Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

'History being erased': Jallianwala Bagh memorial revamp prompts outrage

'History being erased': Jallianwala Bagh memorial revamp prompts outrage

A BRITISH Sikh MP is among those who have criticised the revamp of the Jallianwala Bagh memorial in India.

The Jallianwala Bagh massacre, as it is known in India, saw British troops fire on thousands of unarmed men, women and children in the northern city of Amritsar on the afternoon of April 13, 1919. The number of casualties from the event, which galvanised support for India’s independence, is unclear.


Colonial-era records put the death toll at 379, but Indian figures put the number closer to 1,000.

India's prime minister Narendra Modi on Saturday (28) inaugurated the renovated Jallianwala Bagh complex via video link.

As part of the facelift, museum galleries have been opened, along with a daily sound and light show to display the events of April 13, 1919.

The walls of a narrow lane through which British soldiers were led by Brigadier General RH Dyer into the park now feature murals and sculptures.

The martyrs’ well, in which it is believed people jumped to escape the bullets, has been covered with a transparent barrier.

Modi said the renovated Jallianwala Bagh "will remind the new generation about the history of this holy place and will inspire to learn a lot about its past".

However, historian Kim Wagner said on social media that the revamp was a "part of the general Disneyfication of the old city of Amritsar" and added that it "means that the last traces of the event have effectively been erased".

Reacting to Wagner's tweet, British MP Preet Kaur Gill tweeted: "Our history being erased. Why?"

Chaman Lal, a historian and professor at India's Jawaharlal Nehru University, said the project had tried to "mystify and glamourise history".

"People visiting Jallianwala Bagh should go with a sense of pain and anguish," he told The Hindu newspaper. "They have now tried to make it a space for enjoying, with a beautiful garden. It was not a beautiful garden."

Eminent historian S Irfan Habib called the project a "corporatisation of monuments," that has been done "at the cost of history, cost of heritage".

"It is absolutely gaudy...Why should there be murals on the wall?" he said.

Leaders from India’s main opposition party also criticised the move, with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi saying his party was against “this indecent cruelty”.

“Such an insult to the martyrs of Jallianwala Bagh can only be done by those who do not know the meaning of martyrdom,” Gandhi tweeted.

“I am the son of a martyr – I will not tolerate the insult of martyrs at any cost.”

His father and former Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated in May 1991.

However, Shwait Malik, an Indian MP belonging to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and a member of the Jallianwala Bagh Trust, defended the renovation.

"These sculptures in the lane will make visitors conscious of those who walked in on that day… Earlier, people walked this narrow lane without knowing its history, now they will walk with history," he said.

More than a 100 years after that massacre, Britain made no official apology.

In a visit in 2013 then British prime minister David Cameron described what happened as "deeply shameful" but stopped short of an apology.

In 1997, the Queen laid a wreath at the site.

More For You

F-35B jet

The UK has agreed to move the aircraft to the Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facility at the airport.

Indian Air Force

F-35B jet still stranded in Kerala, UK sends engineers for repair

UK AVIATION engineers are arriving in Thiruvananthapuram to carry out repairs on an F-35B Lightning jet belonging to the Royal Navy, which has remained grounded after an emergency landing 12 days ago.

The jet is part of the HMS Prince of Wales Carrier Strike Group of the UK's Royal Navy. It made the emergency landing at Thiruvananthapuram airport on June 14. The aircraft, valued at over USD 110 million, is among the most advanced fighter jets in the world.

Keep ReadingShow less
Ahmedabad air crash
Relatives carry the coffin of a victim, who was killed in the Air India Flight 171 crash, during a funeral ceremony in Ahmedabad on June 15, 2025. (Photo: Getty Images)

Ahmedabad crash: Grief, denial and trauma haunt families

TWO weeks after the crash of Air India flight AI-171 in Ahmedabad, families of victims are grappling with grief and trauma. Psychiatrists are now working closely with many who continue to oscillate between denial and despair.

The crash occurred on June 12, when the London-bound flight hit the BJ Medical College complex shortly after takeoff, killing 241 people on board and 29 on the ground. Only one passenger survived.

Keep ReadingShow less
Starmer apologises for 'island of strangers' immigration speech

Prime minister Keir Starmer delivers a speech at The British Chambers of Commerce Global Annual Conference in London on June 26, 2025. (Photo by EDDIE MULHOLLAND/AFP via Getty Images)

Starmer apologises for 'island of strangers' immigration speech

PRIME MINISTER Sir Keir Starmer has admitted he was wrong to warn that Britain could become an "island of strangers" due to high immigration, saying he "deeply" regrets the controversial phrase.

Speaking to The Observer, Sir Keir said he would not have used those words if he had known they would be seen as echoing the language of Enoch Powell's notorious 1968 "rivers of blood" speech.

Keep ReadingShow less
Sir Sajid Javid leads commission 'tackling social divisions'

Sir Sajid Javid (Photo by Tom Nicholson-WPA Pool/Getty Images)

Sir Sajid Javid leads commission 'tackling social divisions'

A cross-party group has been formed to tackle the deep divisions that sparked last summer's riots across England. The new commission will be led by former Tory minister Sir Sajid Javid and ex-Labour MP Jon Cruddas.

The Independent Commission on Community and Cohesion has backing from both prime minister Sir Keir Starmer and Tory leader Kemi Badenoch. It brings together 19 experts from different political parties and walks of life.

Keep ReadingShow less
​Masum

Masum was seen on CCTV trying to steer the pram away and, when she refused to go with him, stabbed her multiple times before walking away and boarding a bus. (Photo: West Yorkshire Police)

West Yorkshire Police

Habibur Masum convicted of murdering estranged wife in front of baby

A MAN who stabbed his estranged wife to death in Bradford in front of their baby has been convicted of murder.

Habibur Masum, 26, attacked 27-year-old Kulsuma Akter in broad daylight on April 6, 2024, stabbing her more than 25 times while she pushed their seven-month-old son in a pram. The baby was not harmed.

Keep ReadingShow less