyer’s bullets.

On the 100th anniversary of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, such popular memories have been revived in gali-mohallas, katras, nukkads and dhabas of Amritsar. They are the most tangible testimony to the broken history of the massacre and the memory of the brutal violence perpetrated in Khoo Korian. The silences are equally telling. They point to the spiral of unresolved trauma that the people of Amritsar experienced in April 1919.

Khoo Korian is a reminder that Dyer’s rage did not end on 13th April 1919. He wanted to punish Amritsar more. On 19th April, he promulgated the ‘crawling order’, forcing Indians to crawl on the street where Miss Sherwood, a lady missionary, had been assaulted

* * *

The residents conflate the massacre in the Bagh with Miss Sherwood’s assault and Dyer’s inhuman crawling order. The violence at Khoo Korian remains the most powerful living memory, whilst that of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre recedes into the background

* * *

Communities do not remember. The irony, according to the local historian Madan Lal Vij, is ‘visitors go to Jallianwala Bagh, but never come to see Khoo Korian, which is just 10 minutes away.’

— The writer is  associate professor of history at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi

File photo of Husain Haqqani.

Washington, April 13

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s recent statement promising an end of support to terror groups does not reflect a change of policy and is motivated by the fear of getting blacklisted by the global terror-financing watchdog FATF, the country’s former envoy to the US Husain Haqqani has said.

Amidst intense global pressure to rein in terror outfits, Khan last month said his government will not allow Pakistan’s land to be used for any kind of terror activities and promised actions against militant groups operating from the country’s soil.

Haqqani, Pakistan’s former Ambassador to the US, told a Washington audience on Friday that so far, there is no evidence that the Khan government or the military is dismantling Pakistan’s terrorist support infrastructure.

“There is little change in Pakistan’s attitude towards militancy, particularly the one directed against Afghanistan and India,” he said in his address to the third ‘India Ideas Conference’ organised by India Initiative of the prestigious Georgetown University.

Haqqani pointed out that Pakistan has failed to initiate any action against the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terror group or its leader Masood Azhar after the Pulwama terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir.

“Islamabad’s close ties with Beijing were invoked to ensure that Azhar’s designation as a terrorist by the United Nations was blocked by China at Pakistan’s behest,” he said, adding that such moves are consistent with Islamabad’s policies of the last 30 years.

Haqqani, who has authored several books, is currently the Director for South and Central Asia at the Hudson Institute think-tank. He is considered as an outspoken critic of the Pakistan Army’s domestic and foreign policies, especially its support of terrorism.

“Although the FATF sanctions are not imminent, Pakistan is trying to thwart them with public relations moves such as Imran Khan’s latest statement. There will be more PR moves as FATF pressures increase,” he said.

The former ambassador said that the desire to reassure the world once again that Pakistan wants to act against terrorist groups is motivated by economic considerations.

“Pakistan’s economy is not doing too well. FATF sanctions would only make Khan’s only economic option—more borrowing and financial bailouts by other countries and IMF—more difficult,” he said.

Haqqani stressed that “Pakistan’s support for militancy is a strategic choice, motivated by the desire to provide a force multiplier for a relatively poor country trying to act as a major regional power without resources comparable to its perceived rival”.

Pakistan is under intense global pressure to rein in terrorist outfits operating from its soil after the Pulwama attack.

Tensions between India and Pakistan escalated after a suicide bomber of Pakistan-based terror group JeM killed 40 CRPF personnel in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district on February 14.

India launched a counter-terror operation in Balakot. The next day, Pakistan Air Force retaliated and downed a MiG-21 in an aerial combat and captured its pilot, who was handed over to India on March 1.

Paris-headquartered Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on February 22 condemned the Pulwama terror attack and decided to continue the ‘Grey’ listing of Pakistan for its failure to stop funding of terrorist groups such as JeM, Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jamat-ud-Dawa.

The FATF continuing Pakistan with the ‘Gray’ listing means downgrading of the country by multilateral lenders like the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, Asian Development Bank, European Union and also a reduction in risk rating by Moody’s, S&P and Fitch, according to experts. — PTI

Amritsar, April 13

Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh paid floral tributes at the Jallianwala Bagh Memorial here on Saturday to mark the centenary of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.

Gandhi, Singh, Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu, accompanied by some other Congress leaders, paid floral tributes at the memorial inside the Jallianwala Bagh in the morning. They also observed a two-minute silence to remember those who were massacred in the tragic incident on April 13, 1919.

