Congress fumes at Jallianwalla Bagh renovation; Punjab CM says ‘looks nice’

Even though the Centre’s renovation of the Jallianwalla Bagh memorial site has left historians, members of civil society and the Opposition Congress fuming, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has appreciated the changes.

Critics have accused the Centre of trivialising the sacrifice of the martyrs of Jallianwala Bagh by completely revamping the two-century-old memorial instead of preserving its antiquity.

“Such an insult to the martyrs of Jallianwalla Bagh can only be done by those who do not know the meaning of martyrdom. I am the son of a martyr – I will not tolerate the insult of martyrs at any cost. We are against this indecent cruelty,” tweeted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday.

Even as several Opposition leaders including those from the Congress spoke against the renovation, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh found no issue with it.

“I don’t know what has been removed. To me it looks very nice,” Singh remarked. Speaking to reporters on Saturday, he had said that the place is a reminder for the future generations about the right of people to democratic protest.

Singh’s government has also been criticized for allowing the renovations to be made and not flagging major changes at the right time.

Singh’s statement also comes at a time when he is facing rebellion by a group of Punjab Congress leaders, who have been demanding his ouster and have chosen cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu as their leader.

Also read: Why a revamped Jallianwala Bagh is riling up historians

Among the many changes that the memorial has undergone, the stark ones have been the replacement of its narrow entrance with a bas relief and the introduction of a light and sound show to chronicle the Jallianwalla Massacre to visitors.

Thousands of peaceful protesters assembled in Amritsar’s Jallianwalla Bagh were killed when British General REH Dyer asked his men to opened fire at them on April 13, 1919.

Pictures of renovations of the memorial – virtually inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday – left people and historians befuddled as they questioned why a place that has been a gory reminder of a mass slaughter by the British been painted in celebratory hues. Historians said while the narrow entrance, the only way to the garden, from where the protesters had entered never to leave again, evoked empathy from visitors, carpeting it with a mural has only trivialized their agony.

Calling the renovation a part of the “Disneyfication” of Amritsar, historian Kim A Wagner, author of Jallianwalla Bagh: A Groundbreaking History of the 1919 Massacre said the “last traces of the event have effectively been erased” through the renovation of the place.

“BJP not only erased all traces of the massacre by revamping Jallianwalla Bagh, but added insult to injury by celebrating with sound&light music,” tweeted Congress leader KC Venugopal.

While CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury called it a doing of “those who stayed away from the epic freedom struggle”, Shiv Sena’s Priyanka Chaturvedi said the urge to “beautify” or “modify” some memories are “doing great damage to our collective history.”