Bharpur Singh, survivor Jallianwala Bagh massacre

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Recalling Jallianwala Bagh trauma

Mr Bharpur Singh (90) Survivor

Baisakhi brings with it the nostalgia of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre for Mr Bharpur Singh (90), who as a four- year- old child, was a witness to the mayhem in 1919.

Travelling down memory lane, Mr Bharpur Singh told The Tribune yesterday [April 2, 2006] that he along with his grandfather and an uncle had gone to Jallianwala Bagh where many people had gathered to celebrate the Baisakhi festival and to pay obeisance at the Darbar Sahib.

He said the Congress had announced to hold a political meeting and the authorities were opposed to it and with this in view General Dyer, with a posse of men blocked the main entry to the ground , which was surrounded on all sides by houses. On the southern side there were small mud huts.

He said when General Dyer asked his men to open fire , being a child he was unaware of what was happening. He said he had only a hazy idea that there was gun fire and shrieks and cries of people who started running helter-skelter. He said his grandfather took him in his arms and ran towards the mud huts. His uncle broke his arm while jumping on the other side from the roof on one of the huts. They were lucky to reach their ancestral house nearby.

Further recounting the incident he said his uncle in the absence of any medical aid could only get his arm bandaged by a quack. Though the fracture got healed but he could not straighten his arm from his elbow throughout his life.

He said whenever he visits Amritsar he bows his head in front of the statue of martyr Udham Singh who must have been moved by the tyranny perpetrated by Gen. Dyer and took the revenge 21 years later in 1940.

Credit

This News Item: Recalling Jallianwala Bagh trauma was filed by Sanjay Bumbroo of the Tribune News Service on Monday, April 3, 2006, Chandigarh, India