Gandhi arrived at Amritsar on Friday night. Upon his arrival, the Congress chief, accompanied by Singh, went straight to the Golden Temple here and paid obeisance.

Singh and Punjab Governor VP Singh Badnore had also taken part in a candlelight march on the eve of the centenary of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre on Friday evening as part of the events organised by the Punjab government to mark the historic occasion.

Singh had termed the tragic event as a heart-wrenching moment in India’s history.

The massacre took place at Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar during the Baisakhi festival in April 1919 when troops of the British Indian Army under the command of Colonel Dyer opened fire at a crowd of people holding a pro-independence demonstration, leaving several dead and scores injured. P

Srinagar: Two Indian Air Force (IAF) personnel, including a Squadron Leader, were killed and two others suffered injuries in a road accident early Thursday at Malngpora in the Awantipora Air Force station in Pulwama district, a defence official said here on Thursday. The deceased personnel are Squadron Leader Rakesh Pandey and Corporal Ajay Kumar. The injured personnel were identified as Wing Commander SH Bagga and corporal Sukhjit Singh. They  were shifted to a hospital, the official added. The IAF will conduct an inquiry into the incident, he said. PTI

New Delhi, April 4

The Enforcement Directorate told a Delhi court today that Christian Michel, the alleged middleman arrested in the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam, and other accused received €42 million euros (nearly Rs 325 crore) as kickbacks in the deal.

The probe agency, in its 3,000-page supplementary chargesheet, also named David Syms, Michel’s alleged business partner, and two firms owned by them — Global Trade and Commerce Ltd and Global Services FZE — as accused.

In its first chargesheet, filed against Michel in June 2016, the ED had alleged that Michel and others received €30 million (about Rs225 crore) from AgustaWestland.

Special Judge Arvind Kumar said he would decide on whether to take cognisance of the ED’s supplementary chargesheet and to summon the accused on April 6.

ED’s special public prosecutors DP Singh and NK Matta told the court that British nationals Syms and Michel through their firms had received the money without undertaking any work against the receipt of such amount.

The money was received by the firms to execute the 12 helicopters’ deal but no helicopters were bought, ED said.

“The money was paid by Westland Group companies to these two firms. The money was then routed to different companies and individuals. This was done through these two firms in which both (Michel and Syms) of them are directors… Syms’ bank statement records showed that substantial amount has been credited to it,” ED said.

The agency said this money trail completed the missing link in the total €70 million trail of the AgustaWestland deal, which was being investigated by it. — PTI

After a long wait of six decades, the country saw the National War Memorial come alive in the heart of its Capital, at India Gate, on February 25. The obelisk stands tall, solemn and proud — golden letters adorning the memorial’s 16 walls symbolising the Chakravyuh formation, listing the names of 25,000 soldiers martyred in various wars post-Independence, and counter-insurgency operations. Spread over 40 acres, it has four outer concentric circles depicting immortality, bravery, sacrifice and protection — a humble proclamation that the nation remembers its brave; that it has commemorated the sacrifice to eternise their valour, and its own gratitude, in stone.

And so, the distress of a family can well be imagined upon finding the name of their loved one ‘missing’. Within over a month of the unveiling, the armed forces have begun to receive complaints from various corners of such names. The Army, as is its wont, has gone in rectification mode and is seeking details from parent units. The lapse, if deliberate, would have been inexcusable. But since the forces are known for meticulous planning and record-keeping, it could be a case of clerical error, aggravated by lack of clarity over the process and periodicity of updating records. The Ministry of Defence should announce, belatedly, the frequency of data upgrade, so families of those martyred in more recent operations know by when they can hope to see the names on the ultimate wall of honour.

Also, the collation of data is the responsibility of various wings of the Army, the Air Force and the Navy. There should be better synergy among the three and the communication lines should remain open to ensure that every single soldier killed in ‘operational’ duty finds a mention on the resplendent walls. Who better than the forces to know a soldier does not embrace the supreme sacrifice for gains or glory; he does it for the call of duty, for the country. No hero should go unsung.

New Delhi, April 1

India today operationalised its strategic ITBP command in Jammu and Kashmir’s Leh-Ladakh district after moving it from Chandigarh. The move forms part of a plan to counter ever-increasing Chinese military build-up in the region.

The North West (NW) frontier of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), tasked to guard the 3,488-km Sino-India border during peace time, is headed by an Inspector General (IG) of Police-rank officer, which is equivalent to a Major General in the Army. “We are operational from the Ladakh region beginning April 1 and the force headquarters in Delhi has been informed,” ITBP IG Arvind Kumar told PTI from Leh.

