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1). Jallianwala Bagh MassacreIn 1919, The British Government in passed Rowlatt Act which gave the government more powers to suppress political and other activities against British Raj in India. Act included provision to imprison anybody for 2 years without trial. This caused widespread protests, rallies and processions. Cautious British Government arrested many influential leaders in India including 2 local leaders in Amritsar. They also barred Mahatma Gandhi to enter Delhi. On April 10, 1919, the Amritsar Police fired on a peaceful procession which caused widespread attacks on Banks, Post Offices, Railway Stations, etc. General Dyer took command and imposed Martial Law, under this law there was a ban on public meetings. On 13 Aril, a public meeting organized to celebrate Baisakhi and protest against new Martial law.

Jallianwala Bagh massacre took place in the Jallianwala Bagh public garden in Amritsar, Punjab, India on 13 April 1919. On the festival of Baisakhi, thousands of Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims gathered in the Jallianwala Bagh garden near the Golden Temple in Amritsar. The shooting that took place was ordered by Brigadier-General Reginald E.H. Dyer. On that day, Dyer was convinced that a major insurrection was going on, thus he banned all public meetings. On hearing that a meeting of 15,000 to 20,000 people had assembled (which included women, senior citizens and children) at Jallianwala Bagh, he went with about fifty riflemen to a raised bank and ordered them to shoot at the crowd. Dyer kept the firing up till the ammunition supply was almost exhausted for about ten minutes with 1,650 rounds fired approximately. Official sources estimated that the fatalities were 379 with 1,100 wounded. The casualty number estimated by various sources considering the number of rounds and total time of continuous shooting by 50 soldiers was more than 1,500 with about 1,000 getting killed.

An hour after the meeting began as scheduled at 4:30 pm, Brigadier General Reginald Dyer came along with a group of sixty-five Gurkha and twenty-five Baluchi soldiers into the Bagh. Fifty of them were armed with rifles. Dyer had also brought

two armoured cars armed with machine guns. But the vehicles were left outside as they were unable to enter the garden through the narrow entrance. Dyer later admitted that casualties would have been much higher if those vehicles were with him at that time. The Jallianwala Bagh was surrounded on all sides by houses and buildings and had few narrow entrances. Most of them were kept permanently locked. The main entrance was relatively wider, but was guarded by the troops backed by the armored vehicles.

General Dyer without warning the crowd to disperse blocked the main exits. He explained later about this act; "was not to disperse the meeting but to punish the Indians for disobedience." Dyer ordered his troops to begin shooting towards the densest sections of the crowd (including women and children). Firing continued for approximately ten minutes. Cease-fire was ordered only when ammunition supplies were almost exhausted, after approximately 1,650 rounds were spent. Many people died in stampedes at the narrow gates or by jumping into the solitary well on the compound to escape the shooting. A plaque in the monument at the site, set up after independence, says that about 120 bodies were pulled out of the well. The wounded could not be moved from where they had fallen, as a curfew was declared and many more died during the night.

Winston Churchill said "The Indians were 'packed together so that one bullet would drive through three or four bodies; the people 'ran madly this way and the other. When fire was directed upon the centre, they ran to the sides. The fire was then directed to the sides. Many threw themselves down on the ground, and the fire was then directed on the ground. This was continued for eight or ten minutes, and it stopped only when the ammunition had reached the point of exhaustion." Dyer then marched away, leaving thousands of dead and wounded people. Back in headquarters, he reported to his superiors that he had been 'confronted by a revolutionary army,' and had been obliged 'to teach a moral lesson to the Punjab.' In the storm of outrage which followed, the brigadier was promoted to major general, retired, and placed on the inactive list.

Dyer's response to the a Commission Enquiry ''I think it quite possible that I could have dispersed the crowd without firing but they would have come back again and laughed, and I would have made, what I consider, a fool of myself.'' General Dyer said he would have used his machine guns if he could have got them into the enclosure, but these were mounted on armored cars. He said he did not stop firing when the crowd began to disperse because he thought it was his duty to keep firing until the crowd dispersed, and that a little firing would do no good. He confessed he did not take any steps to attend to the wounded after the firing. ''Certainly not! It was not my job. Hospitals were open and they could have gone there. However, the misery suffered by the people was reflected in Rattan Devi's account. She was forced to keep a nightlong vigil, armed with a bamboo stick to protect her

husband's body from jackals and vultures. Curfew with shoot-at-sight orders had been imposed from 2000 hours that night. Rattan Devi stated, ''I saw three men writhing in great pain and a boy of about 12. I could not leave the place. The boy asked me for water but there was no water in that place. At 2 am, a Jat who was lying entangled on the wall asked me to raise his leg. I went up to him and took hold of his clothes drenched in blood and raised him up. Heaps of bodies lay there, a number of them innocent children. I shall never forget the sight. I spent the night crying and watching."

