Nearly 94 years after soldiers belonging to the British Raj killed over 1,000 Indian protesters, British Prime Minister David Cameron on Wednesday described the April 13, 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre as a “deeply shameful event in British history”. After paying homage to those who had died, he wrote in the visitors’ book at the Amritsar memorial: “This was a deeply shameful act in British history — one that Winston Churchill rightly described at that time as ‘monstrous’. We must never forget what happened here. And in remembering we must ensure that the UK stands up for the right of peaceful protest around the world.”
While his remarks stopped short of a public apology, on which there was much speculation before his visit, his noting in the book is seen as an indirect way of expressing regret, and as a gesture more than an apology.
Speaking to British reporters later, the Prime Minister defended his decision not to say sorry, explaining that the incident had happened 40 years before he was born and “I don’t think the right thing is to reach back into history and to seek out things you can apologise for... I think the right thing is to acknowledge what happened, to recall what happened, to show respect and understanding for what happened.” The Indian media was mostly kept at a distance during Mr Cameron’s visit, and only photojournalists were allowed to click pictures from a distance.
Mr Cameron, who travelled from New Delhi to Amritsar early on Wednesday morning, on the third day of his India trip, first paid obeisance at the Golden Temple, the Sikhs’ holiest shrine, where he mingled with some devotees and was presented a robe of honour. He then spent around 20 minutes at Jallianwala Bagh, where he was greeted by memorial managing committee chairman Raghunandan Lal Bhatia, a local Congress leader.
Inside the Golden Temple, he was accompanied by Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal and SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar, among others.
Mr Cameron’s visit comes 16 years after Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh had visited Jallianwala Bagh in 1997. “She had ignored the pleas for (an) apology and today Cameron obliged Punjabis and the whole of India by ‘feeling sorry’ for the act,” said SGPC secretary Dalmegh Singh. “It (the regret) was long overdue... it’s good it has come finally. We welcome the gesture.”