The Tricolour and the force flag were unfurled to herald the new move. The frontier would be operating from the existing premises of the ITBP sector headquarters, another official said.

Sanctions have been received to create more buildings and logistics for the new command and Director General (DG) SS Deswal, the force chief, is expected to visit the formation soon. It was reported in January that the frontier had been ordered to move from its base at Chandigarh “lock, stock, and barrel” to be operationalised at the new location from April 1. The distance between Chandigarh and Leh is 960 km.

Leh district in the mountains of Jammu and Kashmir is the base for the 14 Corps of the Army headed by a Lt General-rank officer and the new shift will allow a better interaction between the two forces “for strategic and defence planning”, the official operations blueprint had said.

The Army, which carved out a separate Corps in Leh following the Kargil intrusion in 1999, has been demanding operational control over the ITBP, a proposal rejected by the government time and again. Having the ITBP and the Army at the same combat location would resolve these issues as well, sources had said. “We have to be on the border and that is why the frontier is being sent to the forward area,” DG Deswal had earlier said.

The Home Ministry had first mooted this proposal in 2015, but it did not materialise due to some “administrative reasons”. The new ITBP frontier would have command of about 12 battalions deployed along the Chinese border, sources said. — PTI

Moved from UT to Leh-Ladakh

• The strategic ITBP command was operationalised in J&K’s Leh-Ladakh district after moving it from Chandigarh on Monday
• The frontier would have command of about 12 battalions deployed along the Chinese border that runs along Jammu and Kashmir

Security personnel inspect the mangled car at Banihal in Ramban district of Jammu and Kashmir. — PTI file

Banihal/Jammu, March 1

A suspected terrorist, who made an abortive attempt to target a CRPF convoy on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway on Saturday, was arrested on Monday and is being questioned, police sources said.

A CRPF vehicle had suffered slight damage when a Santro car went up in flames after an explosion at Tethar village, 7 km from Banihal, shortly after a Jammu-bound convoy crossed the Jawahar Tunnel, the gateway to the Kashmir Valley.

The driver of the private vehicle managed to flee before the fire engulfed the vehicle and turned it into a mangled heap of iron.

The inspection of the vehicle and surrounding areas led to the recovery of an LPG cylinder, a jerrycan filled with petrol, gelatin stick, urea and sulphur—material which is used for fabricating the Improvised Explosive Devices (IED), the police said.

A massive hunt was launched and finally the suspected terrorist was arrested in the early hours of Monday and is being questioned, the sources said.

The sources, however, did not reveal whether the arrest was made from Banihal or somewhere else.

A letter recovered from the scene had identified the driver as a Hizbul Mujahideen operative,  who mentioned his intention to carry out a February 14 Pulwama-type terror attack which left 40 CRPF personnel dead after a terrorist of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) outfit drove an explosive-laden vehicle and targeted a CRPF convoy.

The forensic experts and a team of National Investigation Agency (NIA) visited Banihal and inspected the scene to help in the investigation. PTI

The Jallianwala Bagh massacre was the result of a well-planned conspiracy aimed at bringing together a crowd which could be killed by Dyer, says eminent historian VN Datta in conversation with Nonica Datta

Nonica Datta: You were born in Amritsar. What did you understand about the Jallianwala Bagh massacre as a child?

VN Datta: It was horrible… Our house was a 10-minute walk from Jallianwala Bagh at Katra Sher Singh in the walled city of Amritsar. My elder sister told me that she heard the bullets and that my mother began to beat her chest thinking that my father was dead. When I was about six years’ old, I used to walk in the Bagh and observe the bullet marks on the walls. Because of my family memory, I, too, became an indirect witness to the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. Later, I wrote extensively on the subject. My book, Jallianwala Bagh, appeared in 1969.

ND:Why do you think Brigadier General Reginald Dyer did what he did? 

VND: You have to think of the circumstances which led to Dyer’s action. After the victory in World War I, British confidence was at its peak. In addition, Punjab was ruled by the iron hand of Lieutenant Governor, Sir Michael O’Dwyer. He terrorised the troops and peasants. And then came the infamous Rowlatt Bills. There was political unrest in the province.

Dyer did not look upon Jallianwala Bagh massacre as an isolated event, but as an integral part of the Amritsar disturbances. Three days before, on the 10th, the city had been the scene of widespread violence following the arrest of local leaders from Punjab—Dr Saifuddin Kitchlew, Dr Satya Pal, Bugga and Ratto; five Europeans had been murdered; and a lady missionary, Miss Sherwood, had been assaulted. I would say that the assault on Miss Sherwood provided the context for Jallianwala Bagh incident to happen.