General Dyer admitted before the commission that he came to know about the meeting at Jallianwala Bagh at 1240 hours that day, but took no steps to prevent it. He also admitted in his deposition that the gathering at the Bagh was not a concentration only of rebels, but people who had covered long distances to participate in the Baisakhi fair. This incredibly, made him a martyr to millions of Englishmen. Senior British officers applauded his suppression of 'another Indian Mutiny.' The Guardians of the Golden Temple enrolled him in the Brotherhood of Sikhs. The House of Lords passed a measure commending him. The Conservatives presented him with a jewelled sword inscribed "Saviour of the Punjab."

A Sikh teenager who was being raised at Khalsa Orphanage, named Udham Singh (aka Mohammad Singh Azad) saw the happening with his own eyes and was himself wounded. He vowed to avenge the Amritsar massacre. On March 13, 1940, at Caxton Hall in London, Udham Singh shot and killed Michael O'Dwyer, the British Lieutenant-Governor of Punjab at the time of the massacre, who had approved Dyer's action and was believed to be the main planner. (Dyer died in 1927.) The action by Singh was condemned generally, but some press, like nationalist newspaper made positive statements. The common people and revolutionaries glorified the action of Udham Singh. Much of the press worldwide recalled the story of Jallianwala Bagh and alleged Michael O'Dwyer to have been responsible for the massacre. Udham Singh, telling the trial court why he killed Michael O'Dwyer. I did it because I had a grudge against him. He deserved it. He was the real culprit. He wanted to crush the spirit of my people, so I have crushed him. For full 21 years, I have been trying to wreak vengeance. I am happy that I have done the job. I am not scared of death. I am dying for my country. I have seen my people starving in India under the British rule. I have protested against this, it was my duty. What a greater honour could be bestowed on me than death for the sake of my motherland? On the 31st July, 1940, Udham Singh was hanged at Pentonville jail, London.

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The Wailing Fair of Jallianwala BaghThy deep, dark, black abyss, That devoured our mothers kiss, Selfish, wretch, appareled in red walls, Jallianwallah, thy tyranny with weight upon us falls!!

The chaotic streets of the kids are now vacant, Blackened the doorsteps the white skinned tyrant.

The patient, nimble, morning ears that heeded to thy voice, In the evening were silenced and turned cold as ice.

For the freedom to be born their hopes waited for years and more, To see it alive none succeeded to flee from thy captivitys door.

A revolt so peaceful, the devil would melt, The white queen let it honored with the cannon balls pelt.

Seas of the emotions could flood enough with the pain, In vain were those heavy showers of trickles of rain.

The sleepless insomniac nights restless, Long and long of nightmares endless.

Under the siege of the curfew the trampled crowd, Vultures covered their fallen kins before the shroud.

Those waiting to reach the Baisakhis tavern, To their destination would never reach and return.

The woman you jilted was our mother, Her truth you concealed under thy tanned leather, Wait for a while if you dare to bother, look how those holes the little hearts smother!!

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2). Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA)Also known as Hindustan Socialist Republican Army. Bhagat Singh, Yogendra Shukla and Chandrasekar Azad were the key functionaries of this organization. The group is one of the first socialist organizations in India. During that period Gandhiji had declared to cancel the Non-cooperation movement after the Chauri Chaura incident. His decision created a lot of rancor amongst the youngsters. Some of them had jeopardized their careers for the movement. As HSRA was a revolutionary group, they attempted to loot a train. They were informed that the train was transferring government money. On 9th August 1925, the revolutionists ransacked the train. This now famous incident is known as the Kakori train robbery. As a result of the

Kakori train robbery case, Ashfaqullah Khan, Ramprasad Bismil, Roshan Singh, Rajendra Lahiri were hanged to death. Major HSRA activities HSRA members carried out many activities across the country. Some of the major events. *) Kakori Conspiracy *) Central Assembly Bombing *) Mainpuri Conspiracy (Ram Prasad Bismil and his associates for looting (to fund party) inand around Mainpuri in 1918)

*) Assasination of JP Saunders (To avenge the death of Lala Lajpat Rai, who sustained serious injuries by the police lathi charge in a non-violent protest against the Simon Commission) *) Bombing of Special Train of Lord Irwin (Viceroy) *) Punjab Bombings *) Gadodia Stores (Delhi) Robbery Most famous and documented event, HSRA bombed the Central Assembly in Delhi (April 1929). This was done to protest the introduction of the Public Safety Bill and the Trade Disputes Bill which would reduce the civil liberties of citizens. The HSRA decided to bomb the Assembly while the bills were being introduced to arouse public opinion against them. On April 8, 1929 Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt threw bombs at the empty treasury benches. They made no attempt to escape and courted arrest while shouting Inquilab Zindabad (Long Live the Revolution) and Samrajyavad ko nash ho (Down with Imperialism). Their rationale for the bombing was explained in a leaflet titled "To Make the Deaf Hear", the aim was not to kill, for the bombs were relatively harmless (no one killed) but, the objective was to get arrested and to use trial court as a forum for propaganda so that people would become familiar with their movement and ideology. Bhagat Singh and B.K. Dutt were tried in the Assembly Bomb Case.

Chandrasekhar Azad

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23 March, 1931 , .... , ... - ,

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Jai Hind!

Long Live Inquilab!