Jallianwala Bagh Massacre: PM Modi pays tribute to victims, says, ‘will always remember their indomitable spirit’

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday paid homage to the people killed in the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in 1919 and said the “coming generations will always remember their indomitable spirit”.

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Hundreds of people protesting peacefully against the Rowlatt Acts, which granted the colonial administration repressive powers, were gunned down by British forces without any provocation on this day in 1919 at the Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar.

"We pay homage to the martyrs of Jallianwala Bagh. The coming generations will always remember their indomitable spirit," Modi said in a post on X.

"It was indeed a dark chapter in our nation's history. Their sacrifice became a major turning point in India's freedom struggle," he said.

Earlier in March, a Conservative MP has urged the British government to admit what went wrong and formally apologise to the people of India.

Bob Blackman, the MP for Harrow East, was speaking in the House of Commons on Thursday when he recalled the deadly massacre in Amritsar on April 13, 1919 when people had gathered to celebrate Baisakhi festival and sought an apology, PTI reported.

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“On April 13, 1919, families gathered very peacefully in the Jallianwala Bagh to enjoy the sun, to enjoy a day out with their families. General Dyer, on behalf of the British Army, marched his troops in and ordered his troops to fire on those innocent people until they ran out of ammunition,” Blackman said.

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“At the end of that massacre, 1,500 people were dead and 1,200 injured. Eventually, General Dyer was disgraced for that stain on the British Empire. In 2019, the then Prime Minister Theresa May recognised this was a stain on British colonial rule in India.

(With inputs from agencies)