As a result, Dyer became furious and determined. He rushed from Jalandhar on 11 April. On 12 April, he moved around the city of Amritsar. On 13 April, from the Hathi Gate, he reached the narrow Jallianwala Bagh. He could not take the machine guns inside. With 50 troops on the platform—25 Gurkhas, 25 Baluchis—he shot about 1,650 bullets, and I calculated around 700 people died. He later told the Disorders Inquiry Committee that he realised his force was small and to hesitate might induce attack.

I believe Dyer’s decision in Jallianwala Bagh was partly influenced by his seeing Amritsar as a possible storm-centre of rebellion and partly by the circumstances of 10 April.

The Punjab Government feared that on the Baisakhi Day a large number of villagers would come to the city and their presence would make the situation sinister. On 12 and 13 April, Dyer issued two orders banning public meetings and processions in Amritsar city. When the massacre took place, martial law had not been introduced and the Brigadier General was not empowered to take charge of the city. But Dyer assumed full control of the situation and ignored the civilian officers. My argument is had he acted in concert with civilian officers, it is possible that the catastrophic episode might have been averted.

As soon as Dyer arrived in the Bagh, he stood on the raised platform and opened fire without warning. Not only this but, he fired continuously even when he could see that people were running for their lives. The Hunter Committee accused him of infringing the principle of minimum force, but failed to explain satisfactorily why he did so, maintaining that Dyer merely exceeded the bounds of his duty.

All these insights were possible because of my discovery of the volumes VI and VII of the Disorders Inquiry Committee (also known as the Hunter Committee) to which Dyer gave an account of his actions. I noticed that the previous volumes, I–V, did not contain the material that these two volumes possessed. These latter volumes included consolidated reports secretly maintained by the British government. I was the first to bring these volumes to the notice of scholars and able to discover hitherto unknown facts.

ND: It is evident that your pioneering work provides an altogether different historical perspective on 1919. Tell us how you would interpret the Jallianwala Bagh massacre? 

VND: I feel that the massacre was the result of a well-planned conspiracy aimed at bringing together a crowd which could be killed by Dyer. There was no martial law (in Amritsar and Lahore) till 15 April. There were no police present at Jallianwala Bagh. The Deputy Commissioner was absent from the scene. Dyer took no steps to prevent the meeting.

ND: Why do you call the massacre a conspiracy? 

VND: In order to understand the massacre, it is necessary to follow the movements of Hans Raj, the chief organiser of the Jallianwala Bagh meeting. At the time of the meeting, when some people began to move away, he urged the crowd to be seated and declared ‘the Government will never fire’. After a while, he waved his handkerchief and Dyer and his Indian troops appeared. When the shooting began, Hans Raj had already left. He was an agent provocateur. He was later spirited away to Mesopotamia and his house in Amritsar was burnt.

ND: Who was in the crowd? Who were the prominent leaders present in the Bagh? 

VND: Before the massacre, Jallianwala Bagh was a dumping ground of no political significance. In his testimony to the Disorders Inquiry Committee, Dyer said that the crowd was not innocent but hostile. He claimed it was a planned affair, with an organised mob assembled with the intent of defying authority.

But the crowd was an amorphous lot. Many had come to the city as part of a cattle fair on the Baisakhi festival and had wandered into the Bagh. There was no leader of importance present there. I talked to people who had survived the massacre. I interviewed Rattan Devi, Uttar Kaur and Uttam Devi, who rushed to the Bagh immediately after the firing. Their testimonies formed an essential part of my book, Jallianwala Bagh. I also had long conversations with Dr Kitchlew. Despite his failing health, he gave me valuable information. Hans Raj Mittal, a leading lawyer of Amritsar, told me that the Jallianwala Bagh episode was a conspiracy hatched by Hans Raj.

ND:  What is the legacy of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre? 

VND: After the massacre—as SK Datta, principal of Forman Christian College, Lahore, said—there was a parting of ways between the British and Indians. The massacre paved the way for the ultimate downfall of the British Empire and a new leadership by Gandhi appeared on the national scene.

In my works, I have tried to move away from a nationalist hagiography of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. However, there is no doubt that it proved a great asset to the nationalist cause. 1919 changed the political complexion of Punjab, which could never recover from that military violence.

— This interview is one of a series of interviews with VN Datta conducted by Nonica Datta between July 2018 and April 2019 in New Delhi.