MONUMENT OF PRIDE OR SYMBOL OF GRIEF..??
A few days ago I had the good fortune to watch the film “Sardar Udham Singh” in the internet. After watching the film and reading the various reviews about it, I was reminded of some pictures sent by a friend from Amritsar a couple of months ago. The most striking picture however was a shining steel board with the word EXIT engraved in it, prominently being displayed against a newly constructed elaborately decorated wall. There was another picture that showed a wide, floodlit road behind the ornate wall. At the end, there is a wide exit gate. It was not the exit gate of some cinema hall in a multiplex, but the exit route of the Jallianwalla Bagh of the modern day.
My friend had described his experience of his visit to the Bagh after the formal inauguration of its renovated version in August 2021. After having experienced the spectacle of lights on the various Memorial tombs and Epithets, the green grass and flowers, the piped folk songs playing across the place, which was more of an experience similar to the mirth associated with a stroll on a decorated and well maintained park, he was directed towards the elaborate and exclusive exit path by the security guards.
The view of the grandeur of the NEW BAGH somehow sends shivers down my spine. On the 13th April 1919, hundreds of people, unable to find the exit route had tried to escape by scaling the unscalable high walls of the Bagh and had been mercilessly shot down by the inhuman gunners. The exit gate in the picture somehow appeared a bit satirical to me. Actually, the people whom this newly constructed marvel had been dedicated to are no longer there and neither there is any need to take the opinion of their unknown kith and kin. It is just a “National Memorial” of a historic bloodbath.
Jallianwalla Bagh today is a historic political pawn. Whenever political outfits had felt the need to abet the patriotic sentiments of a sizeable populace, the Bagh had got a distinguished mention. The decoration, the beautification and the organized presentation of a spot of mayhem today stands as just another tourist attraction. In the Government records of 1919 there were 379 names of martyrs that had been engraved in a white marble stone panel outside the Bagh but the new “makeover” has allowed 488 names on a more elaborate black stone memorial plate to appear. Very soon probably, there will be tickets issued to enter the Bagh with future history books naming it as one of the most visited tourist attractions of Punjab.
It is imminent that the historic “Sabarmati Ashram” is also going for a “makeover”. Soon the 58 Acre piece of history is going to house a “world class” tourist attraction, replete with museums, an amphitheatre, food courts, VIP lounges and all other “necessities” at a voluptuous budget of Rs. 1200 Crores. Even if the tranquil, serene, natural atmosphere of the Ashram gets disrupted, the 200–250 families in the precincts get evicted; it doesn’t matter, does it? In a modern world class, commercial landmark who needs the presence of a Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi? Probably, these efforts are to focus more on number crunching rather than getting lost in age old and thus irrelevant ideals. The “VADH” that had to happen had already happened; these are symbols of “VADH” again!!
In 1920–21, people had contributed wholeheartedly for developing Jallianwala Bagh into a symbol of torment against the Hindu-Muslim-Sikh unity. After that in 1961 and now, this symbol has been drowned within the shallow waters of the “show” industry beyond the realms of humanity, history, tradition, memories, unity and all such economic burden.
Then of course, the recent worldwide release of the film “Sardar Udham Singh” laid emphasis on the process of the commercialization of tragic history of India through the indignity of imperialism. In the movies, the personalization of the Hindu-Muslim-Sikh unity through the name “Ram Mohammed Singh Azaad” by Udham Singh was indeed exemplary as was the mention of Bhagat Singh as the chief inspiration behind the rise of Udham. This aspect had been remarkably absent from the earlier versions of films of the same theme. Even the two statues of Udham Singh that have been installed in Amritsar do not have any mention of the legend.
What was however strikingly missing was the non-white man’s endevours through the middle East-Africa- Europe-America that had toughened him to the core and his relationship with the Ghadar movement. Besides, Udham had the experience of war, being a part of the British army. His struggle against imperialism and racism was not only limited to the revenge of the event of 13th April, 1919.
However, the big budgeted film did capture the fateful event of the day and the subsequent agonizing memories of the nights and days that had converted the town into a macabre scene of death, destruction, inhumanity and national mourning. I hope that the commercialization of the tragedy will not erase the “Vadh” of humanity that happened in 1919 and we do not resort to brandishing this monument of tragedy as a tourist pride to commit “VADH” again!!
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